31-Jan-2014 8:15:41 PM
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Not so much a trip report as just letting people know what's up there. Lots of posts about people talking about going there, but nobody seemed to actually have been there.
And, as it turns out, its really good up there. And perhaps, depending on your tastes, it's home to one classic Bumbly route that seems to have been all but missed by the masses.
Access to the Mt Scabby Nature Reserve is a bit of a mess. You have the option of a multi-day bushwalk through the Namadgi National Park first, or the short option involves crossing private land. We called in at the Old Yaouk Homestead and the met the owner to ask for permission. I guess they don't see many visitors out this way, as Ms Yaouk was all too keen to show us around.
A few hours later we packed our packs and walked across the property and into the nature reserve. A few hours bush bash up the hill to reach the tree line.
We summited Mt Scabby late in the afternoon. Old Yaouk Station far, far below.
Great peaceful camping in the watershed of the Cotter River. Drink my dribbles Canberra!!
The next morning we bashed over to the crag. The old bolts on the 1990's routes looked really sad, so we stuck to the older all-trad routes.
The easiest route to find was Harlequin Carnival (16), so we started up that. A wide open sticky slab, with a line of conveniently spaced huecos. Yes, that's not a typo. HUECOS ON A SLAB! Much of the climbing is straight forward as you delicately pad your way up the slab between these enormous pockets that suck up gear and any fingers or hands that fit. Great climbing. There aren't that many great routes at this grade in NSW, why has this route been forgotten?
It was pleasant climbing in the shade but now the sun was everywhere and it was getting hot. Still, we'd come along way and wanted at least another route, so we started up Antiquity (17). This was not much fun, and after the initial crack petered out, there was no gear for about 20m until a sloping ledge offered a small hex and cam. Enmoore led the next pitch and was equally unimpressed. Were we off route?
The next day we slept in, and a recce back over the ridge showed the slab was already in the sun, so instead we played around on the granite outcrops on the plateau. Some nice stuff around, reminiscent of the Horn (except without the desecration by anxious boys with power toys). There is no track off Mt Scabby so we picked another long ridge to get down, which started off quite fine...
but then turned into an endless bush bash through more hideous bushfire regrowth.
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