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  • #2240 Reply
    Laurie
    Guest

    Hello fellow bumblies, hope climbing is good for you. I am intending to go up the Kimberleys etc next year and hope to find some good climbing. Does anyone know of any good routes up in the North?

    #2241 Reply
    Ross
    Member

    Have a look in the old CAWA gide (the spiral-bound one).

    Ross

    #2242 Reply
    Toc
    Member

    Hi Laurie,

    There is an unbelievable amount of rock in the Kimberley’s.

    Within 50kms of Hall’s Creek, I climbed on red granite, extinct coral, red sandstone and some stuff I couldn’t name not being a geo.

    The problem you will have is that so much of it is on land managed privately, either by stations or aboriginal interests, which is quite often stations. I climbed with a doctor from the Aboriginal Medical Service, a linguist working with language preservation and several teachers with aboriginal schools. I was very lucky as we had access to places I would otherwise never have got to.

    Having said that, Sawtooth Gorge was on public land, (red sandstone.) A lot of the tourist gorges are essentially public land, though funnily enough I never got to climb in them. (Didn’t have to.) and the one time we tried to, we went swimming instead, where the road was. There’s red granite in the hills facing the Argyle Diamond mine turnoff. One piece has got a great big Ereuka Stockade flag painted on it. That seemed to be public. I climbed there anyway. There’s cliffs on the way into Kunnunnurra, could be loose though. Didn’t climb there.

    On the way up, if you go inland, Poon Hill is at Newman. It’s ok, but I wouldn’t drive up there deliberately for it. Dave Wagland did some scary things, I’ll tell you now. On the way north of Newman you will pass through Mundjina Gorge which has cliffs on either side of the road. Andrew Garvin and I did a couple of routes there, (in a kilometre or so of rock.) I think that is banded ironstone, and some of it is solid and some of it is loose stacked bricks. We also found scattered granite boulders here and there in the Pilbara. I don’t think climbing is allowed in Windjana Gorge, though it looks like there’s plenty of clambering involved in a trip down it.

    Just south of the DeGrey River is a small area of gorges called the Ord Range, (still in the Pilbara), which we also did a few routes in. Found a bit of stuff which I think is onyx, south of that in the water catchment area, and that was fun. Python Pool in the Pilbara looks great. Extinct coral I think. The problem with the coral is a lack of protection. A lot of it is not naturally protectable. The banded ironstone, some is some isn’t. The granite, again some is, some isn’t. And we didn’t see a single bolt except at Poon Hill.

    I backed off a route in one gorge, because although there were plenty of cracks, every single crack was between something that would move. Private land anyway.

    Enjoy.

    Toc.

    So there’s lot’s of it there. It would be difficult to send you to a single place. Just keep your eyes open, and if you get a chance to go on aboriginal land, take it, you never know. Plus there’s a lot more to the north than what I’ve seen.

    #2243 Reply
    SQUIRREL
    Member

    Good day to Australia and New Zealand, hello climber,

    I will come to Australia (Sept. 05 and Jan till July 06) and New Zealand (Oct. 05 till Jan.06) and I like to climb in that time a lot … BUT I have a problem. I am on my own (with a nonclimbing girlfriend)! So I’m looking for some climbing partners in all parts of Australia and New Zealand!

    So … if you like to meet a european climber (Grad +/- 18) or if you have climbingfriends or if you have friends, who know someone who climbs or if you have a friend, who has a friend and the sister of the neighbour of that friend climbs … I am sure you know what I mean 😉

    Feel free to send this email to all people or organisations you know. I’m glad about every contact I can get (even if my girlfriend want be it ;-).

    Do you know some good internet links?

    Do you need perhaps a „Climbing Partner Wanted“-Paper for the pinboard in your climbing gym or your climbingshop? Just write a hello and you will get it …

    Thanks in advance and regards from

    Frank (derfrankeichhorn@web.de)

    from Germany

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