With Christmas and the new year out of the way, comes the time I have to sit down and try and put down what has been happening in the wonderful world of Access since I last sat down and typed the Argus report. Hmm….. where to begin.
Grampians Bundaleer opened as planned just before Christmas. As noted in my last report, the area itself stood up well to the floods and no extra work has been needed. The road situation is still ongoing and because of this access into the cliff via the usual ways has slightly changed. The only access is via Glenelg Road then Stony Creek Road. You will need to park near the intersection and then walk down the Rosea Track past the road closed sign. This has been approved by PV as a way for us to access the cliff. At this stage, you are unable to access Bundaleer via the Silverband Road. This is currently closed due to VicRoads starting work on the lower section of the road. Rosea is still currently closed – will be organizing a work day soon to do a little work on the area before it is accessible.
The Gallery The Gallery in the Vic Range, Grampians was impacted by the floods and the climbers access track was closed due to flood damage . Due to this climbers then realigned the track around the right hand side of the Aboriginal art shelter and through a revegetation area. Interestingly, years ago, PV worked with climbers to create a separate climbers track(the now damaged one) that directed them away from the shelter. This was for fear of erosion and impact to the site. So…not so good that this was occurring again. Following a climbers query about the new track and the old one being closed, I contacted Dave Roberts, ranger at Halls Gap, who was very appreciative of the information and acted upon it quite quickly. Current situation is as follows:
PV have opened up the first part of the loop up until where the track heads up to the Gallery.
So basically you head up there and back down, the same way. Please use this access and not around the right side of the art shelter. There are some sections that are eroding quite badly on the climbers track so I will be visiting sometime soon to look at what we can do to control it. This is not a PV maintained track, care of this will be up to us climbers to maintain – this is the way that PV would like to see most of the climbers tracks managed.
I will be looking for volunteers after the initial inspection to help with the work and am hoping that those climbers that do use this track and the cliffs to climb at will be involved.
Hollow Mountain Track closures Hollow Mountain Walking Track – Track closure February 2012 – Work will commence at the end of the school holidays and will continue for up to five weeks through February, however this track will be open to visitors on weekends. Work to be completed includes re surfacing of the walking track, installation of drainage and steps. Access to Summerday Valley climbing area and Gulgurn Manja Art Shelter will remain open during this time.
You Yangs Although the details have yet to be worked out, it looks like the grant money we obtained for work at the You Yangs in 2010 (and put on hold because of the flood and park closures) will be put towards building a retaining stonework wall in the Urinal Wall area. Some work has already taken place stabilizing the area as well as repairing and rebuilding the steps to the climbing area but the remaining problem now of loss of vegetation further out from the base is a very real one. Currently we have some branches to deter people from moving further into the trees when waiting at the base of the climbs but as Urinal Wall is a group climbing area, this will become more eroded bit by bit. Though nowhere near as extensive as Summerday Valley stonework, the same concept will be applied.
Campground Host – Arapiles The Campground Host program ran for its first trial run at Arapiles. I have written a small separate article for this so you can find out how it all went. (see an earlier post or visit the Campground Host Very positive feedback and think it will be a good move forward for the campgrounds. I am still looking for people who might be interested in being a Host. Free camping, a worthwhile experience for you and contributes to climbers having a hand in how the campground is run. For more information, drop me a line – cliffcare@vicclimb.org.au
Burnley Wall Having been successful with a grant for facilities upgrade to the Wall, we can now start to put the plan into practice. A new matting path will be put down between the two walls, bike racks installed and an interpretive sign will also be erected at the far end of the vertical wall closes to the bike path. I will announce some dates for working bees shortly for this so hope that those who use the wall will rock up and help out for a couple of hours.
Volunteer Opportunities
Graphic Design. I am looking for some graphically talented people to help with the CliffCare Education Project. This project will consist of a number of elements that will require graphic design work – first off I am looking at posters. Drop me a line cliffcare@vicclimb.org.au
Cheers, Tracey
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