The work days for the North Grampians achieved many of the targets. Due to back injury I was unable to attend any of them therefore huge thanks must go to Tim Lockwood and David Singleton for standing in as the reps for the days. Many thanks to all the volunteers who turned up.
We had groups from MUMC, The Lactic Factory and VCC along with a number of individuals. Tim Lockwood gave me a brief rundown on the work that was achieved. At the time of going to print, I didn’t have any photos of the days themselves -hopefully I will have some for next issue. I will also have more information on the reopenings shortly. Assessments are still going on as to the areas that can be opened without risking too much damage to the still very fragile ground.
Wed 20th August –
Clearing of track to Taipan and around the base. Barely any clearing was required under Taipan wall, Spurt wall being the worst hit. Cleared a few protruding branches which people used to come close to hitting falling off Tyranny, Dial a lama, Fabios route. Clearing of base of Grey and Green wall areas. Not too much required here, mostly manicuring. Clearing of track to and around Summerday Valley. One or two larger trees had to come down here but nothing too dramatic.
Thursday 21st August –
Cleared the track to Sandinista, around to Amnesty wall, through Anderson’s and marked the track to Kindergarten. Cleared around Barc wall area for the stone work. Van Diemans land track was walked and assessed. There’s a bit of track clearing to do that way. The cliffs out there as well as the Anderson’s boulders are relatively untouched. There is however one cliff on the way to VD which was dubbed the “Impossible wall” as it was superb orange rock but nigh impossible for any climbs. This cliff has been annihilated, the ground is littered with rock flakes. It’s not dangerous but rather sobering.
Saturday 23rd August –Cleared all the way to Van Diemans land and worked on Barc wall stone work.
If you remember last report, I noted that there was going to be a bouldering site visit with a number of local boulderers to look at hardening some of the tracks into Andersons and a general discussion about bouldering in the future. The meeting went really well. It was attended by Dave Roberts (RIC GNP) Tammy Schoo and Kyle Hewitt from Parks Victoria. Boulderers attending were Scott Clarke, Oliver Miller, Braeden Hyland. I also attended. Some of the tracks will be delineated and some hardened. The following photos are a few from the day.
We also visited Summerday to see the work that had taken place there. Majority of the boulders in the Andersons area are okay. There are a few of the warmup boulders which have taken a hit but all in all, the rock has fared okay. Ground though is still very fragile and there is little vegetation especially in the way of shade trees. It will be a while before chilling out under the shade of a tree will be possible. Probably won’t be the best place to be when the weather is warm.
