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Grampians re-opening plans from VCC and PV 29-Aug-2006 At 10:19:31 AM john s

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Here is the latest on the recovery from the fires in the Grampians and the plans for affected climbing areas.

PV has a huge job. Miles of roads and walking tracks need to be restored – over 3,000 trees will be trimmed or removed, and they are building new tracks in stone. Five road bridges are out. Houses and toilets at various campgrounds and lookouts were destroyed. In the burnt bush, the rangers have been baiting foxes to protect native animals surviving with little food. Another dry summer is on the way, so they are getting organised for fire threats to the rest of the park. Around 50 extra staff are working on all these projects.

The regeneration of the bush is slow – especially in the rocky areas and because the winter was so dry. There are a lot of tiny shoots coming up, but it is all very delicate.

In the middle of all of this, access for climbers is now on the PV to-do list. The VCC has been talking to PV about the process for re-opening affected climbing areas. It will be a slow process but the main job is to choose and mark the best access tracks through the regrowth (not necessarily the old alignments) and to rehabilitate bush campsites. There have been a couple of short visits to Bundaleer, Rosea and Redmans Road to get an idea of what will be needed.

PV wants to set up a small consultative group of climbers to plan new access tracks, check out bush campsites, and sort out the jobs that will need to be done at volunteer workdays. If you’d like to be part of this, contact me (vits2@bigpond.com) or Sylvia van der Peet at PV (svanderp@parks.vic.gov.au). Sylvia is a climber – some of you will know her from when she worked at Cliffhanger.

The priorities are directed by the order in which PV is opening roads:

1. Asses Ears Road is already open. So, the cliffs that are reached off the main walking track will probably need to be looked at first.

Other cliffs, like Cherub Wall, which you get to along Wallaby Rocks Road, will be looked at later.

2. PV hopes to open Redmans Rd by Christmas 2006. A small bridge needs to be replaced. Borough Huts campground will be partly opened in September and fully opened for Christmas

Amazingly, the fire jumped the lower part of the Dials valley, so First Dial is virtually untouched. We haven't had a good look yet, but Fourth Dial was probably less lucky.

Both Barbican cliffs were badly burned.

Roads in the Victoria Valley are also likely to open before Christmas when bridges are re-built. This will help access to the Vic Range, but won’t get us in to any new cliffs. Bush campsites will remain closed for next summer, at least.

3. Silverband Road probably won't be open till late 2007. This is mainly because PV won’t get to work on the Sundial walking tracks till next year and they don’t want people in there until the tracks are ready and the regrowth is less sensitive. Also, they have wanted to relocate the Rosea campground for a while and the fire has cleaned it up for them! A new walkers and climbers camp needs to be planned, but it won’t be in the old site.

Wonderland: the pressure is on from the tourist industry to open tracks but there is a lot of work and the new tracks are being built in stone. Climbing sites haven’t yet been looked at.

Rosea and Bundaleer access will not be possible until Silverband Road is opened.

Further down Rosea Track, access to Tower Hill, Eastern Wall, and Western Bloc has not yet been looked at yet.

4. Central Serra Range

The cliffs off Henhams Track (El Dorado, Dreamtime Wall, Green Gap Pinnacle) were burned badly. The bush in this area was 12 year-old regrowth after the hot escaped control burn in 1994. It was just the right age to burn very hot again! There is no timing yet on reopening Henhams Track.

So, the message is:

· Don’t go in there yet.

· Join in the planning work, or come to work days that will be announced soon.

· When cliffs are open, check for the latest details of any new access arrangements, and keep to the newly marked tracks.

· Don’t use any bush camps till they are clearly re-opened

· You’ll want to be careful when you finally do get to climb at any of the burned out cliffs. There will be loose rock, dead vegetation and, maybe, dodgy bolts.

· Don’t go looking for new routes on the little crags and boulders that you will be able to see! People have explored these areas for years and the good crags are already in the book. Small crags where the fires burned hot will also have more than their share of new loose rock and dead vegetation, and you will be trampling on vegetation that is struggling to survive.