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Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
All NSW	(General)	(General)	(General)

Topic Date User

Blue lake 26-Jul-2011 At 3:51:01 PM Capt_mulch

Message

There is no ice climbing guide as it changes radically between and during the seasons. Sometimes one of the best ice faces completely disappears under mega piles of snow. Keith Bell (Canberra Climbing Association) has been working on a new guide for the rock climbing - I'll see if I can find my old version of it. Just get out there and have a look. Mike Law-Smith reckons that it is best later in the season when the days are warm and the nights still drop below freezing - hence his old habit of leaving Canberra at about 10pm on a full moon, then skiing in by moonlight and hitting the crag first light. You're lucky - a search of my backup drive found the old Blue Lake guide - winter climbing and minimal impact blurb here. PM me your email for a pdf of the full guide (anyone who wants it - no probs). Note that NPWS does not want camping in the catchment - camp up the hill (south west) at what I think is called the old soil conservation camp site - has water and protection from weather.

Winter Climbing

I've avoided using the heading "Ice Climbing" because sometimes it isn't! To say the
season is vague is an understatement.
The best time to try for good conditions is late in the season. Generally poor ski
seasons mean good ice, as there is lots of water to freeze. Good ski seasons mean lots
of snow and easy doddles up the gullies.
Once more Blue Lake is the best place to try with access from Guthega or Charlotte
(if the road's open). Watson's Crag can offer some good long routes if conditions
permit, and Mt Clarke, Club Lake and Mt Townsend have all produced good routes
when conditions are right.
A normal ice rack should be sufficient for most routes.