By Colin Larter
Since the landslide that wiped out the Wolgan Gap Road in 2022, accessing the best climbing in Australia has been pretty hard, but if you’re keen enough and you’ve got bikes with lots of bags hanging off them, it’s feasible, so that’s what Alex King and I did on the long weekend.
We drove in via Glowworm Tunnel Rd to the Old Coach Rd on Friday night and spent a rainy night sleeping in the back of my ute.
After putting the bikes together and loading them up, we did the easy ride down the hill (walking the insanely steep bits that my road tyres couldn’t stop me on) and into Newnes, where we quickly racked up before heading up to the Coke Ovens crag for a day of classic cracks.
Pitch 1 of Sap (15) taught Alex about how much endurance you need in your calves for corner-climbing, and Decline and Fall (P1, 18) reminded me of the same thing. Alex then dominated the first pitch of Sizzler (19). The following pitches of these routes are loose and terrifying, so we didn’t trouble ourselves with them. We finished of the afternoon with Deathbed Confessions (14), a very enjoyable, 50 m bolted slab.
Sunday was business day, so we made a reasonably early start (not early enough though) up to Old Baldy. Secret Swinger (16) got us up the lower tier where we had lunch at the base of Excalibur (17). Alex led the first pitch of steep, sandy, choss on the understanding that I would lead the final pitch, which is a bit run out and thin towards the end.
Pitches 2 & 3 consist of amazing, exposed climbing up a thin crack, which went smoothly, then the steep crux of pitch 4 taught me a lesson. That lesson was that I’m not a strong or as fit as I was 20 years ago. Luckily though, Alex is (and more so)… So after a few rests then a fall onto a rather small nut, Alex took over on the sharp end and we topped out with about an hour of daylight to spare.
Unfortunately, it was still a three-hour trip back to the bottom, as the 2019 fires have made the descent track virtually impossible to find. Instead of wasting too much time trying to find the right way down, we launched into a rather exciting descent through a canyon with multiple abseils in the dark, getting back into camp at half past nine.
Monday was supposed to be a cruisy day riding back up the hill and stopping at the Coal Mines Cliffs for a couple pitches half-way up. To make it a bit more interesting we decided to follow the old railway line that heads out of the valley via the Glowworm Tunnel, because railways should follow nice smooth gradients and be easy riding. Except that in the 100-odd years since the mines in the valley were closed, there’s been a few landslides, and the bridges across all of the gullies were dismantled in WWII, so we had to carry the fully laden bikes up and down a LOT of steps.
We did get one pitch in at the Coal Mines, Absolutely Sweet Marie (14), a nice rambling 40 m long corner with a bit of exposure at the top. We left the valley through the Glowworm Tunnel, which added about 8 km to the trip, but saved an hour of pushing the bikes up the huge hills of the Old Coach Rd.
So I promised Maccca a campfire song in return for covering my shift on Friday night (it meant we could get some more time in the Wolgan).
But then we were a bit tired, almost spent a night in a canyon, and had to carry our bikes up and down hundreds of steps, so we wrote him a poem on the drive back instead… sorry it probably makes little sense if you weren’t there but here it is:
There was a young man called Macca
No one could call him a slacker
He worked half my shift
So we could climb an extra pitch
The weekend we had was a cracker
On day one we rode into the valley
Added four pitches to the tally
We climbed classic cracks
Looking over our backs
For Old Baldy we would rally
Old Baldy’s cracks are long
We knew we couldn’t go wrong
Thought we knew the plan
But we couldn't find a cairn
And came down in the dark through a canyon
We had a long ride ahead
So we made it longer instead
Fallen trees weren't the worst
Perhaps we were cursed
To our final pitch the trail led
Our exit took us to Glow Worm
A huge weekend I do confirm
Thanks to our backer
The wonderful Macca
Our praises he did earn
We would love to hear it. Send your trip report and pics to Sarah@climbfit.com.au
