Hiking Mt Greville and Spicers Gap

Feeling the urge to get out of the city, I decided to go for a hike at Mt Greville. I drove under dark clouds and overcast skies out towards the Cunningham Gap and turned off just before the range.

I have climbed at Mt Greville a few times, but in the absence of a climbing partner I decided to try some of the other trails. I started up the aptly named 'Palm Gorge' which wound steadily higher through lush undergrowth, between narrow gorges, and under many tall palms.

After a few sweaty hours I made it to the top, and sat down for some water and snacks. I met another group of hikers coming from the 'Waterfall Gorge' trail. Heeding their advice I decided not to continue the path they had taken as route finding was much more difficult on the way down. 

I could have had trouble locating a few important sections (such as the wire ladder up a short rock face) and some slippery slabby sections would be a bit too dangerous hiking my myself if an accident had happened.

I turned around and went back down the way I came. Walking over the same brown snake I saw on the hike up, I made it back to the car park with plenty of time left in the day.

The rain had held off, and not wanting to return to Brisbane just yet I decided to check out a 4wd track that had been on my radar for a while. I crossed the range and turned off the Spicers Gap 4wd access track. It had rained during the week, but with my hand which as a backup I figured I would be OK.

The road immediately turned to a rocky and rutted track, punctuated by the occasional mud hole.

 

The Patrol ate up the road, the front auto-locker allowing me to idle up every slippery, rocky section with ease, even when my wheels were caked with mud. The path soon eased off, and I made it to the top car park late in the afternoon. A quick hike through to the Governer's Chair lookout as the skies cleared and I was back to the car try and beat the sun down and make it back onto the black top.

Pretty satisfied with how the day turned out I drove back to Brisbane with sore legs, a muddy chassis and a smile on my face.

More photos here

Climbing at Frog Buttress

A late entry, but a few weeks ago I Chris A. and I went out to Mt French to try and get some trad climbing in before the official end of the Frog Buttress season.

We started out early hoping to get some climbs in before the stifling heat kicked in, but we lucked out and had a perfect day of climbing. Cloudy skies but a cool wind that kept the worst of the heat away.

It is great to walk down the scree slow and be greeted with beautiful cracks as far as the eye can see. Chris, being a trad / crack junkie, had a few climbs selected so we started up 'Theory' (14) which took us up to a ledge for some more routes.

Once there we climbed 'Moonlighter' (16) and 'Southern Comfort (19). The later had a great lay back start for a few metres, then the crack contracted so that only the to the barest of fingertips would fit. A few metres on some nice holds appeared and it was face climbing the rest of the way. I took a few attempts of top rope before Chris lead the route in style.

We rappelled back down to try some more climbs, with Chris urging me to try some pure crack climbs. I tried to resist the urge to climb the face, relying on jamming my hands, forearms and feet in the vertical crack. It was skin shredding stuff, but didn't seem to work for me. A skill that will only get better with practice, but not something you can learn in a gym. As usual, Chris breezed up, climbing in his element.

Luckily while I was sweating, groaning, swearing and making excuses, he was in a beautiful belay spot. I joined him at the top of Century (16) and relished the late afternoon view.

Wanting to make the most of the day we had just enough time to get in another two climbs. We climbed 'Horse Drawn Zepplin' (16) and 'Electric Mud' (13), finished up for the day just at the sun went down over the Great Dividing Range.

Back to the car park for a quick beer, a quick huge meal of chips at the Dugandan Pub, then back home for a well earned rest.

Frog Buttress is an amazing place, I definitely need to practice my trad leading and crack climbing skills. Always good to have climbing goals, and having a world class crack climbing crag in my backyard makes for perfect motivation.

More photos here