17-01-2018
Kent, Anna, James, John, Tal and me
Last time I had done a trip through Ranon canyon Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas were Smooth and Mmmbop was unfortunitely still a thing. A drunken conversation between myself Della and Lerch on the wrong side of 2am saw us up a few hours later working off hangovers in the heat.
It was Lerch’s first big canyon I remember getting to the Junction with Claustral and him asking where the exit was. The look of dejection when I told him it was 2hrs down stream was almost as good as when we got to the top of the camels hump and I pointed out our destination up on Mt Tomah that looked to be separated by another deep chasm and I jokingly said we had come up the wrong ridge…..
Lerch is not a violent man but I think I saw murder in his eyes that day. Luckily he was too stuffed to chase me.
Anyhoo, I had some time off and Kent was out on another one of his multiple day canyon extravaganzas and he happened to be doing Ranon on a day that I could get to. Sweet.
The “normal” entrance to the Claustral system through the Black Hole of Calcutta Falls is spectatualr and all but I always preffered going in via Mistake Ravine and Ranon Canyon. Originally that was probably a snobby thing knowing it was far less visited but it does give you more bang for your buck with some very nice canyon above the junction that gives Claustral a real run for it’s money in terms of greenry. IMO it’s even more fernilicous and still has few signs of visitation.
Anyway there was so much beauty in this trip I think I’ll leave the words to a minimum and let the photos tell the story.
Looking down Mistake Ravine towards the Ranon Brook Junction
Tal on a slippry hand over hand into Mistake Ravine
Ferntacious
Fernilicious
Like a lost world
Sandstone, Sassafras and Coachwood
Tal giving Anna some tips on foot placement
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After the junction with Ranon it somehow gets even more ferntacualr
John dropping into Ranon
Fern ceilings are cool
Kent all chille dout and relaxed
Work life ballence or something
Tal resetting after having negociated the deep pool mid abseil
Anna one another 2 stage abseil with a deep pool between drops.
Kent and James pulling ropes
John dropping down towards the Claustral junction
James in the slot at the Claustral junction
Sun beams in Claustral
Looking out of the Black Hole of Calcutta towards the Ranon Junction. You can make out Anna belaying Kent down the final abseil
Claustral Canyon
The Hulks Fist
OK so this location/pose is probably the most snapped shot in any canyon in the Blue Mtns, if not the southern hemisphere. Sure it’s almost getting cliche and is certainly the classic “Claustral photo” but who cares it is such an epic spot. I thought it became “the shot” after it was featured in National Geographic but a quick google informs me that was the next one down whihc Ed has captured from a slightly different angle for the 2017-18 Ozcanyons banner.
So who first took it? No idea but two of the best comes from Ed and Jake
Anyhoo
Claustral canyon
Claustral is such a great slot, deep and sustained. Unfortunitey in 1984 4 people lost thier lives when they got caught in this section in a severe storm. Between the Black Hole and ther Thunder Canyon junction there is little to no refuge in rising water.
Enjoying a bit of sun light
Looking up Thunder canyon
Me and Tal go for a quick look up the bottom 100m or so of Thunder. The water is so much colder
From the Thunder junction down there is a bit of boulder hopping before the canyon closes back in
Tal in the tunnel swim. On my first trip though here it was silted up and was more a shallow wade. Deep and clear today
In the tunnel swim
The chock stones in the tunnel swim seem so far above you as you swim through but the cliffs above dwarf them
A final swim to the exit spot
And then it’s up and up and up
Though the exit gully, Rainbow Ravine is very pretty itself
Looking across to Mt Banks
in my report on our Claustral trip last year I explained how George Caley thought it would be an easy traverse from Mt Tomah across the “low saddle” to Mt Banks. Without knowledge f the deep canyons, only some of which we had just traversed, it’s easy to see why he had thought that.
Anyway anther great trip with great people, thanks again to Kent of organising.
Anna was pleased that on a canyon trip with 5 blokes no F bombs were dropped. Personally I think she blanked a few out.
Party Size: 6 all experienced
Time:8.5hrs car to car, relaxed pace
Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves-Friedrich Nietzsche
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