Trips in planning

This is where trips ideas can be posted. These trips could also be considered "trips in search of a leader". Any club member can post trip ideas here and they don't need to be approved. Members can then post comments under a trip idea to discuss how the trip can be organised. Members can also sign up to the trip idea to register their interest. You don't need to be experienced in an activity (or even have ever participated in the activity) to post a trip idea. If there's something you'd like to do, or somewhere you'd like to go, post it here and see if there are some other interested people with enough experience between you to make running the trip viable. Post new trip idea

Once an idea for a trip has been discussed here and you think it's worth running as an official club trip, post it as a proper trip for approval by the relevant activity officer. Trip ideas listed here are not official club trips, they're just ideas.

Best of the Budawangs - TRIP LEADER WANTED

The Budawangs are an amazing stretch of wilderness at our doorstep. This trip is taking in the 'best of'.
We will drive down early Saturday morning (4 Oct) to enjoy the long weekend in the wilderness. The route starts at Newhaven Gap and will lead us through The Vines, Hidden Valley, Styles Creek, Mount Tarn, Mount Corang and exit at WogWog.
I am hoping to get two groups together, of which one group will do the walk in the opposite direction (an equally rewarding option), as to avoid a long car-shuffle. Let me know if you're interested in leading a trip the other way :-)

Cheers, Marit

Shoalhaven Descent

Last year, we had plans for a descent of the Shoalhaven but were foiled by low water levels. This section from Oallen Ford (near Braidwood) past Bungonia through to Tallowa Dam is one of the most remote, scenic and challenging multi-day kayaking trips in NSW.

Spring is usually most reliable for rainfalls in the catchment but river heights are not the only difficulty. Stuffing 3-4 days worth of supplies into a whitewater boat is not to be underestimated, nor manouvering a fully-laden boat through grade 3 rapids and above. Logistics are not simple, we'll need to arrange boat transport at the entry and exit points and probably a 4wd to tow the trailer.

As the trip will depend on water levels, I'm just gathering interest at this stage. The long weekend of 4-6 October or perhaps 1-4 November are looking like good dates, but I'd like to hear from interested paddlers who are flexible and could participate on a week's notice, depending on forecasts. Experience on white water essential.

Give me a call if you'd like more details.

Cross Country skiing.

I want to organise a weekend of day cross country ski trips so that post-beginners can get some practice in before the end of the ski season without having to drag around overnight packs.

My main concern is that i don't really know any snow / ski safety 'rules' and if anything were to go wrong on a day trip then it might be a real problem. Before posting a trip i need people with some more experience to volunteer to come along and help out.

The two weekends that i can do are the 30th / 31st August and 6th / 7th Sept. We'd probably camp at Island Bend because that is what i know.

If anyone is interested then let me know.

Melanie Stamell

Learn to climb outdoors

Sign up to this if you are interested in learning to climb outdoors. The emphasis of trips based off this is on learning rather than climbing. A successful trip is one where you learn lots, even if you only get one climb in. Trips will focus on skills like gear placement, anchor building, belaying etc. Whether trips are predominantly trad (Google "trad climbing") or sport will depend on the preferences of the organiser and the experienced climbers that come along to help. Beginners who sign up should be willing to organise trips. Organising a trip involves the following:

  • Find at least one experienced climber willing to help out
  • Pick a weekend that both you and your experienced climber(s) can make
  • Post the trip on the club web site
  • Organise cars amongst the trip participants
  • Limit numbers based on number of experienced climbers (Probably no more than 2 beginners to each experienced climber)
  • Pick up gear from the gear store prior to trip (usually Thursday)
  • Go on the trip itself
  • Collect rope fees from participants (take to gear store when you return gear)
  • Return gear to gear store following the trip (usually Tuesday)
  • Organise a post trip get together (eg, Pizza at Debacle) on the following Tuesday, so that everyone can discuss what they learnt

Before going on a trip, it might be a good idea to see what you can learn online and from books. The gear store has some books on climbing, including "Climbing Anchors" (by John Long). Borrow these out and read them.

Suggestions for finding an experienced climber to help out:

  • Post a comment here saying what kind of trip you'd like to run and that you're willing to organise, but need an experienced climber or two
  • Climb at the climbing wall and persuade someone there to come along
  • Post to the climb mailing list

This might all sound a bit scary, but don't let it be. I'm happy to help provide support for any upcoming trip organisers. Just contact me by clicking on my name at the top of this page.

ANUMC First Aid Courses

The ANUMC is looking to organise both Senior First Aid and Remote Area Rescue courses for trip members sometime in the next couple of months. We need expressions of interest in order to book and pay for the courses, which will be given by either Parasol or the Red Cross.

The senior first aid course will cost around $160 and the ANUMC will subsidise 10 members up to 50% of the cost. The course involves completion of a log book and a one day lesson. We need at least 10 participants for each course for this to go ahead.

The course covers the skills and knowledge required to "provide first aid response, life support, management of casualty(s), the incident and other first
aiders, until the arrival of medical or other assistance." Including the ability to "Perform CPR and provide basic emergency life support". (As quoted on the Parasol website. More info at www.parasolemt.com.au) There are no pre-requisites for this course although if you already hold a senior first aid certificate you can do a refresher for $90.

The remote area rescue course will cost $425. Subsidies may be available subject to agreement from the ANUMC committee and dependent on numbers.

The course will take 24 hours of training for participants that hold a current senior first aid certificate and 34 hours for those that don't. Participants must be first aid certificate holders (Level 2).

It will cover "the skills and knowledge required to provide first aid to a casualty in a remote and/or isolated situation.", including how to "work in conjunction with medical and emergency services support and evaluate the incident." (again, quoted from Parasol)

Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested so we can finalise dates and the number of courses needed. I have attached fact sheets from Parasol for your infromation

Gammon Ranges

A trip to the gammon ranges. Walks I've done there have usually been 4-7 days, visiting several permanent waterholes. From here, add about 3 days for getting there and back. Winter is the best time to go - you don't want to go in summer due to lack of water and the heat. Spring can be ok, but be sure to check the water situation!

The area is in the northern flinders ranges, and features spectacular red sandstone cliffs and gorges as well as views over vast plains and lakes (or salt-lakes usually - doesn't rain much there!). It's arid mountainous terrain: lots of prickly spinifex, some trees struggling for an existance in the (usually dry) river beds, and some scrub (though usually short and sparse). I'd have to say it's among the most spectacular areas for walking I know in Australia.

Much of the walking would be along dry river beds - often tracks, but often enough boulder hopping. There's mountains to visit and ridges to cross, with interesting things like scree slopes to navigate from time to time (more navigate around, I suppose :-). There are a number of permanent waterholes in the area - usually the only places you can get water! Mostly we'd camp by a waterhole, but sometimes dry camps if we want to go to some more interesting places - that means carting lots of water!.

It's important to talk to the ranger before setting out to let them know you're there and to determine the latest news on the state of the water holes: which have water in them, if there's been a dead animal somewhere etc... Once I went to a water hole that's rarely visited and found a dead goat in it (yech!!). We had to take water from it for one night and half a day - blessed puritabs (it was a while ago..) - though we still boiled it well! (as much in an attempt to get rid of the chlorine taste!). We'd contact the ranger a month or two in advance get a general idea how conditions are evolving.

It'd be a long drive to get there. Google maps says 1,630 km – about 23 hours 32 mins. Thats a pretty conservative estimate of the time, though you'd want a day and a half - with multiple drivers and comfy cars, one long intense day could work, but it wouldn't be fun. That means a total of at least 6-7 days, though 10 days might be better (after driving that far, you may as well take a good look around!). We used to take ordinary cars - the last 100km or so is on dirt roads, but they're pretty good (we'd talk to the ranger before we go about that, too!).

Winter is the best time to go. Temperatures are relatively mild and there tends to be more water around (if we're really lucky, it might rain on us!). I once saw snow falling there - somewhat of a miracle! Even in winter, the temperature's often over 30... Taking two or more cars is a good idea - partly for safety (if one breaks down or gets stuck, we have the other to help or go for help), and partly to setup a car shuffle (gives us more flexibility in choosing an interesting walking route).

I've lead a few trips there in the past, but havn't done any walking for a number of years, so I'd prefer to have a few people along with more recent experience.

So, what do you think? Sound interesting?

Munda Biddi trail - cycling in WA

http://www.mundabiddi.org.au/

This looks like an incredible trail. I know very little about cycle touring, but for some reason this looks like a cool thing to do and a bit of a challenge.

though my type of challenge (at the moment) would still involve finding a bed and shower at the towns we pass through (unless i toughen up).

there is some fine singletrack in the town of Jarrahdale - I often dream about it.. (yeah, I'm a perth girl!).

supposedly the first stage should take 7-10 days. part of stage 2 is also open.

would you start south and work north, saving singletrack goodness 'till the end?!

vaguely interest anyone? thinking it'd have to be spring this year or autumn next...

Upper Murray Challenge

http://www.uppermurraychallenge.com.au/therace.asp
4th October 2008

38km mountain biking
26km kayaking
25km running

Anyone interested in organising a club team?

Mt Bogong and Victorian High Country

I usually do a week-long hike somewhere every summer, and thoughts are starting to trickle through about what I might do this summer, even though winter hasn't even come yet :) Despite being from Melbourne, I've never been to Mt Bogong, or much of the High Country at all, since the fires came through just as I was starting bushwalking seriously. But I think it's time. It's supposed to be beautiful, or at least was before the fires.

I envisage a hike of about 5 days, taking in Mt Bogong and other highlights, probably in January, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. New Years' Eve on Bogong could also be spectacular. Add on nearly a day's driving each way from Canberra (or from Melbourne, for that matter).

Anyone with route suggestions? Been there recently and can comment what the fire recovery is like?

Darrans Fiordland NZ

The Darrans are an astonishingly beautiful and rugged area of the South Island, inland from Milford Sound in Fiordland. Huge granite towers offer unlimited long Alpine rock climbing at all grades. Check out, for example, http://www.cosleyhouston.com/recent/03-03-nz-sabre.htm to get an idea of what's involved.

The Sabre is a must-climb peak, with feasible routes up it for the ordinary weekend rock climber; it's just that the routes are 500m long! The walk in isn't trivial either as any look at a topo map will attest.

Unfortunately, all this splendour is in possibly the wettest area of a wet island. Don't be fooled by the pictures in the link above, the weather in these mountains can be spectacularly foul. I reckon any trip in to these regions either relies on a helicopter to grab weather windows (and there are some permitted landing sites in the Darrans) or packs enough food and gear to sit out the weather. Either way this must-do trip wll take some planning and commitment.

Late summer 2009 (Feb-Mar) would be a good time.

Mount Feathertop

Mount Feathertop is a beautiful peak in the Victorian Alps. Under snow it can have some real climbing, especially in the steep couloirs on the northern side. The summit and back is a good day's walk from Harrietville (pretty little place with a real pub) and there are also traverses along the Razorback, probably involving overnighting at or near Federation Hut. Given the right weather this is as close to mountaineering as you're going to get this side of the Tasman. More detail at http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/resources05/05_1092.pdf and googling Mount Feathertop will give lots of useful hits.

It's quite a way, about 500 km to Harrietville, so to do justice to the area would need several days in late winter when the snow is established.

There might even be some downhill skiing available at the Victorian resorts!