It’s early November 22 and a polar snap is approaching the Blue Mountains. I remember that Leo is organizing a Northern New South Wales trip where the sun is promising to be shining. The decision to go is made easier given it’s a rare opportunity to participate in a first descent.

I have not left the mountains in almost two years but in lieu of adventures have developed check lists for all manner of trips I intend to go on again. Find item, deposit in duffle bag, tick it off and away we go.

Despite the smooth packing I still managed to leave at 530pm for a 10-hour drive, with an intended 730am start. Luckily my dad staying in Taree so I break up the drive with a hasty dinner, short sleep, 02:45 wakeup and another 4.5-hour drive. I arrive at 745am.

There are hasty hellos to Leo and Charlotte and a quick gear sort. I’m on first aid kit, natural anchors kit, fiddle stick and a Stirling Canyon Prime 8.5 60m rope. Charlottes and Leo have some lovely CE4Y ropes, 70m and 80m and other assorted group gear. We are able to negotiate an ill-defined firetail (4WD required) all the way to headwaters of Carroll’s Creek.

The heat of the day is building as we make our way down Carrolls Ck. I’m thankful after years of unseasonal wet and cold to find familiar cool canyon waters. Anticipation rises the cascades steepen, Leo is leading, looking for the first drop that the topo map and satellite images promised.

The sign of things to come.

We find R1 in an open waterfall, needing to cross a cascade above the first waterfall. I’m not too proud to ask for a spotter to watch with throw rope for crossing the first watery feature of the day.

R1 is about 25m, CL, with just the whisps of spray from the waterfall. Leo goes, I go and Charlotte last and on the pull down a core shot is found about ¼ of the way down a 80m CE4Y rope. Not a happy start.

Boulder scrambling brings us R2, my favorite single pitch. It’s a pumpy waterfall running over a smooth granite slab, which turns down sharply into something presumably steep, the aspect and bottom of which could not be scouted.

I set an open figure 8 block and extend my stance with a Beligum Hitch. Now positioned at the edge I can manage the edge with my foot, which is not as painful as it sounds, as well as bleed out rope if required.

Charlotte proceeds delicately, the line is slightly left of the main flow but with the rock tapering towards the flow, on slippery granite, with water lapping on the shoes, it’s a little desperate to avoid the water.

Charlotte suddenly slips and the flow takes her instantly. Leo immediately shouts, “drop the rope!” as she slides over the edge out of view. I’m unlocking and bleeding rope too slowly when the rope goes slack. I’m not sure if this is the good slack or bad slack (good slack = softer landing on rope, bad slack = falling off rope). Charlotte floats into view back paddling, still connected to a noodle of rope and smiling.

Happy canyon place.

Leo follows and changes the system to a bottom releasable then it’s my turn for the pump. I give in to the slippery rock and decide to take the flow on my terms, sitting down, sliding into the flow, head facing down and concentrating on breathing. It’s steep, featureless, clean, steep angle with a strong flow pushing you down the whole time. I’m turn rinsed by water at the bottom but it’s an easy float away. An awesome feature, well worth repeating, hopefully one day … we pull the rope, and the cascades keep dropping down.

Charlotte catches my reaction to the emerging canyon, actually gobsmacked. A few hundred meters downstream the canyon walls steepen and narrow as the canyon turns left out of view. This is looking more committing and vertical than expected. Leo is whooping and pumping his fists, this will continue with each emerging feature.

It just keeps going … the canyon turning and dropping left.

R3 is a delicate slabby abseil with strong flow around the ankles making purchase on the slab difficult. I scout out a jump for the others and we swim upstream of a cascade.

R4 is a scramble down to a tree.

R5 is another slabby, wet abseil, with the water immediately chopping away at your feet before sliding down some slippery rock into a relatively dry refuge.

Leo full froth. The canyon breaking left, photos do no justice here.

The precise order of R6-R7-R8 is muddled in my mind, but it’s highlight of the canyon. It’s roughly:
- Anchor deep in CL corner behind a boulder. Abseiling adjacent to a pumping waterfall.

- A short creek walk takes CL takes you to some boulders with a pinch point natural anchor to build a traverse line to another CL anchor.

Tip - You can arrest a leaders fall on a traverse line by grabbing both strands of the rope.

- The abseils landing is on the edge of a pool with a swim to another CL anchor and another waterfall abseil.

Charlotte - Three waterfalls spilling into each other.

Or something like that …

Unfortunately, on this last abseil a thrown canyon pack gets away from me and it proceeds to spill out rope as I pursue it down river. By the time I catch half of the rope has been sucked into the gaps between the small boulders and rocks. It takes the three of us to wrangle the rope out of these mini siphons, thankfully we save the whole rope.

Floating downstream through high walls bring us to P9, a one move scramble onto a ledge on CR bypassing a waterfall and continuing to the end of the steep canyon section.

As I’m scrambling downstream, I stick my foot on a few nondescript rocks straight into a foot entrapment. A moment of wiggling tells me my foot is truly stuck. I start ceaselessly blasting my whistle. Leo comes scrambling back and Charlotte has caught up from cleaning the last abseil. It took a solid minute of three people wrangling to becomes unstuck.

I descend what’s the last abseil now to scout another jump. The others follow and it’s a short walk, float, scramble to our planned spur exit and lunch spot. The time is 2:30.

Final obstacle…in the canyon at least

We negotiate steep, loose, scrubby slides before reaching a cliff line. We negotiate the breaks in the cliff and come to what looks like the shortest bluff section, a steep slab covered in slippery pine leaves, which Leo solos up. It takes more than a few attempts of mine to throw a line up allowing Leo to fix a rope for us to ascend out.

Jugging up with packs on, in the heat of the afternoon, after a hot 1.5 hours of hill climbing, an early start and long drive is butting up against my limit. We rest and continue up the spur to one final steep scrubby bash before we start to top out of the ridge line, which my slowing legs are thankful for.

The view from jugging out. Canyon bellow, jungle above. Unfortunately, a subsequently lost phone has left me without photos from the jungle. It’s dense, green and overgrown.

Shorts, always my preference, have been the right choice until this point. Now dense jungle, stinging tress and an abundance of spikey, thorny, tangling vines await. There is no choice but to push (at times painfully) through. Note for future missions, bring all of the skin protection you have if you are heading up for a NNSW trip. It’s a couple of hours of jungle bashing, a car shuffle, food and sleep. Leo has a planned second first descent for tomorrow.

I wax and wane between wanting to go and rest. Coming all this way, with the experienced team at hand, I decide to try for it. My initial enthusiasm for the day is whittled away after walking more jungle, straddling fallen trees, creeks and yesterday’s fatigue. Not wanting to contribute less than what I could add to the team I decide to bail out. I follow an old logging track out, spending a sometime enjoying the rainforest and head back, somewhat mournfully, to the cabin for sleep. Leo and Charlotte went on to complete an awesome first descent, with big vertical pitches, in Bluff Ck. R1-2-3 goes 200m to give you an idea.

The following morning the cold snap has arrived up north bringing brief flurries of sleet, severe winds and fallen trees. If you’re going into the remote NNSW National Parks (despite rules prohibiting them) I’d suggest you bring a chainsaw. I had this advice going and can attest to the truth of it. If you spend time in this region, you’ll eventually get stuck without one

The 10-hour drive back to the Blue Mountains teases the promise of more. Passing over the Mcleay, Manning, and Hasting River estuaries I find myself thinking what the fresher headwaters might hold.

It was a great privilege to be invited on a trip such as this. There are always lessons. Leave early, road trips accumulate more fatigue/stress than you would like, wear pants in the jungle, get fitter, get stronger and don’t be afraid to bail in serious terrain. Most of all, get to NNSW again, as soon as possible, as often as possible. It’s an incredible part of the world. Many thanks to the team that made this possible.

Team Members

@Leo Tregret (@leotregret) • Instagram photos and videos

@Charlotte Mason (@charlottemasonn) • Instagram photos and videos

#5 First Descent - Carrolls Ck

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#5 First Descent - Carrolls Ck

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