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--- 199001 [2020/04/09 05:46] – [All you need to know about the Bird track] rogerbrowne
+++ 199001 [2020/04/09 06:55] – [Portrait of a climber] rogerbrowne
@@ Line 150: / Line 150: @@
 There are two notices about the track near the Ranger Centre. They are only about fifty metres apart. One mentions the "Burgh Track" and the other has it "Burg Track". Clearly NPWS is not too sure of the spelling, but at least it's not for the Birds.
-===== "ENVIRONMENT '90" =====
+===== "Environment '90" =====
-WHO IS DOING NOVI 11) REPAIR THE ENVIRONMENT?
+==== Who is doing what to repair the environment? ====
-Believe it or not, some 14 Government bodies and a growing number of private companiesi The International Conference and Exhibition will be held at Darling Harbour in May 1990.
-One of the umpteen ways to clean up the mess is to turn garbage into something useful :
+Believe it or not, some 14 Government bodies and a growing number of private companies! The International Conference and Exhibition will be held at Darling Harbour in May 1990.
-GOOD-BYE TO THE MUNICIPAL DUMP - BRICKS MADE FROM GARBAGE.
-NEUTRALYSIS,' a new high technology process invented in Queensland, blends garbage straight from household rubbish bins with clay and liquid waste to form pellets. These are then fired in a kiln, heated by burning garbage to
+One of the umpteen ways to clean up the mess is to turn garbage into something useful :-
-produce a light weight aggregate for use in concrete, and building bricks.
-The process retrieves valuable metal by-products, and also creates surplus
+==== Good-bye to the municipal dump - bricks made from garbage. ====
-energy which can generate electricity. All gases produced are either
-combusted internally, or cleaned and cooled before being released to the atmosphere.
+**Neutralysis**, a new high technology process invented in Queensland, blends garbage straight from household rubbish bins with clay and liquid waste to form pellets. These are then fired in a kiln, heated by burning garbage to produce a light weight aggregate for use in concrete, and building bricks.
-If you want further details, ring FAYE CAMERON on 449.5279.
+The process retrieves valuable metal by-products, and also creates surplus energy which can generate electricity. All gases produced are either combusted internally, or cleaned and cooled before being released to the atmosphere.
+If you want further details, ring Faye Cameron on 449 5279.
+===== Portrait of a climber =====
+Part two: By 'Clio'
+==== 'The Blue Mountaineers' ====
+Around 1929 or '30 Dr. Dark, Eleanor and Eric Lowe were visiting the Ruined Castle near Narrow Neck. Dr. Dark started scrambling on the rocks and soon felt his confidence coming back. The others were soon doing gentle climbs and were joined by Osmar.
+"Lowe and I were 40," said Dr. Dark, "Eleanor more than a decade younger, and Osmar in his early twenties. We began with easy climbs on the Second and Third Sisters, and the Orphan Rock. The more we climbed the more we liked it, so one evening we decided to form ourselves into a club, which we called The Blue Mountaineers. We adopted as our theme tune a fascinating little phrase from Petroushka, which was whistled as we walked to a climb." This was the first rockclimbing club in NSW - probably in Australia.
+The other foundation member was Eric Lowe who was related to a well-known grazing family and had trained as an engineer and accountant. He wrote a trilogy of books dealing with station life, the most famous being "Beyond Nineteen Counties" which was dramatised for radio. Others to join the club were Frank Walford who was then editor of "The Mountain Echo" (and later Mayor of Katoomba and Leura), Paddy and 'Shrimp' Carson who seemed to take climbing rather casually. Dr. Dark remembered one climb when Shrimp let down some rope for Eleanor to tie on. They used 32 mm yacht manila or heavy sashcord on rock belays. Upon reaching the belay ledge Eleanor found Shrimp lighting a cigarette with the rest of the rope neatly coiled beside him.
+After they had been climbing for about a year, Osmar, Eric Lowe and Jim Starkey attempted to climb Arethusa Falls. They reached the mouth of the gorge and climbed to the lip of the lower waterfall late in the afternoon. Osmar in later years recalled "It was then too late to tackle the cliffs above the falls and we turned back, hoping to reach a reasonable camp site before nightfall. After two or three hours stumbling around in the pitch dark and heavy rain, trying to keep as close to the foot of the main cliffs as possible, we sat down where we were and went to sleep."
-===== PORTRAIT OF A CLIMBER =====
-PART TWO: BY 'CLIO'
-'The Blue Mountaineers'
-Around 1929 or '30 Dr. Dark, Eleanor and Eric Lowe were visiting the Ruined Castle near Narrow Neck. Dr. Dark started scrambling on the rocks and soon felt his confidence coming back. The others were soon doing gentle climbs and were joined by Osman
-"Lowe and I were 40," said Dr. Dark, "Eleanor more than a decade younger, and Osmar in
-his early twenties. We began with easy climbs on the Second and Third Sisters, and the Orphan Rock. The more we climbed the more we liked it, so one evening we decided to form ourselves
-into a club, which we called The Blue Mountaineers: We adopted as our theme tune a fascinating little phrase from Petroushka, which was whistled as we walked to a climb." This was the first rockclimbing club in NSW - 01.obably in Australia.
-The other foundation member was Eric Lowe who was related to a well-known grazing family and had trained as an engineer and accountant. He wrote a trilogy of books dealing with station life, the most famous being "Beyond Nineteen Counties" which was dramatised for radio. Others to join the club were FEank Walford who was then editor of "The Mountain Echo" (and later Mayor of Katoomba and Leura), Paddy and 'Shrimp' Carson who seemed to take climbing rather casually. Dr. Dark remembered one climb when Shrimp let down some rope for Eleanor to tie on. They used 32 mm yacht manila or heavy sashcord on rock belays. Upon reaching the
-belay ledge Eleanor found Shrimp lighting a cigarette with the rest of the rope neatly coiled beside him.
-After they had been climbing for about a year, Osmar, Eric Lowe and Jim Starkey attempted to climb Arethusa Falls. They reached the mouth of the gorge and climbed to the lip of the
-lower waterfall late in the afternoon. Osmar in later years recalled "It was then too late to tackle the cliffsabove the falls and we turned back, hoping to reach a reasonable camp
-site before nightfall. After two or three hours stumbling around in the pitch dark and heavy rain, trying to keep as close to the foot of the main cliffs as possible, we sat down where we were and went to sleep."
 "It was sobering to wake in the morning and discover that we had bumbled our way up a fast rising ledge and had slept with a metre or so of a sixty metre drop." As Dark acidly pointed out, they had shown poor judgement in attempting to travel at all in such conditions.
-Several weeks later Dark and Walford joined the team. They planned to bivouac on a narrow level platform above the first fall, and tackle the tough climbing to the tableland
-with a full day in hand. White recalled that it was "a forbidding place indeed  cold,
+Several weeks later Dark and Walford joined the team. They planned to bivouac on a narrow level platform above the first fall, and tackle the tough climbing to the tableland with a full day in hand. White recalled that it was "a forbidding place indeed ... cold, windy and full of echoes. My private anxiety was that the creek would flash-flood during the night and wash us all to kingdom come".
-windy and full of echoes. My p'rivate anxiety was that the creek would flash-flood during the night and wash us all to kingdom come".
 Osmar, who had sprained his ankle at camp getting a second cup of tea, had the ignominy of being hauled up the climbs - the only casualty in the life of the club.
-Also about this time (1932) a party of Queensland climbers including Bert Salmon came to the Blue Mountains. They did not believe in using ropes and scaled the Boars Head, the
-Three Sisters as well as a number of other cliffs. However they could not get above the falls on Arethusa.
+Also about this time (1932) a party of Queensland climbers including Bert Salmon came to the Blue Mountains. They did not believe in using ropes and scaled the Boars Head, the Three Sisters as well as a number of other cliffs. However they could not get above the falls on Arethusa.
 Dr. Dark said "What we considered our first serious ascent was the Boars Head. Lowe and I began from the bottom of the narrow gully between it and the mainland. We worked along a ledge from the eastern end to the southern side, then straight up a cliff which brought us to a ledge right under the jaws; from this a short sloping rock led to the top."
-Page The Sydney Bushwalker January 1990
 "A friend of Osmar's, Jim Starkey, joined us and brought our first bit of notoriety. One afternoon we were all on top of the Boars Head when I thought it would be a nice idea to try to get into the jaws. It was a mildly acrobatic bit of climbing, which Jim photographed. The picture was quite sensational and Jim got it published in a Sydney paper. It was probably this which attracted Movietone News, who were always seeking unusual items for their Newsreels.
-"We decided that the best shots would be got from the Boars Head, Castle Point, and the First Sister. Lowe, Osmar and I climbed Castle Point, up through the series of galleries on the north side, making our way from gallery to gallery with the help of a most unethical instrument. This was like a two-metre long
-ice-axe with a deeply curved pick and a notch to hold the rope where the shaft entered the head.
+"We decided that the best shots would be got from the Boars Head, Castle Point, and the First Sister. Lowe, Osmar and I climbed Castle Point, up through the series of galleries on the north side, making our way from gallery to gallery with the help of a most unethical instrument. This was like a two-metre long ice-axe with a deeply curved pick and a notch to hold the rope where the shaft entered the head.
-"We had not yet climbed the First Sister, but it simply must be done before the day appointed for filming. I went up the deeply eroded pitch, from where the Council later placed that sacrilegious seat,
-to the ledge along the eastern face. Lowe and Osmar went out onto the ledge to climb that obvious gash which leads up from a few feet along it. It would not go. Then Osmar
+"We had not yet climbed the First Sister, but it simply must be done before the day appointed for filming. I went up the deeply eroded pitch, from where the Council later placed that sacrilegious seat, to the ledge along the eastern face. Lowe and Osmar went out onto the ledge to climb that obvious gash which leads up from a few feet along it. It would not go. Then Osmar poked further along the ledge, round a slight angle, and came back to report that there was a vertical cliff, which looked climbable, and should lead to the top. Osmar was right, so we finished the climb."
-poked further along the ledge, round a slight angle, and came back to report that there was
-a vertical cliff, which looked climbable, and should lead to the top. Osmar was right, so
+Osmar was 'cast' to make the descent into the Boar's Jaws while Joe Stannard from Movietone News captured the action. Intending to wiggle into the 'mouth', a problem with communication left Osmar dangling painfully on a rope over a very long drop. A long lens recorded "my expression of alarm and gibbering fury and the microphone picked up my Nixonian Language - no expletives deleted? When Stannard ran the raw film through the studio projector in Sydney, audience reaction, particularly among the female technicians, could fairly be described as pronounced. Joe had a wicked sense of humour ...
-we finished the climb."
-Osmar was 'cast' to make the descent into the Boar's Jaws while Joe Stannard from Movietone News captured the action. Intending to wiggle into the 'mouth', a problem with
+Dr. Dark missed the Australian release, but some years later, whilst he and Eleanor were in America (1937) looking at medical procedures, they happened to visit a theatre and saw the antics in a film captioned "Unusual Sports".
-communication left Osmar dangling painfully on a rope over a very long drop. A long lens recorded "my expression of alarm and gibbering fury and the microphone picked up my Nixonian Language - no expletives deleted? When Stannard ran the raw film through the studie projector in Sydney, audience reaction, particularly among the female technicians, could
-fairly be described as pronounced. Joe had a wicked sense of humour
+They had many memorable climbs, such as the traverse of the Three Sisters massif from the valley floor, the ascent of the First Sister on the western face from the valley, Boars Head from the valley, the ascent of Arethusa Falls and Minnehaha Gorge from the Grose Valley, the skyline traverse of Kedumba Point, a number of routes from Megalong to Narrow Neck, and two or three routes up onto the western cliffs to Kings Tableland.
-Dr. Dark missed the Australian release,but some years later, whilst he and Eleanor
-were in America (1937) looking at medical procedures, they happehd to visit a theatre and saw the antics in a film captioned "Unusual Sports".
+They only had one fall. Eric Lowe was standing on a boulder over Nellie's Glen when suddenly it came away from the wall. He fell about twelve metres and by sheer good luck landed on the narrow ledge where Darkand Osmar were holding a secondary belay. Fortunately he escaped with only a bruised thigh.
-They had many memorable climbs, such as the traverse of the Three Sisters massif from the valley floor, the ascent of the First Sister on the western face from the valley, Boars Head from the valley, the ascent ofArethusa Falls and Minnehaha Gorge from the Grose Valley, the skyline traverse of Kedumba Pbint, a number of routes from Megalong to Narrow Neck, and two or three routes up onto the western cliffs to Kings Tableland.
-They only had one fall. Eric Lowe was standing on a boulder over Nellie's Glen when
+The Blue Mountaineers incorporated bushwalking as well as rockclimbing, going as far afield as Barrington tops. Occasionally they were called upon to assist the Katoomba police in search and rescue work.
-suddenly it came away from the wall. He fell about twelve metres and by sheer good luck landed on the narrow ledge where Darkand Osmar were holding a secondary belay. Fortunately he escaped with only a bruised thigh.
-The Blue Mountaineers incorpoated bushwalking as well as rockclimbing, going as far afield as Barrington tops. Occasionally they were called upon to assist the Katoomba police In search and rescue work.
+At the beginning of the climbing season both Dark and White needed a little time to adjust their sense of balance - Osmar would sit on a cliff and dangle his legs over the edge whilst reading a book. He remembered Dr. Dark as "a stylish, strong rock man with gymnastic ability and impressive rhythm". Dark was strongly adverse to iron-mongery, and preached the Mummery doctrine that a rope should never be used as an aid to climbing, only as a precaution against misjudgement or accidents from rotten rock. The challenge was to pit the physical and mental capacity of the climber against the difficulties of the pitch. "The art was to judge physical ability accurately." (White)
-At the beginning of the climbing season both Dark and White needed a little time to adjust their sense of balance - Osmar would sit on a cliff and dangle his legs over the edge whilst reading a book. He remembered Dr. Dark as "a stylish, strong rock man with gymnastic ability and impressive rhythm". Dark was strongly adverse to iron-mongery, and preached the Mummery doctrine that a rope should never be used as an aid to climbing, only
-as a precaution against misjudgement or accidents from rotten rock. The challenge was to
-January 1990 The Sydney Bushwalker Page 9
-pit the physical and mental capacity of the climber against the difficulties of the pitch. "The art was to judge physical ability accurately." (White)
 When he was a boy of twelve, Dr. Dark was inspired to visit the Warrumbungles by seeing copies of the Town and Country Journal, which were stuck to the walls of Mittagong Railway Station. Interestingly these photos by Judge Docker also caught the attention of another
 youth - Myles Dunphy who went on to have the area declared a national park.
-Eventually in the early 1930's the Darks, Eric Lowe and Osmar White travelled to the Warrumbungles. Dark and Osmar succeeded in making the first successful ascent of Belougerie Spire via the West Face. The last hundred and fifty metres were the hardest. Vertical,
-exposed climbing with one pitch involving a hundred metre traverse across the face of the mountain along a ledge 30-90 centimetres wide with a sheer rock wall above and a drop of 300 metres below. On the first climb this margin of safety was possibly overstepped.
-They also climbed the Tonduron Spire via the South Arete. The crux involved a narrow chimney which both Erics were able to scale. Osmar could not fit through the final section and had to make the ascent from the outside. Osmar recalled that Eleanor became jammed "and was unable to move either up or down under her own steam. Dark, Lowe and I heaved
-mightily on the rope and pulled the distinguished novelist out of her pants. She was not
-amused."
-Next month   THE SYDNEY ROCKCLIMBERS.
-===== NEW MEMBERS =====
+Eventually in the early 1930's the Darks, Eric Lowe and Osmar White travelled to the Warrumbungles. Dark and Osmar succeeded in making the first successful ascent of Belougerie Spire via the West Face. The last hundred and fifty metres were the hardest. Vertical, exposed climbing with one pitch involving a hundred metre traverse across the face of the mountain along a ledge 30-90 centimetres wide with a sheer rock wall above and a drop of 300 metres below. On the first climb this margin of safety was possibly overstepped.
+They also climbed the Tonduron Spire via the South Arete. The crux involved a narrow chimney which both Erics were able to scale. Osmar could not fit through the final section and had to make the ascent from the outside. Osmar recalled that Eleanor became jammed "and was unable to move either up or down under her own steam. Dark, Lowe and I heaved mightily on the rope and pulled the distinguished novelist out of her pants. She was not amused."
+Next month ... The Sydney Rockclimbers.
+===== New members =====
-Two new members were admitted to the Club at the December Committee Meeting. They are Peter Sternhell and Ed Franklin. Their addresses and telephone numbers will be included in the new List of Members to be sent to members during Fodruary.
+Two new members were admitted to the Club at the December Committee Meeting. They are Peter Sternhell and Ed Franklin. Their addresses and telephone numbers will be included in the new List of Members to be sent to members during February.
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-January 1990 The Sydney Bushwalker Page 11
 ===== THE DECEMBER GENERAL  MEETING =====