Arethusa-Alpheus Canyon 2016

29-30 December

It is nice to revisit an old adventure several years after it has taken place, sometimes the memories come flooding back and rarely, very rarely, a new chapter to an old story needs to be opened. Some four years after Arethusa in 2020, I found myself in this very situation: as if this canyon had stayed within me for four years until closure came at last. Read on below.

Mark and Jen had organized this canyon for quite some time and finally with the weather gods once again trying to have fun with us (we went from a 36 degree scorcher to a 16 degree misty morning overnight) Jean, Jo and Roman joined them in one of the most under-appreciated canyons in the Blue Mountains. It literally has everything the contemporary canyoneer desires: route finding, nice long raps, wide river canyon with lots of jumps, swims, narrow dark canyon with lots of jumps and swims as well as a majestic wide lunch ledge where Arethusa meets Alpheus Canyon with gorgeous views down into the Grose valley, all topped by a couple of easy rock climbing pitches to get out.

The night before we met at the local Alexander Pub in Leura for a nice meal before heading along Mount Hay road to our camp site. We had a little surprise waiting for us at the trail head, which we were going to explore late at night, but a brand new Harley Davidson appeared across the trail seemingly abandoned. Once we got our headtorches to explore we found the biky in full leathers slumped to the ground behind it. Mark mentioned Ivan Millat which gave us all a sleepless night or perhaps it was the sound of the guy puking his guts out that kept us awake? He gave us a nice high five early in the morning as he hit the road again. Funny what you find in the push these days.

Route finding could be a little problematic on this canyon since the first rap point is a mere sling around a tree in the middle of nowhere, but with Mark’s super preparation (laminated trail maps, laminated entry and exit description, compass and GPS with pre-written coordinates) we pretty much hit the entry point almost straight on.

When you reach the end of the trail head trend to your left through thick scrub downhill. Stay high so you can get around the little tributary. Or abseil into it and climb back up the other side as we did. There is the possibility to do a waterfall abseil into the canyon here but you can only sling a hug boulder that forms a choke stone. The first clean rap down an overhanging rock face is on the other side (West) which is a little odd and therefore it is best to stay high and avoid the little creek.

We used two 50meter ropes on the first rap but a single 60 meter will also do the job. Keep the belay high above the edge or the rope will not pull. Make sure you bring your knot right to the edge (death knot works well) and test your knot before you pull the rope as it can easily get stuck here. The second rap had a huge dead tree across it, avoid it and use a life tree on the left bank of the waterfall (facing downstream). It is made up of three tiers but a single 50 meter rope will reach all the way to the bottom. Once you are past the first two raps the river bed begins. About one hour rock hoping and several swims will get you to the canyon proper.

The canyon proper starts with a single 10 meter rap to the right hand side of the waterfall with several slings around a rock bollards. First you climb into a manhole with an exit window through which you rap to the canyon floor. This is a spectacular start to the dark part of the canyon and there are two alternative raps: one of a tree on the left hand side which misses out on all the fun stuff and one straight down the guts of the water fall. Pick you poison and follow the canyon downstream with several jumps and long swims. Some of the short waterfalls have bolts with old ropes attached and the downclimbs can be a little tricky. Not everything can be jumped here because of submerged rocks but if you check, you can find some glorious splashes! After about one hour of canyon proper you emerge at the junction of Alpheus and Arethusa canyon with panoramic views of the Grose. There are multiple long waterfalls to choose from for a final wet rappel before the climb out begins. This is a great lunch spot and the way out is easy to find on the right hand side of Alpheus falls with a guide rope and ring bolts. Pitch one has about 5 rings and ends in a steep slope. Walk up and about 100 meters to the right facing the cliff in a corner you will find pitch two. A left hand traverse through several bands of rock leads to a walking track back to the falls.

Here the original guide continues to climb upstream through Alpheus canyon but there is now a ring bolted steep climb-out with guide ropes that avoids the canyon all together. We checked out the creek approach and it looked fairly tricky climbing up-streams so we choose to climb our way out. Several pitches on rings and guide-ropes with fairly easy climbing leads to a path straight up to a cliff band. Trend leftwards first until you find the handline with the nice mantle move – you will know what I mean when you find it – then on the final top cliffline trend to the right and you arrive on the junction lookout majestically towering over both canyons. From here a ridge climb leads back to the original trail in a perfect loop formation. Our leisurely turn-around time was just over 8 hours with a team of five.

Photos on this trip are scarce since I lost my Olympus Tough half way through the canyon at a waterfall not once but twice. First time the carabineer slipped through my hands while taking a photo in a shallow pool of water. Amazingly Mark somehow managed to find it in the murky water. Once I clipped it back on my chest harness I watched in slow motion as the leash rope unwound in the slippery conditions and it disappeared down a waterfall in front of me!  The pool was fairly shallow but after 5 minutes of groping around with the water fall pounding me into a beautiful brain freeze, I had to give up. I will bring a hoody next time and see if I can find it….

Thanks for the extra shackles on the belay Jen nice preparation and thanks for the Aldi beer at the end Mark nice work.

This is were the story ended in 2016, but early on Sunday morning my son woke me and said: 'hey dad, is that you on this facebook page?'. What he should me was a picture of me taken in Arethusa canyon with the caption: "Does anybody know this man?" One of the Blue Mountains Rescue volunteers had found an OlympusTough Camera downstream in the canyon on a training exercise. The camera had been in bad shape, but the memory card was perfectly preserved after spending four years in the water! He extracted the card and posted some images on Facebook to try to identify the owner. I few days later I had my camera and images back so the story continues. Below are the new images salvaged from a camera that lay waiting in a stream for several years until rediscovered. Enjoy