 On
the 12 of April 2003 four intrepid climbers set out to create
a link up between one of the most scenic canyons in the Blue
Mountains and find a new way of climbing from the bottom of
the Grose valley to the top without using the established
escape route.
The canyon in question was Butterbox canyon at Mount Hay (Grade
5) which is one of the most spectacular as well as challenging
canyons in the mountains. In addition the dirt road from Leura
is 15 km long and the area around Mount Hay feels very remote
indeed. There is only one famous line in the vicinity that
scales the enormous cliffs around Mount Hay from top to bottom;
 the
classic "Margarine Ridge." Go Here to see a photo
gallery on our ascent of this classic line grade only 13!
Alternatively there is a walking trail which can now be used
to escape out of the Grose after the canyon exit without the
need to climb. But climbing is exactly what we wanted to do.
Tending right (facing the Grose) towards the exit gully for
about 15 minutes just before one hits the Right hand arete
of the Gully we used a broken line of interconnected faces
to find a new line that ascended parallel to the exit gully
about 10 meters to the right when facing the gully from the
bottom of the Grose valley. The resulting route was called
“Creamdream” and sports 3 pitches of all natural
free-climbing on a variety of gear. So after spending a night
at the car park surrounded by the  cloudless
Milky Way we set of at 7:00AM to start Butterbox canyon. We
took approximately 4 hours to complete the canyon down into
the Grose Valley and had lunch at a beautiful rock-platform
at the canyon exit. After practicing our Prussic skills on
fixed ropes we decide upon a natural line in order to establish
a new route out of the valley. What follows below is a rough
description of the 3 all natural pitches which we called Creamdream:
 1)
The long undulating line of least résistance up an
exposed and vertical face just to the right of the exit gully.
There are lots of corners and some cracks so take a large
rack if you intend to get up this 30 meter first pitch. Grade
is about 20 depending on where you start exactly. We started
heading left towards the arête of the gully for about
5 meters and where then forced back to the right for a couple
of moves until we reached a corner with a hideous mantel move
on top. Following a couple of steep and cruxy crimps we reached
a comfortable belay corner with good stance for two people.
You can see the exit gully just to your left. 
2) The next pitch
starts with a couple of moves up a balancy arête followed
by a superb short face about 5 meters high. At the top of
this section there is a tricky face with hard moves that are
difficult to protect on natural gear. We went slightly right
around the arête for some exposure and easier ground.
At the top of this arête the route reaches a plateau
with large boulders. We cut this second pitch at the top of
a large boulder after about 40 meters of climbing. We now
faced the crux of the route a prominent barrier of rock with
no way to escape to the side.
 3)
There are two ways of attacking this fabulously featured rock-face.
The right hand side of this face is split by a fist-size perfectly
parallel crack. I tried the crack until the little roof in
the middle but did not have a large enough cam to protect
the crux move through the roof. It would have taken a number
4 Camelot or larger. My next attempt was straight up the middle
of the face on a heavily featured wall. I had to pull weed
out of the crack to lodge my caming devices and there were
several committing moves with protection well below me. Once
I heaved my tired carcass over the top after about 10 meters
of sustained face climbing I was mentally very tired and the
route felt like 21. However both Will and Bryan climbed this
pitch easily so it is probably more like 19 to 20. Be warned
this is a very committing lead on difficult to place protection.
At the top of
this pitch we could walk around the top buttress to the left
and join the walking track out back to the top of Mount Hay.
The sun was just setting when we came across a few birdwatchers
and arrived back at the car at 19:00PM.
The
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