Dreamweaver Graphics

Bryan, Will, Roman

'It's better to burn out than to fade away'

Butterbox Canyon 2003: Creamdream

And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him

In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,

And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,

And at night the wond'rous glory of the everlasting stars.

[Banjo Paterson - Clancy of The Overflow]

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 thecloudless 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 END

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