Fortress Canyon+Tom Thumb

 

On December the 29th Leo and myself set out to create a new link up between the Fortress Canyon and a multi pitch climb up the notorious Fortress wall at Mount Hay. The first of this link-ups was completed by Bryan, Will and me way back last year when we linked Butterbox canyon and a brand new all-natural 4-pitch climb which we named "Creamdream" also at Mount Hay. This time we slept at the Mount Hay road canyon entrance at a place called the Pinnacles. This is where the famous "Lockley Pylon" track starts descending into the Blue Gum forest, traverses the Grose and exits at Perry's look-out on the other side. We started our adventure at 7:00AM with full-gear racks for a multi-pitch adventure all wrapped neatly in water-proofed canyon packs. It was quiet hard to find the entrance to the Fortress Canyon since the description in the guidebook is very loose and there are several alternative approaches. So we went wild where we thought the start would be and one hour later we luckily hit the start of the actual canyon. Fortress canyon is classified as a "beginner" canyon" with only two small abseils in it and several long swimming sections. I highly recommend it to everyone, it is truly spectacular and can be done with minimal gear. It has some beautiful caves and lots of long freezing swims (wet suits essential). The highlights are a little jump (3m) into a huge rock-pool to warm-up, followed by an abseil (6m) into a even bigger rock pool. We managed to jump this last "abseil" and nearly drown ourselves in the process but it's not recommended. The swims are generally long and freezing and by the time you exit on the "half-way ledge" at the waterfall dropping into the Grose valley you are truly cold and tired. The finish of Fortress canyon is spectacularly positioned right at the end of where a huge waterfall drops 100 m into the valley below with Lockley Pylon on the right and the Fortress Ridge with its amazing walls (Grand Central Route and Fortress crack are two famous all-day multi-pitch adventures - anybody keen?) on the left. We arrived at this excellent picnic spot about 3 hours after entering the canyon.
Usually this is where people head home up to the top of Fortress Ridge and back to the starting point but we still had to link the canyon to our climb. I discovered on the Net that just below Fortress Ridge was a new climb called Tom Thumb (4 pitches all-bolted grade 13 !) and the plan was to find this climb on the way out, descend into the Grose valley and climb all the way back home. So up we went to the top of Fortress Ridge (30 min and very steep) and after a bit of searching we managed to find the climb one hour later thanks due to Leo's ingenuity. The start of Tom Thumb is precariously perched on a pinnacle just to the right of the "Rum Dum chimney." This is a scary place and to find it you need to go right to the "edge" of the Fortress Wall dropping into the Grose valley below. Locating the two rap-bolts took quite some time and our nerves were frayed from searching at the razor edge by the time we descended into big air. Now remember this climb is only rated grade 13! By the time we got to the bottom of it one hour later the water-logged feeling of the canyon had long evaporated and we were beginning to feel the heat, literally. There is no shade anywhere and the flies that day were on a mission. Our sweat was very nutritious and there was no breeze for relief what-so-ever in the valley. So we arrived four-pitches 200 meters down the valley at the bottom of the cliff in the early afternoon. The climbing was easy but not "that" easy and we were getting pretty tired by the time the bolts became sparser and sparser. I started using natural gear about half-way up after running it out for 20 meters straight - no bolts in sight anywhere. The flies volunteered to be swallowed and my helmet got a workout from the falling debris. In different conditions this would have been a fairly "pleasant" adventure but we were pushing 40 degrees and an army of starving blow-flies. We were grateful to get out of the undulating line after two hours of climbing and ran for the nearest shade. This climb is definitely not for beginners and route finding along the way is very difficult. Take natural gear and look carefully for bolts to the far right and left of the line. There is also a top tier with some great looking natural and top rope lines well-worth a day of climbing but we just wanted to get the hell out of there. So after a short rest we started along Fortress Ridge back to the Pinnacle car park with spectacular views of Mount Banks. 90 minutes later we completed our Canyon-Climb round-trip just before 19:00PM after 12 hours of more or less continuous action - very tired but with a big smile. We were pretty dehydrated so don't be stingy on the water when you "attempt" this thing. Finally note that route-finding skills, navigation and orienteering are a "big" part of this link-up and we spend a few hours trying to find our way on a map.

Download map Here.