Claustral Canyon, Blue Mountains, Australia

Claustral Canyon has carved itself a reputation as one of the finest absiel canyons in the Blue Mountains. First descended in 1960 by a group from the Sydney Uni Bushwalkers (SUBW) using manilla ropes and over-the-shoulder abseiling techniques, Claustral has kept its popularity through ease of access and magnificent formations. The names comes from “Claustraphobia” refering to the famously dark “Black Hole of the Calcutta” where the three rappels are. The canyon is done commercially and is very popular with recreationalists too. There have been many deaths in Claustral, mostly from inexperienced groups and hypothermia, but occaisonally drownings feature. A friend from my last trip to Aussie, Ian Knapp, was the latest victim of Claustral. He slipped whilst descending a fixed rope and became wedged in a siphon and drowned. RIP Ian..

I hadn’t met Rowan Peck or Roderick Smith before, but it wasn’t long before we all began to get along well. It was a chilly and windy morning up at Mt Tomah, so I was pleased to get on the track and moving.

As expected, we weren’t the only ones Canyoning here this Sunday. We passed one large party of middle to senior aged Canyoners just as the entry track arrived at the upper reaches of Claustral Brook. Continuing downstream a ways, we found a spot to suit up and were soon passed by other keener Canyoners.

The canyon soon began to slot up a little and offer a number of small challenges. Whilst most of our Claustral companions chose the easiest options, I often chose the harder, wetter, more interesting ways. We had a few small jumps and hand-over-hand down climbs on fixed lines to contend with before reaching the mouth of ‘The Black Hole of the Calcutta’.

Mt Wilson Topo maps names these three tiered waterfalls as Calcutta Falls, though it wasn’t until I descended that I truly appreciated the ‘Black Hole’ part of the name. The first pitch was from a wedged log on the true left. Looking at all the rope scars, I wonder how much longer the log would last. Surely a slung rapide would remove all the wear from the log?

I’d purposely left my rope bag at home, since there were only three raps and I didn’t want to rock the boat too much with my newly acquainted companions. Though as I stared over the edge into the reasonable flow of the falls, I wished I had brought the bag.

Rowan rappelled first and I was able to snap the ‘Classic Claustral Abseil’ photo.

As Rod pulled the rope down, I joined Rowan who had wedged himself comfortably in a constriction just before the next pitch. After I stacked the rope in my pack, I slung it from my harness and began to thread the rope end through the single ring bolt on the upper right hand wall. This time I rigged single strand and disappeared into the next pitch.

A few meters from the pool, there was a beautiful round hole in the canyon wall that was slung for the next anchor. I rigged our second rope single strand then went through the hole and down the final pitch. On descent I looked up and around and marveled at the incredible formations above me and the blackness beneath. On each subsequent abseil, we had traveled deeper in to the heart of the canyon. Each meter descended was now a meter of incredible formation above.

At the end of the final rappel, I sidestepped left onto a ledge to try and take photos of the others on the way down. It was very dark, so I was shooting 4 second exposures. Unfortunately it was too loud to communicate well with Rod and Rowan, so I only got a couple of photos before they made it to me.

We jumped into the pool and began to wade our way through some of the deepest, darkest and most amazingly beautiful canyon narrows I’ve been in yet. Arrays of ferns lined the walls, giving a green hue to the transcendent lighting. A short way along we arrived at a confluence, where Ranon Canyon enters the Claustral System.

For the next 20 minutes we waded our way through the 3-4m wide and 30-40m deep cleft in the earth, marveling at the shapes, colours, flora and fauna within.

Soon though, the incredible canyon relented back to ‘average’ canyon and we paused at the confluence with Thunder Canyon for a moment. Rowan knew of a Glow-worm cave up Thunder Canyon, so we ditched our packs and scrambled our way up Canyon to Westerway falls. Here the Canyon is very dark, so with headlights shining, we dove into the pool, straight toward the falls and at the very last moment ducked under the rock to emerge in a giant chamber behind the waterfall. Switching off our lights, our eyes adjusted then widened at the incredible display before us. Hundreds of Glow Worms lit the cavern like the night sky, whilst the waterfall pounded down outside.

Rowan and Rod continued back into the cave in search of more Glow worms. Not being much fond of caves, I remained in the main chamber to enjoy the show until they returned. Back at the main Canyon we had a bite to eat before continuing downstream.

There were several large boulder fields to negotiate, as well as some tricky down climbs to be made.

One in particular made me pause and contemplate a few things. Here was the siphon that had claimed Ian’s Life. I investigated it carefully and pondered the circumstances. True, it didn’t look like much, but with a reasonable amount of flow like the Canyon had been experiencing recently, it was a very real and present danger.

Beneath that nasty hand line, we had a 50m ‘tunnel swim’ which was our final obstacle in the Canyon. Joining the throng of other Oz Canyoners, we changed into our hiking clothes for the scramble out of Rainbow Ravine. The guide book promised a decent scramble out and the reality did not disappoint. Though none of the climbs were exposed, they were difficult enough to require concentration.

Rainbow Ravine itself was a neat, short-lived canyon, and soon we were ready to scramble the final section out. A young lady was having difficulty with the climb, so we took her the long way round and repatriated her with her group on one of the large slabs that overlooked the Canyon.

The walk out was satisfyingly challenging and it was quite nice to reach the car and end the exertion for the day. Our trip was a 7.5hr round trip, including lunch and the side trip to the Glow Worm Cave.