Devils Pinch
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| | Difficulty:3B (v3a2 III) Raps:max ↨66ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle: Rock type:Sanstone | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Best season: | Oct-Apr (avg for this region)
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-33.1607, 150.2754
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Introduction[edit]
This canyon is described in limited detail in Canyons Near Sydney by Rick Jamieson. Help the Australian canyoning community by contributing track notes to ropewiki.com
Approach[edit]
Descent[edit]
Exit[edit]
Red tape[edit]
Beta sites[edit]
The below track notes are an excerpt from Canyons Near Sydney 5th edition guidebook by Rick Jamieson which is no longer in print.
Grade: 5 difficult. Time: 1 long day. One or two 50 m ropes needed (depending on how you do the abseils). There is a short, dry section and a longer, wetter section. There are a couple of tricky abseils in the first section, where the rope is difficult to retrieve. There are some deep wades (or short swims) in the second section. The bottom section is very impressive. A great canyon.
Start as for Starlight Canyon, going up the Glen Davis track to the watershed, then along the ridge N then NE - then tum right, off the main track, up to the top of a hill.
Now go ESE for 200m, then SSE along the ridge for 400 m. From a flat saddle turn left, then walk E down into the creek at about GR 459276 (Mt. Morgan map).
Soon the creek drops down a crevasse. There are two ways down the first bit. One way is to abseil down the first little bit, then abseil 15 m from a branch that hangs over the canyon, then use a big sling around a chockstone that is wedged up in the canyon, as an anchor for the next couple of drops. Otherwise, scramble right above the canyon and abseil straight down on two ropes from a tree. Now walk down the open creek for a while.
The next section of canyon starts with a jump into a pool - otherwise climb up on the left a couple of metres then traverse around the pool and down on tree roots. There follow several tricky scrambling sections and some deep wades (or short swims) until the next abseil is encountered. The anchor for this 20 m overhanging abseil is a large tree upstream from the drop. The walk down the canyon from here is magnificent. At the end of the canyon there is a big waterfall. You can walk round it on the left, or abseil 50 m down it (tricky). Now scramble down the hill on the left to the Wolgan.
Cross the river and walk upstream for 400 m until the road comes down close to the river (this bit of road is marked as the "Devil's Pinch" on old maps). Follow the road back up to Newnes.
The bottom, spectacular part of Devil's Pinch Canyon can be visited without difficulty by walking down the river from Newnes on the right bank, then climbing the gully on the left bank, starting at a point 400 m downstream from where the road goes steeply up a hill.
Trip reports and media[edit]
- Sleep When We Are Dead :Devils pinch. Dec 2016.