View from Bat 09 Tor Slab to Orroral Tor and the Orroral Valley

Map: Corin Dam 1:25000

Walk Description

This walk was organised and led by Ian W as an irregular CBC Tuesday walk:

Tuesday 19 March 2013: The Battlements Outcrop & Honeysuckle Crag, Namadgi National Park– M/R/X. Start at Honeysuckle Creek Campground. Follow the Orroral Ridge Road & then part way down the Orroral Link Road, through pleasant forests for 6 km. The rest of the day is off-track. Leave the road and ascend to the small outcrop known by climbers as The Battlements, at Corin Dam 786570. We’ll also explore along the ridge for about 1.5 km southeast as there appear to be other large tors & slabs in the forest. We will then follow the ridge northwest & northeast back to the cars via Honeysuckle Crag (also known as Spinnaker Rock) Total Distance: About 14 km Total Ascent: 450 m The off track sections are likely to have moderate to thick scrub. Map: Corin Dam 1: 25,000 Leader: Ian W. Limit: 8. Transport: Approx. 80 km return.

6 of us drove in 2 vehicles from Canberra via Tharwa, Naas Rd and Apollo Rd to the Honeysuckle Campground car park.

Photographs

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Track Maps

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Track overview

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Track 2

Videos

Google Earth

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Track Notes

A cool Autumn morning as we shook out - it turned out to be a perfect walking day. Once again, hats off to Ian - this was yet another fabulous walk to granite on ridges that one normally hurries past. He deserves a medal for the time he must spend on Google Earth, tracking down dark patches of granite. I was through this general area on 19 Dec 06 and managed to miss every feature that Ian took us to today.

A body warming 5.6km in 1hr 5 mins via the Orroral Ridge Rd and Link Track to a convenient point to go bush.

Thick scrub, but within 180m and 10mins, Ian found us an appetite whetting feature (waypoint Bonus granite). A further 260m West in 15mins (so slow going), we came to the first major feature of the day (waypoint Bat 03 Tors - the feature 'names' are pretty non-descript today, as Ian took us to so many. Today, they are mainly named after his 'Bat'tlements walk waypoints + the type of feature he found on Google Earth).

So continued a general (but precisely navigated by GPS) wander to the SE to visit Bat 05 Tors and Bat 06 Boulder Complex, 660m in 35mins (again, slow going). Morning tea at 10.15am nearby with huge views down to the Orroral Valley.

Next, a slight detour out of NNP to the NE to visit Bat 07 Tor and Bat 08 Slab Bluff with views down into the cleared valley below.

Then back up to the ridge, back in NNP and NW along the ridge to Bat 09 Tor Slab. Huge views down over the Orroral Valley.

A further 780m in 30mins along the crest through some thick regrowth, we came to Battlements Crag, so named in the rock climbing guide ACT Granite. A magnificent face of granite above the shelf where we paused and an impressive drop below (where, no doubt, they used to climb). Views down to the Orroral Valley.

10mins later and 250m to the NE was Bat 12 Tor (a stack of 3 huge boulders) and lunch nearby. Rang home.

After lunch we headed generally NW along the ridge through SH1246, more bonus granite and past a nice wall to a point closest to the Link Track. 1.4km in 40mins reflected the more open going. I commented that from here (after walking the Orroral Ridge Rd and Link Track to around GR 777579 (MGA94) on the Corin Dam 1:25000 topo map) NW then NE along the ridge to the Spinnaker might make a bit of a round, rather than just up and back to that feature. True, except for the very tight going around the 1300m contour at Bat 19 Tor.

This feature, Bat 19 Tor 'Tunnel of Love' is a remarkable curved slot through the granite and well worth the push through the head-high pea regrowth before and after.

Plenty of good granite on the ridge heading NE towards the Spinnaker. We reached that feature at 2.20pm and had a brief break. A great view down to the Honeysuckle Creek Campground area, but you can't see the swell of the granite (like a huge sailing boat spinnaker) from above.

I only had the Campsite and fireplace waypoint to get us down, so we missed the huge overhang at GR 78753-59099 (MGA94):

Down in the clearing we picked up the footpad (see my Namadgi Footpads) out to the Tanks access trail and so to join the Orroral Ridge Rd just near the camping ground buildings.

Summary

Distance: 14.6km Climb: 550m. Time: 8.05am - 3.30pm (7hrs 25 mins), with 50 of breaks and plenty of granite ogling time.

Grading: L/R; H(12)

Walk Participants

Eric G, Ian H, Stewart J, Aman S, Ian W, me.