Date: 5/10/2026
Trip leader: Adam H
Party: Ben B, Elias D, Georgia A, Murray J, Seb C
Originally this trip was set to be a triple canyon day, doing Alcatraz, Twister, and Rocky Creek. However, with the unfortunate cancellation of my Upper South Bowens trip a few days prior and this being Georgia and Ben’s first time down a canyon, I thought it better that we go to a proper abseiling canyon, and on the plus side it meant a shorter drive.
So, on we went, making a civilised morning start at the day’s end point, leaving a car there and taking 2 of our 3 cars down to the top Pierces Pass carpark.
We raced along the entry track, passing pagodas and wild waratahs which are always a great adornment to a canyon entry.
It wasn’t long before we were down in a tributary to South Bowens Creek and suiting up. This tributary would have us do 3 abseils before reaching Bowens Creek proper.
It was on one of these pitches that the stitching of one of Seb’s gear loops gave way, dropping the gear on it into the deep pool below. Panic ensued at the hundreds of dollars lost to the canyon, but fortunately I had my goggles and dive torch ready to go. I was able to retrieve a carabiner and dyneema sling before captiulating to the buoyancy of my wetsuit. Next went Murray, then Ben, then Georgia, each making a good attempt to find Seb’s VT on a biner. The sediment became increasingly stirred up and the pool increasingly harder to see in. We were just about ready to walk off accepting the loss, when Murray’s unmatched determination saw him go for another dive and out he surfaced with the VT and biner.
Murray’s stellar efforts meant Seb’s gear lived to see another day, but more importantly, it meant we were not polluting the canyon. 🙂
Continuing on, we found amusement in a chunky maillon rated for 60kN on the next pitch. It’s hard to tell just how chunky this maillon was from the image, but it did make my 9mm rope look rather thin…
We finally reached Bowens Creek South, and a few of the party went a short way upstream in this section and found an ambulance stretcher with a note dated Janurary 2025 asking that it be left in place for a training exercise. Seems as though it has been forgotten about.
We continued downstream, completing a few more abseils that could probably have been doable as downclimbs had we not had the rope. Proving this on one of the pitches, Murray proclaimed that his faith in his climbing skills were greater than his faith in the sling, and found a route to downclimb.
A few more pretty swims and constriction, and we were heading up the exit.
The exit is quite a fun one, with a cool scramble up a chimney and a handline-assisted climb up a watercourse presumably mostly used by climbers to access the Bowens Creek crag we passed.
Thankfully on this 18 degree day the exit felt quite easy, and we had sorted out our car shuffle in good time to satisfy Elias’ perpetual desire to dine at what is apparently the finest fish & chip shop in all the land, Cattlefish in Katoomba.
A good day out in one of the better rather-close-to-Sydney canyons that is on offer at the moment.
Photos mostly by Georgia.
