Castle Head Abseils

Another day with our new leaders, where we did a series of abseils down Castle Head towards Ruined Castle. We did 6 dry abseils, with beginners getting valuable experience through some tricky abseils and new leaders having some practice rigging and anchor managing. The day was quite dramatic and hence warrants a trip report.

We got to Katoomba late in the morning with some people catching an earlier train to explore the town a bit. Liam was kind enough to walk to Woodford Station and pass us ropes and club gear held at his place. The train ride was put into meaningful use, reorganising gear and flaking ropes, plus a bit of conversation with other passengers explaining the purpose of these chunky ropes. Everyone met at the station and from there we took a bus to Narrow Neck lookout.

Getting on the bus, we saw the bus driver enjoying his audiobook. Zhan heard the phrase "Noah said to god..." and told everyone his findings of the bus driver listening to a bible audiobook. We joked that he had offended the bus driver and the driver may issue us payback by driving the bus down a cliff. I assume the Lord has forgiven us, as we made it to the bus stop safely, even though it didn't seem to be the case with the driver's stern-looking face. 

From Narrow Neck lookout, it was a roughly 1-hour bushwalk to Castle Head, following the fire trail and numerous scenic lookouts. The abseils start near the trigonometric station with some exposed steps, which are probably scarier than the abseils. One beginner struggled a lot through the bushwalk and we thought it would be best for her to turn back at this stage, and Adam was kind enough to walk her back to the car. 

A bit of fumbling and everyone had their harnesses on, ready to go. Elias rigged the abseil and I was the first to go down. The first abseil had a tricky finish where everyone had to swing hard towards the right and grab onto a tree to make the landing. It was a bit scary watching the abseil line end in a deep plunge. It took a while for me to bounce towards the right, grab the tree using my left hand, land on my back and safely go off rope. 

Everyone soon followed, making a big leap to the right while I grabbed on their packs, helping them land on the ledge. The 2nd abseil was located right across, being an easy ~15m walk down a slope. Zhan went down first and I started sending people down while Elias abseiled down last. 

The 3rd abseil was short but a bit tricky for beginners. It descends through a narrow crack before landing right into the bushes. I abseiled first, purposefully dislodging a few loose rocks and landed with my pack catching into a few branches. The start was quite awkward for beginners but once over the ledge, everything is smooth sailing. 

Clemént came down next and I scouted along the ridge to find the next abseil. It didn't take long before discovering the optional leap of faith, where one could jump through a big gap or abseil down and scramble back up. Zhan and I had the abseil set up and enjoyed a snack break waiting for everyone. Half of the group got here but 20 minutes on I still haven't seen anyone from the other half of the group. All I've heard is lots of "ok" whistles and nothing else. I've gotten a bit worried and started backtracking to the abseil to check out what happened. At the base of the abseil, I saw Adriano, who had been bottom belaying for the past half an hour. I took over his important role of belaying and luckily, it was only Ilana and Elias, our prospective trip leaders, abseiling down. Ilana abseiled with 2 packs, I fixed up the pulldown strand and Elias abseiled last. 

What happened in the past 20 minutes? The mystery was unveiled as Ilana came down and told me everything that happened. One beginner was abseiling and just as he was starting the abseil, he got into an awkward position where one foot sank into the dirt and another foot was in the air. I've heard a few versions of the story and we can't really tell what actually happened at that time, but from what I've heard, it wasn't anything serious and should be an easy problem to resolve. The new leaders from the top panicked a bit as he would let go of his brake hand multiple times; they told him to have his brake hand on at all times, and no one would listen. Every time he continued abseiling, he would give the "ok" whistle, then stop abseiling, then give the "ok" whistle again, and this cycle lasted multiple times for about 20 minutes. He said he was having a panic attack, but eventually got down with a small tear in his pants, and Adriano down there telling him to relax. It's a stressful situation for new leaders, but it's all good experience to improvise and deal with unfamiliar scenarios.

Elias made the leap of faith while I had the 40m abseil ready. The abseil finishes with a really fun overhang descending straight to the ground. From the bushes after the 3rd abseil, Elias discovered a wooden sword and was very excited to show off his newfound weapon. It's a cool prop for some photo ops, locking off mid-abseil and waving his sword. 

From the final abseil, we walked out in the dark via Golden Stairs and finished our day with a bus out from Scenic World. During our dinner at Cattlefish, Elias has discovered that he couldn't find his water bottle and that was most likely left behind in the abseils. We suppose the random wooden sword we found belonged to someone abseiling a few weeks back with a dragon costume and posted on a Facebook group asking if anyone would have found a wooden sword. It's a busy time of the year for all uni students, but hopefully one day the sword will make its way back to its rightful owners.

Elias embarked on a water bottle recovery action a few days after the trip. From the bottom of Castle Head, he scrambled all the way up to the 3rd abseil, where he found his water bottle. I assumed he would have picked another ridge instead of scrambling straight up the abseils, but still, some scrambles look sketchy such as in this picture.