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Three of our committee members have decided to try out a short canyon on a quiet Monday morning. With some morning miscommunication, Vincent, our Walks Secretary, was on the train an hour early. He was found sitting in a train at Parramatta while I was still crossing Parramatta Rd at Homebush to get to my bus stop. Vincent's train time coincides with the time when school kids go to school, which added a bit of chaos to the journey. The chants of "6-7! 6-7 !!" echoed as the old trains curved up the mountains towards Wentworth Falls. Being an hour late gave him the chance to give Adam an abseiling induction before his first-ever abseil down the canyon. Using an electricity pole next to Wentworth Falls Station, Vincent rigged an anchor, and Adam practised abseiling down a gentle grassy slope using his new descender. Not the best anchor as the tree is not alive, having metal wires at its canopy instead of green leaves. The classic way of learning how to abseil, I suppose. My train was a Lithgow-bound Mariyung train, trying out the new trains on the Blue Mtns line for the first time. At least there isn't trash on the train, unlike their older counterparts. Many people have complaints about the new train, but all I care about is cleanliness and the new trains certainly outperform the older ones.
Soon we arrived at the logbook which marked the start of Empress. This is where we put on wetsuits, except our beginner (Adam) who didn't have one. Given how he's survived camping in winter Tassie with just a quilt, we're pretty sure he'll be fine in this short canyon. The canyon started off with a few short swims and jumps. All the jumps are optional and can be scrambled, great news for me who'd avoid jumping at all costs. The water was cold but not too bad, given how all of us were slacking off and suffering from an increase in body weight.
We've gotten to this spot where a jump seemed the most obvious option. I avoided the jump by scrambling through a tiny crack underneath where the water flows through. Vincent, after much consideration, decided to jump. A count from 3, followed by a big splash, and Vincent's complaints about shoulder pain. Fortunately, the pain lasted for only a few minutes and didn't evolve into anything serious.
Soon we got to the final abseil down Empress Falls. I took out the rope and set up the abseil. The only issue we encountered, being fairly new to canyons, is that my rope throw wasn't strong enough. The rope landed on the first ledge instead of all the way down to the bottom, and it took a few tries to get it through. Time to work on my upper body muscles, perhaps. Nonetheless, everything went smoothly with Vincent going first and Adam followed. Both of them have become tourist superstars, as a few passed by and filmed both of them doing their abseils. Once that's done, I removed the top belay, fixed up the ropes, and went down last. There was another group catching up, but fortunately, there are many anchors for the abseil and our average student moments didn't slow them down too much.
We walked up to Conservation Hut. The sight of an SUV waiting for us has never been so good after a long strenuous walk. We went to lunch in a pub in Wentworth Falls, Katoomba for some shopping for the club (spending our $2000 USU grant), before heading home on another train. A perfect day out for canyons, before heading back to class the next day with angry groupmates asking why I haven't done anything in the group project, followed by an angry email from my lecturer on why I gave everyone full marks in peer review.
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