David Crevasse - the long way round
David Crevasse is a slot near Mount Banks. It's used as an abseil route by canyoners with an exit back to the plateau nearby. This trip accessed it from the South of the Grose Valley, instead of the more usual walk in from Mt Banks car park.
Overview
David Crevasse is a slot near Mount Banks. It’s used as an abseil route by canyoners with an exit back to the plateau nearby. This trip accessed it from the South of the Grose Valley, instead of the more usual walk in from Mt Banks car park.
After leaving a 2nd vehicle at Lockleys Pylon car park on Mount Hay Road, we continued on to Mount Hay car park to arrive by 7:30AM.
Aerial View
Route
We followed the good track to Butterbox Point and after a quicky look down it descended steeply to the Butterbox exit ledge. After 100m of adequate ledge, we abseiled the 10m to the next ledge, crawled under the overhang and continued for 100m+ to the top of the talus. And continued steeply down the talus along the canyon exit track until it levelled out.
From here it was steeply down to the Grose, easily upstream a few hundred meters to an adequate crossing point and the up the talus bearing Westwards where possible to reach the base of the cliffs. Then we contoured around to the flared David Crevasse and ascended the rocky creek.
After finding the Eastern gully and prusiking up the static rope, we ascended to the firetrail. Looping around to a level 50m we reentered the Crevasse and descended steeply into the canyon. After completing it we headed back down the talus to the Grose, then followed it further upstream almost to the juntion of Govetts Gorge, where Shortridge Pass provided a luxurious exit to the plateau and waiting car.
To the Butterbox exit
We made an early start, arriving at Butterbox car park by 7:30. The valley was still humid after the cool night. The water vapour constantly moving higher in the valley.
We started down the good track towards Butterbox Point, passing the canyon entry track.
And after descending rocky steps reached the Point and looked down at the canyon exit as the mist rose from the valley floor just in time to obscure it completely.
Retracing 20m to the tiny saddle we descended very steeply over the recently eroded gully to the Mt York Claystone ledge. All the vegetation was damp, so the lucky walker who went first was assigned the task of shaking all the branches he passed.
Butterbox exit
Reaching the chocolate ledge we set up a quick abseil from the pair of ring bolts to descend 10m to the next chocolate ledge.
The abseil is short with an easy start and a level but cosy end point.
After the abseil to a small area, there’s a crawl under the overhang to continue along the ledge Eastwards.
The remainder of the ledge has only a short narrow section with only slight exposure.
And after 100m it starts to descend slowly, then more steeply until it hairpins back under the wall and follows the edge of the talus steeply down.
Across the Grose
Looking back up at the wall through the light mist we’d just negotiated. When the track started to level out, we struck out down the talus through the moderate vegetation, keeping an eye on the cliffs on the opposite side.
We reached the Grose after an hour of scrubby descent. We came across almost no lawyer vine on the South side. However, there were copious amounts of Hardenbergia Violacea and Kennedia Robusta both in flower to slow us down.
The plan was to follow it upstream for a few hundred meters, until we found a suitable crossing point or the route up the talus on the opposite bank looked reasonable, or the going looked better over there.
Unsuprisingly, we didn’t really find anywhere that fitted the above criteria, so we crossed easily at a calf deep point, and followed the Northern bank until it got more heavily vegetated. And at some point bit the bullet and headed up through the steep and inhospitable vegetation. Finding wombat and wallaby tracks helped a little, but they didn’t always head in the right direction.
An hour or so later, we had good views of the flared slot under Edgeworth David Head. After reaching the base of the cliff, contouring bought us to an old landslip that forced us lower, before funneling us into the cooler and darker slot.
It was 11:30 by this time - four hours since we started. We’d need to make a decision at the top when we had good 4G reception whether to continue as planned or abort to Bells Line of Road.
Up David Crevasse Exit
A hundred plus meters of climbing up the boulders in the creek brought us to a faint footpad. This was the sign that the exit track was near. It was not obvious that this point was where the abseilable slot met the exit gully.
And after ascending steeply we came across a knotted handline on the left of the gully. Almost immediatly followed by a 8m face with a single 11m static rope. This was where the mandatory prusiking started.
And another steep 15 minutes of ascent found us at the Mount Banks fire trail extension. The track was non-existent, which probably means there was a perfectly good track somewhere close by.
We hit the firetrail on the ridge, and looped back uphill towards Mount Banks. At a short flat section we got a few bars of reception and made some calls.
Then two of the party headed back down into the Western half of the gully, while the 3rd jogged the 7km out to waiting transport.
Ascending from the junction of the Crevasse and the exit gully probably took an hour, including the time taken for the three of us to prusik up the 8m.
Below is an aerial view of the exit gully and David Crevasse itself. It’s possible to see the denser GPS points in the Western slot where the abseils are.
David Crevasse Slot
Within 20m of the leaving the road a steep ferny descent gully with no apparent track appears to the West. Under the ferns the rich soil showed signs of foot traffic, so we descended steeply to come across a short easy abseil, that could probably have been climbed down. However, there was a good sling so we used it.
The slot is damp and very mossy, staying narrow and tight for its’ full length. A pretty and photogenic canyon.
The base of the first of the 20m abseils - always narrow, easy starts, good anchors and slings.
This shorter one had an awkward start and potential for rope jams in two places. The rope did get stuck briefly on the lower one, but was easily retrieved with a flick.
And the second 20m abseil is equally clean & photogenic.
The whole of the Crevaase was dry - we couldn’t have got wet feet if we tried, even after all the recent rains. However, there was a little water available lower down the creek.
Using two 50m ropes and very efficient abseiling and changeovers, we finished the canyon in an hour.
Return to the Grose
After the 5th abseil the slot quickly opened out to become more of a rocky creek. We passed the exit gully and continued down the steep rocky creek until it started to open out.
From our experience of a couple of hours earlier, the vegetation on the Eastern bank was unpleasant. Besides we were heading West towards Shortridge Pass and Lockleys Pylon.
There was a band of thicker vegetation higher up with some lawyer vine, but once through it, it became more grassy and open, as well as flatter - a welcome respite from the lawyer vine and miscellaneous spikey flora we had endured for much of the morning.
At one point halfway down the talus we contoured North to avoid a steep descent into a vegetated gully onto what appeared to be a more open ridge. It was a good decision as the ridge was more open and movement was faster.
After around an hour we reached the Grose. After the late summer rains, it was clear that the river was 70m wider than prior to them. Earlier we had seen piles of flotsam 4m up the bank.
The crossing was easy - shallow for the first half, with a well placed log for the second deeper section.
Exit up Shortridge Pass
After walking along the level grassy Southern bank for a few hundered meters, we took the decision to ascend steeply to cut off the loop of the Grose where it meets Govetts Gorge. It might have been a good decision, but maybe it’d be better to try something else next time.
Shortridge Pass has suffered a little after the recent rains, but it is relatively gentle for the first half, before getting steeper & rockier higher up the talus. The 2019 fires had destroyed most of the big trees, so there were good views both East towards where we’d spent the day, and West towards Orang-Utan Falls, Bridal View Falls and Perry Lookdown. It also provided good views of the remainder of our ascent to the plateau, although the strong regrowth will soon obscure them.
The last few steps up (25m vertical) onto the plateau are a classic exit…
We passed Lockleys Chute and Yardleys Cave before pausing briefly for water at the perennial creek, and then climbed the 100 wooden steps to the base of Lockleys. And back along the remaining 4km of good flat track to the car park, we even managed an occasional trot. It had been 9 1/2 hours, with around five of them steeply bush bashing, so we were understandably weary.
Summary
This approach to David Crevasse is not recommended for most. Especially not for anyone but very small, efficient parties who are adept at negotiating dense steep scrub.
Stats
A little under 9 1/2 Hours
Five hours on the talus
One hour in David Crevasse
Distance 22km
Ascent 1350m