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Rock Pile Pass and Mitchells Pass
Rock Pile Pass and Mitchells Pass

Rock Pile Pass and Mitchells Pass

There area couple of passes on the Western side of Narrowneck that I haven't done


There are a couple of passes on the Western side of Narrowneck that I haven’t done - Rock Pile Pass and Mitchells Creek.

From the locked Gate on Narrowneck it’s about 30 mins to the turnoff to the West into Corral Swamp. Make sure you scout around to find the climbers track that leads right to the Pass in about 15 minutes - otherwise you’ll be battling dense scrub for 45 minutes. Just prior to the turnoff the NPWS have put wire around some endangered species which happened to be in flower

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Towards the edge of the swamp there are good views to the West …

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…and South

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The Pass is obvious - a 12mm black rope leads vertically down for 4m with good footholds to a series of steps.

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Following the wide ledge around to the south soon leads to a large overhang with the obligitory log book - which was just a scrappy diary and a few loose sheets.

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A few meters beyond finds a couple of biiiig overhung orange climbing walls peppered with bolt rings and chalk.

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And continuing South along the chocolate ledge (otherwise known a Mount York Claystone) soon lead to the end of the climbing walls and a much fainter track.

At this fainter track it was clear that there was more descent required.

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A rope soon appeared, followed shortly by another. Neither presented difficulty or exposure. Be aware that these ropes (in late 2021) were absent due to recent bushfires.

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And then the bushbashing began… staying close to the base of the cliff mostly worked well, except when it didn’t. A dented car was reason for a pause.

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The track is within 50m of the top of the cliff for much of this section, but a couple of hundred meters vertically.

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Mitchells Creek Pass (also known as Coachwood Pass) was occasionally visible, always in the distance

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And eventually arriving (exactly 3 hours after leaving the locked gate) at a pleasant and cool Mitchells creek.

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Following it upstream for around 50m, keep an eye out for the spiked Coachwood on the opposite (West) bank.

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It’s an easy climb, once you’ve finished it.

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Then follow the faint pad West and up for 50m, then a fainter pad South for 200m. Then descend to cross the (dry) Mitchells Creek and ascend to a 10m wall. Following the wall South-East for approx 100m finds a track up a steep ascent that ends on the plateau and an OK track out to the firetrail.

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There’s a paltry cairn, useful if you plan to do Mitchells Pass from the fire trail.

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The walk back to the car had some views of the route taken.

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  • 12/11/2017