Who's up for a challenge?

[FatCanyoner]

G'day folks,

I love a good challenge. Better yet, I love a bushwalking challenge. I also love to share them (which is probably why I'm active in a bushwalking club). So here's one that I wanted to open up more broadly to folks from bushwalk.com, in the hopes of finding others who are keen on a a nice hard off-track walk that is all about rediscovering a very interesting part of Blue Mountains history.

I've written up a blog post with a full background of the mission (http://fatcanyoners.org/2012/10/16/aerial-ropeway-mission/), complete with some pics of legendary bushwalker Wilf Hilder on a similar trip. That covers most of it off, but I'll give a bit of background here too...

The Jamison Valley was home to a 3.2km long aerial ropeway, built in the 1880's by coal / oil shale miners, that was a revolutionary piece of engineering to deal with the challenges of this rugged country. It's history was chequered, the first mine went broke, then the second installation came crashing down into the valley after less than a year of use. You can still find traces of the cable and fallen skips in the valley, and I'm sure many people from this forum are familiar with them.

Anyway, leaping ahead to this challenge. For nearly four decades Philip Hammon (from the Hammon family that built / still run Scenic World) has been trying to rediscover the exact route of the ropeway. It was on one of his trips, in the early 80's, that the photos of Wilf were taken. While much has been found, they are yet to locate all 47 towers from along the route. More recently they have completely reverse engineered the cableway, plotting the optimal locations for towers, meaning we not have precise places to look for where a tower "should" be. This should finally allow the location of all the towers, skips and other remains of this amazing piece of mountain's history.

So, here's my offer. If you love off-track walking, and history, then get in touch with me so I can keep you in the loop re joining our trip in the next month or two.

Tim

[ninjapuppet]

Hi Tim, I've got a fair bit of weekend commitments between now and Xmas, but definitely keen depending on the dates.

I'm also part of subw too if its going to be run as such.

Keep me updated

[FatCanyoner]

Hey mate,
I'll be putting an email on the subw list as soon as we have dates confirmed. Feel free to email me if you have a preference. It's looking like possibly very early Dec at the moment based on a few people who are keen.
Tim

[jonnosan]

Sounds like a great expedition - would love to come if I can arrange it

[Grabeach]

Not me! I'm carrying a few injuries so hardly walking at all at the moment.
However, I have (had?) some notes Wilf gave me when I did the the walk back in 1987. Refer comments on the Fat Canyoners site.

[Allchin09]

Sounds awesome! As long as it's after the HSC (06 Nov), I'll be there.

[Wolfix]

I am keen. I can often do weekdays if you're not just confining trips to weekends. No experience with off track walking but definitely keen to get into it.

[FatCanyoner]

Hey guys, can you PM me with your email addresses. I'll CC you in on the plans. It is looking like late Nov / early Dec for the traverse.

[rcaffin]

When you are at the bottom of the valley you should take a bit of a look around, up and down the creek. There used to be a mining village down there, and there were plenty of traces to be found when we last crossed at the wires. Adds to the fun.

Cheers

[nq111]

Unfortunately I am not in the region, but Tim, I love your work

Have fun with it.

[FatCanyoner]

When you are at the bottom of the valley you should take a bit of a look around, up and down the creek. There used to be a mining village down there, and there were plenty of traces to be found when we last crossed at the wires.

Thanks for that Roger. We'll definitely keep an eye out. It is amazing to look down into that valley and think that once there was a bustling village complete with a school / shops etc. It is amazing how quickly and completely nature can reclaim things!

[FatCanyoner]

I've finally organised a date for this walk, and it seems like it will fill very quick.

If you were someone who wanted to take part but you haven't received an email from me today, please contact me asap.

[wildwalks]

Hi Tim

I stumble on this photo today, so very clear but might be helpful
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4313484

Good luck with the mission, sounds like a lot of fun

Matt

[FatCanyoner]

Matt, that image is actually better than you realise. The bloke I working with on this got the library to digitally enhance the original version. It not only highlights one of the towers that had to be extended by a few feet to stop the cable coming off, it also shows three blokes riding in one of the skips! Apparently that picture was taken during a shut-down when repairs were occurring a few brake blokes decided to pose up!

[wildwalks]

Glad you already found it.
Amazing to think that not that long ago there where people living there with all that infrustrtucture.
Enjoy the adventure, I would like to join in, but time is proving in short supply this year.
Matt

[FatCanyoner]

Okay, so I was forced to postpone the walk last weekend (I was sick, then my 3-year-old decided he'd fall off a retaining wall and break his arm on the Friday!)...

But it is going to happen this weekend -- rain, hail or shine! (The forecast is just a shower or two, so should be nice enough).

Sunday, 2nd December. Meeting at Scenic World at approx 8.30 - 8.45am. Send me a message if you're available and keen to come along.

[Allchin09]

Did you end up finding them?

[FatCanyoner]

The trip was about 75% successful. We found most of the towers, but there are some missing sections that drove us nuts. A lot of the area was surprisingly easy walking, making finding remains pretty easy, but then you'd hit thick ferns / understory plants, or just very thick leaf-litter, debris and fallen trees and it became very difficult to find things. With one of the towers that took ages to find we'd been within less than a metre of it, but hadn't seen it. Oh, and it was incredibly humid, and the leeches were angry as f*ck!
I've got to sort through my photos and GPS waypoints, but once I sort it all I'll write up a trip report.
I think there will be another attempt, probably in autumn when it is cooler, to track down the missing towers!

[Allchin09]

Fair enough, it's good to hear you went out and found most of them. Were there many standing and could you find/follow the cable that the skips travelled along?

[Grabeach]

A friend sent the following to me recently. Probably too late for anyone here, but of interest anyway. My apologies for not thinking to post it earlier.

"You may already be aware that the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute has a project underway to gather all the knowledge about the historic Bleichert Ropeway that crossed the Jamison Valley from the vicinity of the scenic railway to Ruined Castle. The project will determine the ropeway's cultural significance and how best to conserve and interpret the artefacts that remain. The Institute is keen to unearth community stories, family histories, old photos, maps and letters, and to find people who may have any specialised knowledge of the ropeway or the Blue Mountains mining heritage in general.
As part of the project, a field survey is being conducted (by UNSW and NPWS with Scenic World) to accurately locate and record all the remaining items in the valley. The survey is scheduled for Thursday to Saturday next week (June 12 to 14). On Wednesday afternoon at Scenic World there will be a briefing on the project and the survey. Anyone interested is invited to come along. If you're interested you can register with Jacinta Green on 0448 107 267 or j.green@bmwhi.org.au"

Until I received this, I was unaware there was a BMWHI. They have a web site, but I could not find any mention of this project. The outcome will be interesting, though I suspect it will likely take some time.

[Allchin09]

I wonder how the survey went. If I had the time, I would have joined them.