Bushwalk Australia

Has anyone traversed across Mt Dixon and Birranbali?

Was up on the Eastern side of Mt Hay this afternoon on a reccy, and have been going through trip reports that make Mt Caley sound like hell.

Dixon, on the other hand, looks like much more fun and I was wondering if there was a way up from Garrard's Gulch. Also if there are ways down to the Grose again from Birranbali?

Thanks!

Sorry - it's Mt Barranbali

You can definitely get up Garrad Gulch.
https://ozultimate.com/tom/bushwalking/ ... /index.htm

But finding a route down to the Grose again will be challenging (I won't say impossible, but likely to be hard to find - and probably easiest with ropes). Pretty much that entire area is ringed with clifflines, though many are fairly small. There's probably a route down not far up Carmarthen Brook, but will involve some meandering - would be easier to scout out from the bottom...

Thanks Tom - I figure if you're not familiar with a pass, it probably doesn't exist.

When I asked if there was a way up from Garrad's, I meant is there a way right to the top of Mt Dixon. All of the trip reports I've read head west from the Gulch to Mt Strzlecki

You'd need to explore I imagine - doubt many people have gone east!! You can probably go directly up from the saddle at the top of Garrads, but if not, you'd need to traverse north and see if there's a break. Definitely a few cliffs about.

Well this is interesting.

It appears that the first SUBW party in Thunder Canyon climbed up onto the Explorers Range opposite Tomah Creek and then went down to the Grose via the gully under Barranbali, before crossing to Leura via Mt Hay. Hell of a trip with the gear they were using.

https://www.subw.org.au/archives/press- ... les-leura/

I have been on Baranbali a couple of times, decades ago, once from Mt. Dixon and once from the Grose at Carmarthen junction. I have also been down to the Grose via the route Col Oloman's party took in 1960. This was not via the gully under Baranbali but the ridge between that gully and the Grose. It's tricky at the end where cliffs meet a set of waterfalls at the bottom of the gully. The top of that ridge is an unnamed hill east of Mt. Dixon. In my diary I called this Explorers Mountain, but maybe it should be called Mount Oloman.

Great stuff - what was the top of the range like?

Went east along the Grose R late last year and up the south side to Mt Hay via Shaw Gully.

Fairly rough country along the Grose, sticking by the shoreline and rock hopping among the boulders and river rock is the easiest.

Shaw gully was a mess of thick regrowth and vine. Scrambling up the creek was the only practical method without a bobcat.

InLike, Mt. Caley with its barbed wire vine is the worst of the going. Beyond that it becomes a fairly stock standard sandstone ridge. There are some rocky outcrops around Mt. Dixon and beyond that I just remember it scrubby. Not much on offer in way of campsites. On the first time we found a bit of an overhang and the second time I pitched a fly on a rock shelf on top of Baranbali. The weather turned during the night and next day I walked out all the way in rain and mist, glad that I had a feel for the turns in the range having been over it a few years before.

A couple of posts back I made a suggestion about putting the name Mount Oloman on the Explorers Range. Just now I chanced on this... https://mapcarta.com/N12692474067
I'm curious to know, has someone acted on my suggestion or done this some time ago?
Though the peak named here is not the one I suggested, Oloman was on it before passing over to the one I suggested. See https://www.subw.org.au/archives/press- ... les-leura/

Interesting question juxtaposer

Mapcarta has sourced the Mount Oloman feature from Open Street Map (OSM).

The feature appears to have been added to OSM "about 2 months ago" with a source "local knowledge". The user waratah65 made the edit and has made other changes recently in this area of the Blue Mountains.
https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/12692474067

I wonder if you're the local knowledge?

It's not an official GNB name.