Lost World and decent from Castle Crag?

[spittle]

Hi

I was in Lamington on the weekend and attempted to make my way around castle crag more or less from the saddle after balancing rock.

Due to previous fire there was no ground cover, just very loose dirt/dust and it was a lot harder than IO expected. I decided to bail after a while as I was solo and felt pretty exposed. Just wondering if anyone can describe how far around castle crag you need to go until the ground is better?

I read some notes that suggested to just drop down enough to make way around the base of the cliff but wondered if it would be better to head a bit lower to make use of more vegetation? And then bush bash to get back onto the ridge for decent. I had a 15m rope that was doubled up around trees in a few spots as a safety net but figured I’ll go with a mate next time so we can ditch the packs in a few spots and pass them around obstacles as required. But even then - a rope isn’t going to help being at the base of the cliff. I’d probably prefer to take a harness and abseil straight down the cliff.

[trowland]

Interested in this.

I'm planning on tackling the Lost World loop in a clockwise direction next weekend, meaning I'll be ascending Castle Crag as opposed to descending it. This seems like the safer option (without using a rope), although any input is greatly appreciated.

[Equivocator]

I found it very very sketchy through there too. https://www.strava.com/activities/2836871188
I thought I went a bit too far down initially, after a few less-than-fully-controlled slides, and climbed back up to skirt along a bit closer to the cliff. I'm not sure if it would be better further down sorry.

I think I hovered around 670-680 elevation. I was definitely right at the base of the cliff closer to the ridge though.

Clockwise you'll have a bit of a downclimb from the Razorback (just after you leave Lost World camp) which wasn't too bad going up.
I'm not sure how easy up the Crag would be, there was a lot of loose soil and a few points where I was eyeing off which tree I would cling too if I started a really bad slide.