Mount Solitary Misadventure by Clifftop Exposure

Yet another negligent bushwalking club has lost a member to planned misadventure commonly referred to as ‘Clifftop Exposure‘ it seems, aka hiking at the cliff edge.

On Sunday afternoon 17th October 2021, a 33-year-old woman with five hiking colleagues from Sydney was hiking along the clifftop along Mount Solitary (trekking) Track when she fell about 40 metres tragically to her death.

The Mount Solitary (trekking) Track passes along the northern clifftop with no fencing

 

Likely the hiking trip was promoted on the club’s website as posing the risk of “clifftop exposure”.

One can now get mobile reception from Mount Solitary so the group was able to phone through to Emergency Services at around 2.15pm.  The attempted rescue was launched from the Golden Stairs car park up on Narrow Neck Plateau, being the nearest road access to the tragic accident site.

Officers from Blue Mountains Police Area Command, Police Rescue, and a PolAir rescue helicopter responded along with NSW Ambulance along with a TOLL rescue helicopter in a co-ordinated effort.

A police spokeswoman reported that a paramedic was winched into the patient below the northern cliff base of Mount Solitary in the Jamison Valley, about 10km south of Leura, but she could not be revived, so rescuers winched her body into the helicopter.   Then the remaining five bushwalkers were accompanied back up the Golden Stairs where it is believed their car had been parked.

As usual, a report will be prepared for the coroner, but typically not made public, so the public is prevented from learning any wisdom from such tragedies.

So history repeats and Police Rescue continue with regular real life training, the legal institutions and coroner maintain their involvement gainfully employment and news agencies sell bad news.

Not even her name has yet been made public, probably because her family do not yet know about her death perhaps.  Perhaps she was an overseas student.

This is the Korowal Knife Edge approach to climbing Mount Solitary via the Ruined Castle feature

 

Details are not known about the planned trip, the hiking experience of the woman and the group and its trip leader, or of the trip leader’s recent familiarity with the route hiked.  It is believed that the group was treating the climb of Mount Solitary as a day return hike from the Golden Stairs car park.

The weather conditions on the day are not known, however over recent years the area has had a number of heavy rain events causing landslips and track closures.  On 28th July 2020, a landside (below) closed the Golden Stairs cliff track for several months.

Other escarpment cliff faces around the Jamison Valley have been impacted by landslides over the years due to the history of coal shale mining activities undermining the stability of the sandstone escarpment perimeter around this deep valley.

In hiking circles, this route is considered to be a 3-day Mount Solitary Circuit trek of some 35km depending upon various route options.  It is graded ‘Hard’ with much rock scrambling involved and only suited to advanced trekkers.  The Mount Solitary Track traverses the northern cliff edge of Mount Solitary with considerable risk of exposure to falling off.  The physical challenge is that being over 3-days pack camping gear is required including the weight of drinking water, so the pack weight causes difficulty negotiating the steep rocky climbs and descents.

So one presumes it was another clubber amateur hour  disaster, likely from a student volunteer outdoor association at a university in Sydney.

There is no reliable drinking water on the track between Katoomba and the Kedumba River situated on the western valley side down from Mount Solitary.  The tank water at the Ruined Castle shelter may not be reliable, and despite the enroute feature names of Chinaman’s Creek and Singajingawell Creek, both are typically dry meaning there is no reliable drinking water atop Mount Solitary.

There is no reliable drinking water atop Mount Solitary. It there was it would be contaminated by the plethora of groundtop defecators.

The route should not be attempted by anyone who does not have the requisite advance experience, fitness and kit, particularly carrying adequate drinking water.

In this case tragedy struck.

One recalls a previous trekking tragedy on this same route back in the height of summer in 2006, when Sydney Grammar School student David Iredale (17) got separated enroute from his two friends on the 3-day trek carrying a 15kg pack.  He died of dehydration in 36-degree heat after running out of water.  His body was later recovered from the dry creek bed of Singajingawell Creek while he was trying to find Kedumba River.

There was an inquest.