Sublime Chasm Exposure – club bushwalking is a feral venture beneath the eco-pass radar
We are perplexed by the thrill-seeking desire of certain bushwalking clubs to promote dangerous chasm “exposure“.
Bushwalking is on-track bushwalking. Then again adventurous bushwalking clubs beg to differ, insisting that bushwalking can do whatever they want and go wherever they choose – bush-bashing through sensitive ecology, vertical rock scrambling, canyoning, lilo canyoning, rock climbing. But are such heightened hazardous activities really ‘the ways of the bushwalker‘, seriously?
‘Bushwalking’ is Australian vernacular for hiking through ‘the bush’ being a naturally wild area of land. So the other listed activities above are not bushwalking.
Do club insurers know what clubbers are actually getting up to out there and promoting to the general public to tag along?
We await Bushwalking NSW next extending to BASE jumping just for something new to attract new members.
And bushwalking clubs have conned the Parks Service that because they are not commercial (nonprofit), Parks Service ought to turn a blind eye to clubbers to do as they please in the national parks with impunity.
Club exposure bushwalking
‘Exposure’ in bushwalking club vernacular is to hike along a narrow high cliff edge with no hand holds (if your lucky) and in which a slip means almost certain ‘splat death’ in the chasm below; the body remains lucky to be found.
Sublime Chasm Exposure – hand holds if you’re lucky!
In the Blue Mountains there are dozens of tracks and lookouts designed and constructed for bushwalking that provide magnificent wild valley vistas in safety away from or fenced off from hazardous cliff edges.
Such exposure risk of death by cliff fall may be for the intrepid. Yet while daredevil club bushwalking leaders may relish in the sense of ‘fun’ of sublime chasm exposure (to certain splat death); we do question their responsibility for oft luring ab initio walkers to participate in their extreme risk indulgence.
Bushwalking is bushwalking which has generally low risk categorisation by public liability insurers. Bushwalking is an outdoor activity, quite distinct from rock climbing and canyoning.
Yet bushwalking clubs seem to be somehow special, excluded from Eco-pass certification which is mandated by NPWS for all commercial operators who wish to operate in national parks in New South Wales. These amateur clubs yet seem allowed to push the boundaries for what is traditionally regarded as bushwalking. Club bushwalking is a feral venture beneath the NPWS eco radar. But do their insurers know this and the heightened risks?
In our experience (and prove us wrong) is that most bushwalking club members tend to be semi-retired and so approaching their later years (50’s to 70s). This majority older age demographic ought to be appreciated as being less fit, agile, and risk accepting than those aged 20 something.
Bushwalking with exposure would seem contradictory at a time when most politely gesture to ‘stay safe’.
Whereas activities out of scope must be exclude from those called ‘bushwalking’ such as cliff face exposure, canyoning, abseiling, canyon liloing, rock climbing, base jumping?, etc.
While one may stay virus free, it matters little when splattered by fall to a distant valley floor below. When inexperienced walkers sign on for a club bushwalk, do they get a chance to declare vertigo?
Was joining a bushwalking club ever about subscribing to terms endorsing Sublime Chasm Exposure to certain death?
Just thrill-seeker nut-jobbing in our book
We note that the bushwalking club responsible for the recent Wollangambe canyoning trip in which two temporary (sign this Acknowledgement of Risk Form quick) members perished in a known canyon siphon, has the following club trip promoted on their website:
“Newnes State Forest: Howling Arch, the Pool of Diana and the Pool of Aphrodite
Date: 06-Feb-2021
Category: Day Walk
Days: 1
Grade: 5 H (Hard)
Description:
Find out for yourself why this unique area, currently under threat, must be protected, now. Drive to approximately GR 468 058 on the Deep Pass Trail.
Head down a spur and visit Howling Arch, an amazing natural feature. Enter Dingo Creek and progress downstream for about 1.3km, visiting the scenic Pool of Diana on the way, continue underneath high cliffs to GR 476 048, the start of a north, north west trending ravine. Follow the ravine up, visiting the spectacular Pool of Aphrodite along the way, to eventually reconnect with the trail and the vehicles.
About 6km. All off track, some rock scrambling and exposure.”
So this hike is all off track bush-bashing through the natural landscape of Newnes Plateau (topo map Rock Hill 8931-2N) within the Blue Mountains National Park which is ecologically threatened. It is not bushwalking on track but decidedly off-track, rock scrambling, creek walking and with exposure (to cliff edges with no protective railing or fencing).
Such trail blazing is hardly eco-sensitive. Why do clubs get to damage ecology and operate free-for-all havoc through protected national parks with no Eco-Pass requirement?
This club rates its most difficult ‘walks’ as either Grade 5 H (Hard) or Grade 5 HX (Hard Exploratory). Grade 5 H is “off track or difficult terrain, there may be rock scrambling, creek walking. Distance is not to exceed 30 km. The walk may be short and difficult. Not suitable for beginners.”
Grade 5 HX (Hard Exploratory) is “Off track or difficult terrain, there may be rock scrambling, creek walking. Distance is not to exceed 30 km. The walk may be short and difficult. Not suitable for beginners. The leader has not covered the area before.”
So it is pure trail-blazing or bashing a new track through pristine ecology.
The clubs also lists abseiling and canyoning amongst its activities, and the club is called the Upper Blue Mountains Bushwalking Club. The Club carries public liability and personal accident insurance for all members through an umbrella policy held by Bushwalking NSW.
For those who relish the exposure risk element, we recommend contemplating couch surfing ‘unlimited exposure‘.
Watch a 1 hour and 14 minute documentary film that was screened in 2017 and succinctly entitled ‘Mountain‘. It is passionately narrated by legendary film actor Willem Dafoe and currently streaming on Netflix.
Here’s the official trailer for Mountain, which deserves pre-runs at clubby AGMs and backpacker common rooms:
Here’s a genuine review of the documentary:
