Highest drop 50m
Public access
8-10hrs
The test piece of the Top of the South! Reasonably short but very technical canyon. All abseils have strong vertical flow and it’s either difficult or impossible to avoid getting your arse kicked! That, plus the hanging belays, deviations, serious poor-overs, and tricky pack management make it a challenging day out.
First descent: Lee Den Haan, Toine Houtenbos, Richard Bramley, 5/11/2016
Ripper of a day. Such a cool canyon and access is not bad at all, especially when using bikes to get across the farm.
Water levels were quite high but we still managed to go through the ‘Pothole of terror’ which was quite spicy. There are bolts on the TL on R6 which don’t show on the topo. It allows you to stay true to the canyon when the flow is low enough, highly recommended. R6 from TL lands you in a turbulent pool about 10m down from the anchor which is quite busy but manageable unless the flow is really high.
Windy on the R6 anchor so if you’re the lucky one hangin out there for a while, a spray jacket is a nice thing to have. Reaching the R5 anchor was very difficult, an extra bolt on the TR as an intermediate point for the safety line would be a great addition.
We replaced all webbing of the anchors we used, bolts were in good condition, some just needed a bit of tightening. We didn’t use the 2nd deviation bolt on R5 and didn’t use the TR anchor on R6 so not sure what condition those are in.
To set it up perfectly the R1 and R4 (safetly line) anchors need an extra bolt and add an intermediate point for the R4 safety line. So if someone wants to carry a drill in that would be great.
No Wasp management on this side of the Nelson Lakes, watch out, found numerous Wasp nest on the way up.
all anchors needs new Webbing.
Very sleepery
Water flow lower than normal but still pretty intense when going through it.
Good times
Anchors all okay, added a nut to R1 bolt. Moss overgrown on R6 anchor so was hard to find.
Biked in, cruisy pace and chill day (: