The Middle Sister.

2/10/66

Participants:
Maureen Hollins, Gloria Carstens, lynton Wright, Peter Gillard, horraine Campbell, Burt Beavington, marion Spears, Ron Dawesniza, Tony Rogers, Peter Kummer.

Access:
as in sketch (Townsville Special). The road is rather rough, but negotiable by Holden & VW. The route recommended (but not taken on this occasion) is along the ridges shown. (We parked our cars further up than shown, and one cannot move the vehicles sufficiently far off the road). The distance from Townsville is 20 miles.

Comments:

The outing was for the purpose of rock climbing training. The cliff on the S.E. side is about 1/2 mile long and 150/200 ft. high. The route we used was about 100x in from the eastern end of the cliff.

We divided into 2 groups, the first climbing in the morning, and the second in the afternoon. The unoccupied groups wandered around - one has fine spectacles of Mt Elliott from here, and even apart from the rock-climbing it is not a bad place in itself. There were two instructors per group, making 4 to bring up in each lot.

The quality of the rock was reasonable, but care was needed in odd spots for loose flakes, boulders etc. The standard was such that the novices had difficulty but did not find it impossible, with coaching. The difficult section was exposed - about 80 ft. up.

Conclusions:

The cliff has possibilities for other routes. There are some interesting looking cracks, grooves etc. scattered about. Walking time is about 1 hr. The setting for the climb is very good.

P. R.

NOTE

The above account concerns one of the 'end' Sisters as is now apparent from the latest map:-

The Club visited the middle Sister in 1967 doing some abseiling practice off a small cliff on its north side - the route taken as shown [on map] was an easy walk...