I suggested a walk to Bob to go to a vantage point on the far end of Liversidge Hill above the northern side of the Grose Valley to look at a detached pinnacle.
I had seen this pinnacle many times from near Thor Head on the south side of the Grose Valley. From there you can get a distant vie of the pinnacle. Although it is a fair way away, you do see the profile of the pinnacle and its detached nature. From closer vantage point like Burra Moko Head the pinnacle is hard to discern – it blends in with the cliffs behind it. And note I said “near Thor Head” to get a good view of it. You cannot see it from Thor Head itself or from nearby Asgard Head. But can also get a similar view on the approach to Valhalla Head.
Recently a group of friends had climbed the pinnacle. The party of climbers where Mike, Jean and Phat, while Digi Dave filmed the ascent from the cliffs nearby. You can see Digi Dave’s video here. The climbers did find an old bolt on the top of the pinnacle – so they were not the first up.
So I set out with Bob to have a closer look at it from the ledge Digi Dave used for filming. We set off from the Bell Road, near the Mt Wilson turn-off. The first part was along an old fire road, which eventually becomes a canyoners track. Further along the ridge, you leave the track and follow the ridge across a saddle to a higher point, and then it is not far to Liversidge Hill.
The going was reasonable all the way out – with not too much scrub. Some of it – there was a faint pad to follow. And all the way there were fine views, which got better as we approached the cliffline and a display of wildflowers. At one point we got a great view of Burra Korain Head that we had both climbed on a recent walk.
At Liversidge Hill we looked around for the vantage point Digi Dave had used – and we had to scramble down to it. It gave an excellent view of the pinnacle.
After a few photos, we climbed back up and went to see if you could look down on the pinnacle from above. We did find a spot, but the side view was better.
Nearby was a fine lookout rock which we climbed. It was a great place for lunch.
Across the valley we could see Brownes Path – an easy pass down to the Grose Valley from Hat Hill Ridge.
We could also see Hanging Rock and the waterfall at the end of Hat Hill Canyon.
Some more of the views –
We then headed back the same way we had come to the Bell Road. I knew the walk would be fairly short and had suggested another similar trip to another detached pinnacle for the afternoon, but we did not have enough time for that, so Bob suggested a walk out to Rigby Hill instead.
So we drove down to Pierces Pass carpark and walked out the short track to the summit of Rigby Hill. This provides similar views to our lunch lookout – but perhaps more impressive as the cliffs here are bigger.
The photo below shows The Mirrorball – another detached pinnacle on the north side of the Grose Valley.
Here is another view of Brownes Path –
And in this telephoto picture, you can see some climbers on a Pierces Pass climb called Weiselberger.
