I had read about this pass many years ago. Father Frank Bendeich had written an account of its first ascent in The Waysider, the magazine of the Catholic Bushwalking Club of Sydney (No 131, July/Aug 1975).
Dog Face Gully from the Landslide
According to the article, Father Frank had attempted the route a few years earlier, but had turned back part way up when he found his party were unwilling to follow him any more. He had set out again with Tony Boyd and this time had been successful.
Bob on the traverse ledge
I had filed the trip report in the recesses of my memory as something worth doing some time in the future.
My friend Bob, was keen on a mid week bush walk, and this pass was on the list of suggestions that had become our shortlist. The forecast was for a cold windy day and other options had been ruled out. So that is why we set off down the Furber Steps for this pass.
We soon arrived at the lower section of the Scenic World Theme Park and quickly passed through, past the mines to the Landslide area. The “Dogface” is a clean section of the cliff that was formed when the major part of the landslide fell off. Not far to the west of it lies Father Frank’s pass – Dog Face Gully.
Dave on the technical corner (photo by Bob Sault)
The start of the pass is up the bed of a small creek. It was easy going at first until we reached the cliffline. Here you follow the gully through two or three short tricky sections. The scrambling is fairly easy – but the creek bed that you have to scramble up is a bit greasy. Luckily for us it was not too slippery after a long dry spell. There are good handholds where you need them and in one place a very convenient ledge.
Bob on the technical corner
This takes you to a large amphitheatre – between the two clifflines. It looks impossible to keep scrambling above. The only way to go is to traverse along a ledge to the right as you look up (east). This is easy but a bit exposed. You then arrive in another smaller amphitheatre. This one looks less daunting. But it too prevents difficulties. The key is up a short technical corner. Steep careful climbing is needed. Easy climbing, but the sort of cliff that you would prefer some protection. But its not too high (7 – 8 metres?). I went up trailing a rope, and we used it to haul up our daypacks. That was it. It was easy going from there to arrive at the Narrow Neck Road.
I had thought the pass would top out on Cliff Drive, but no, we had arrived on Narrow Neck. That makes the pass a Narrow Neck Pass (but only just). We had started down the Furber Steps about 9:30 am, and it was now only 11 am. A bit early to finish a daywalk.
Dog Face Gully is perhaps not the most useful pass, but it is an interesting trip. One best done in dry conditions.
We spent the first part of the afternoon wandering around some other lookouts of Katoomba. We started at the carpark for the Cahills Lookout, but instead went to Peckmans Lookout. This was a short way down an old track. It presented us with excellent views of Nellies Glen.
Nellies Glen from Peckmans Lookout
After this we drove around to the top of Nellies Glen and walked down to the John Britty North Lookout which is above Nellies Glen and then around the top of the valley to Therabulat Lookout. Both had interesting views.
View from North Lookout
More photos can be viewed on my website here.
Interesting trip Dave, thanks for sharing!
Some more history on Landslide (Dog Face) Gully.
In early ’92 at the Mitchell Library I also saw The Waysider article.
13/11/92. Three of us from Sutherland BWC went up there in dry conditions. Ascending the lowest cliff line involved climbing a tree on the west side (there were a couple of spikes in the back of the tree that weren’t really necessary) onto a ledge, then pushing someone up onto a second ledge. The final chimney, while it looked a bit daunting, was comparatively easy, having lots of good footholds.
27/3/94. Following a Sutherland walk through the tunnel, I offered the gully as an alternative to the railway and got about eight to ten takers. Again dry conditions and no great difficulty, though I did need to set tape in a number of places.
Much later I learned from Frank Bendeich that, not long after his ‘75 ascent, he took a small group of CBC walkers up there. Apparently most swore to never do it again.
19/12/11. This walk (14 attending) occurred after I mentioned the existence of the gully to a few Bush Club members. The tree no longer existed which, combined with very wet conditions, stopped me in my tracks. Fortunately a very larger boulder had fallen from higher up and landed in the creek. Rodney Nelson was able to use this to climb up an alternative way and set a tape. Nothing further up had changed. This walk was written up in the Bush Club Autumn 2012 Newsletter. There is also a link there to a Lotsafreshair video of the trip.
Thanks Graeme for your input. As well as the old Waysider article, I had also seen Caro’s video. It was good to finally climb the pass after many years of walking under in on the way to Mt Solitary.
Hi Dave, thought you among others in the bushwalking fraternity may like to know that Frank passed away today. A heck of local knowledge goes with him. Thankfully he was a prolific documenter of his journeys to encourage and inspire as this article is testament of.
.
Sad news. Thanks for letting me know. The last time I saw Fr Frank was near the Shack. He went out of his way to give our party a lift along part of Scotts Main Range. We enjoyed a good chat. He certainly had a great love for that country.
Hi Dave,
I thought you might be interested in my ascent of Landslide Gully (completed yesterday).
I have found a way up that does not involve the 8m climb up the “technical corner”.
I have posted detailed notes on my website. Here is the link http://jamisonproject.org/index.php?pageid=3&subid=8
Please check this against your notes and memories and send me any feedback of where my route varies from the one you took.
Hello Rob. Well done with your variant. When we went up it looked to us that no other way was possible except for that corner.