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| Mount Stapylton and the Taipan Walls. |
On my recent trip up to the Grampians National Park we (yes, I was accompanied by my mate James) decided to head to Hollow Mountain and check it out. The original plan for this trip was for us to do the vertigo inducing Stayplton to Hollow Mountain traverse, but with frequent rain showers scudding through from the south west I didn't think that it a wise move to attempt the traverse. So the new plan was to head up Hollow Mountain to give James a bit of a taste for rock scrambling in the Grampians. From what I understand the name Mount Wudjub-Guyun (Hollow Mountain) refers to one of two rock stacks, but I'm not really sure which stack is the official Hollow Mountain. One stack has a marked track to its summit and its separated from the next stack by a deep chasm, this second stack hasn't got a marked route and requires route finding and scrambling, but to me is the much more enjoyable climb.
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| This walk starts off on an easy, well constructed track. |
So anyway with the weather holding we set off up the valley towards the looming bulk of Hollow Mountain. With this area having been burnt severely in the recent fires it was good to see the bush recovering well, infact the understory of scrub was a sea of green today, only the bigger trees were still struggling to revegetate. The track up to Hollow Mountain passes close to a lot of rock climbing areas, with frequent pads heading off to hidden crags and climbers clinging precariously to the cliffs in the distance. Eventually the valley narrows and funnelled us onto the rock, from here on all the walking would be on sandstone. Initially the rocky route climbs rock slabs fairly easily up until we came to the first cliff line, once at the cliff line we traversed left for awhile before starting the first scramble of the walk. This first scramble is pretty cruisey but it still pays to concentrate as you scramble up under an overhang over some large boulders, the views back down the valley suddenly getting very extensive.
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Looking back towards the car park as the route starts to climb up the first rock slab.
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There are plenty of crags for rock climbers up at Hollow Mountain, infact climbers generally easily out number walkers in this area.
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| Yeah up here mate! We've just started the first easy scramble of the walk. |
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After the first little warm up scramble todays route eased off for awhile, we followed the marked tourist track up towards towards our first Hollow Mountain summit. Topping out after the initial scramble the track heads along a rocky ramp to the west before meeting a cave, complete with a couple of guys practising there bouldering. From the cave we almost doubled back on ourselves climbing fairly steeply until the Taipan Walls and Mt Stapylton suddenly came into view, a more ruggedly stunning vista would be hard to imagine, but then again I do have a bit of a fetish for red rocks so maybe I'm biased. The top was now only a short scramble away though so after taking in the sheer Taipan Walls for awhile we climbed the last few metres to the top. The summit of Hollow Mountain today was a cold and windy spot so we didn't linger too long, although we did spend long enough up there for me to show James the abyss that separates the two halfs of the mountain. From some angles it appears to be one solid block of rock but when you get up close you find a chasm maybe 4 metres wide and many metres deep cutting through the mountain.
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James having a bit of a breather on the first climb.
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The marked route heads along this shelf before doubling back up to the left.
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A small tarn near the top of Hollow Mountain, that's Mt Zero in the distance.
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This is the ridge that leads from Hollow Mountain to Mount Stapylton, one of the best walks in Victoria in this authors opinion.
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Looking back to the car park from the summit of Hollow Mountain, its not a long walk that's for sure.
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| Flat Rock from Hollow Mountain. |
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Leaving the summit the real fun started, after retracing our route back down we left the track just before it started the scramble down through the initial cliff line. The key here is to look for a cave, if you look very close you may see a white arrow still visible on the rock pointing into the cave. This is where things start to get a little more serious, entering the cave the way ahead appears to be blocked, but looking a bit closer it becomes obvious, we basically crawled through a narrow slot until we emerged into a big cavern inside the mountain. Dusting my fat guts off we then started to climb up a series of ramps in the honeycomb like cave system that makes up the centre of Hollow Mountain. There are enough openings that you don't need a torch and the way is fairly straight forward but you still need to use your hands occasionally. After a fun little climb the cave system tops out and we popped out of the mountain onto a narrow sloping ledge suspended high in the chasm between the two half's of the mountain.
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This is the cave your looking for if you want to climb the more adventurous half of Hollow Mountain.
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The first section is a bit tight.
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Especially if your a full figured gentleman like this feral bloke!
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You climb up through the honeycomb like middle of Hollow Mountain.
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| Eventually you have to crawl out of the mountain onto this ledge, the Taipan Walls now seeming a lot closer. |
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The ledge probably provides the hardest scramble of the walk (well at least the most exposed anyway). After climbing up to the right the ledge starts to disappear and it becomes clear that we have to scramble 2 or 3 metres up to the next level. Now this scramble isn't vertical but its steep enough, and while it has reasonable foot and hand holds its no walk in the park and at the same time if you look down to your left as you climb you get a view of a lot of air between you and the ground. Once safely up off the ledge we rock hopped our way along towards the rugged summit, one last fairly exposed scramble and we were there. Sitting among the rocky turrets on the summit we ate some lunch and watched as another rain squall headed our way across the flat plains of the southern Wimmera.
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| This isn't a walk to do if you're a bit dodgy about heights. |
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Up here James.
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The final scramble up to the summit.
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Once on top we used the opportunity to check out the next obstacle that we would of had to face if we'd been continuing onto Mt Staylton, a narrow chasm with a 1.5 metre drop to the other side, something that my still tender leg was happy that I wasn't jumping today. With the approaching rain now imminent we retreated back to the inside of the mountain to sit out the worst of it. By the time we'd had a bit of a break and climbed back down through the mountain the rain had gone and the sun was out again, yeah it was that kind of day. Now back on the marked track the wet rock still required some caution as we eased our way down the final cliff line, the now blue sky giving us plenty of reason to pause and take some photos of the beautiful cliffs. Eventually we made our way down out of the rocky ground and once again we were walking though a sea of green regrowth, looking even more vivid now under a blue sky. Once back on flat ground its was only a five minute walk and we were back at the ute, contemplating our next adventure.
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We dropped down fairly quickly as a rain squall came through, just as quickly as the rain arrived it disappeared though.
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With the cloud gone the blue sky helped my photos immeasurably.
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The Dirt.
This is one of my favourite short walks in Victoria, at only 4.1 kilometres (although the GPS didn't work to well when I was inside the mountain!) it's definitely not an epic but its still good fun. We climbed a total of 265 metres on what I'd probably rate as a medium walk, although its only really a medium walk due to the exposed scrambling involved. If you aren't up to the scrambling then just do the marked route, one of the advantages of a
there and back walk is that you can turn around any time you get uncomfortable. With the Grampians National Park still recovering from what seems like a never ending series of fires as well as the odd massive flood, it would pay to check out the
Parks Vic website to check on what's open and what's closed in the huge National Park.
Relevant Posts.
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| The country was regenerating well after the latest fires. |
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| Some of the hardware was still looking a bit second hand though. |
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