Tiger Snake Canyon
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Tiger Snake Canyon starts out by dropping into this narrow and nasty rift that can just be seen as the dark slot below me. It is only about 50cm wide, and you have to do your best to half climb and half abseil about 5m down it. |
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From the bottom of that abseil, the canyon continues as a narrow, but not very deep canyon. There is not much water, so you don't get much more than your feet wet. There are several more short abseils such as this one that conveniently end in knee deep pools. |
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The best bit of the canyon however is the second section. The abseil into this part of the canyon is a
breathtaking 25m drop into a narrow and twisting canyon no more than 1m wide at many points. You can't see the bottom below you, as the canyon walls are so convoluted that it is hidden from sight. In any case, by the time you reach the bottom, it is so dark that you can't see a thing anyway until your eyes adjust. This has to be one of the most beautiful slot type abseils that I have done. |
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Seeing the abseillers drop down into the canyon really reminded me of going vertical caving... This shot looks like
many that you'd see from a good vertical cave down in Tasmania somewhere. Dropping down deep shafts with nothing but darkness below you... watching abseillers appear high above you out of that same darkness... It is a great section of canyon. |
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And soon enough, there is some real caving to be done (although not of the deep Tasmanian vertical type). Further down the canyon there is an optional underground through trip. After the canyon opens up, the river then reappears low down on the left hand side. You can follow this river upstream as it goes underground. Veer left when it stops, and you can find a way back to the surface through the rockpile shown here. It is tight for a canyoning trip, but lots of fun. You definately need torches. |