First ever Aussie FreezeFest

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First ever Aussie FreezeFest

Postby FatCanyoner » Wed 11 Jul, 2012 2:43 pm

G'day folks,

Sorry for the short notice (I probably should have posted this ages ago) but I only just finalised my own plans for this yesterday.

This weekend at Mt Wilson, in the Blue Mountains, Australia is experiencing its first ever FreezeFest.

What is FreezeFest I hear you ask? This is the summary from the organiser Julie Burton:

Wet winter canyoning? Hell yeah! Who says canyoning is a summer sport? Just throw on an extra layer of thermals and neoprene, and join me for a weekend of canyoning, camping and socialising by a warming fire in the Blue Mountains.


FreezeFest is a huge thing in the states, and has been going for about a decade. Canyoneers over there refer to it as "the bad idea that caught on". Of course they actually get snow and ice in their canyons, which makes things even crazier (check out this video for an idea of the antics: http://vimeo.com/18415948). It has coined some great little catchphrases, like "FreezeFest: where the women are women, and the men are women"!

Anyway, a few people from OzCanyons have decided to give it a go here. The basic idea is to do something a bit different, experience the invigoration of wet winter canyoning, and get to know some fellow canyoners from outside our individual club / social circles. We will all be car camping up at the Cathedral of Ferns at Mt Wilson, so there will be a big warm fire, lots of socially lubricating liquor, and plenty of tall tales told.

There is more info on Facebook about the event: http://www.facebook.com/events/333213606737030/

I have arranged a group from the Sydney Uni Bushwalkers, and we should have at least 4 - 6 people there, but I thought I would share it hear to see who else is keen. You can come for the whole weekend, or just one day. (You could even just come for the Saturday night, although it doesn't really count if you don't do a canyon!)

You can do your own canyons, or join up with other groups from the camp ground.

The SUBW group is going to warm up to the event with a big but fairly dry day on the Saturday. We are thinking of doing a combo of Wotta, Better Offer and Birrabang Canyons on the north side of the Grose. None should involve anything more than wades, but we'll need to move fairly well given the short days at this time of year.

On Sunday things will get a bit more adventurous, and we'll be doing some wetter canyons involving freezing swims. (It could be two shorter canyons, or one longer one, we're yet to make a final decision). In fact, there is even a chance of a breakaway group deciding on a nude, wet canyon, just to really up the ante and show those yanks how to do it!

Obviously you need to be reasonably experienced, be quite fit, know how to abseil, have appropriate gear, be prepared for the cold (wetsuits / thermals etc), overnight camping gear etc.

You can simply meet us all up there (I think the general meeting time both days will be about 9am) or if you want to come out with the SUBW group you can get in touch with me directly.

Cheers

T2
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Re: First ever Aussie FreezeFest

Postby melinda » Wed 11 Jul, 2012 10:50 pm

Hi Fat Canyoner,
What an awesome invitation!
Not sure if I'll get up there (bit of a wimp in the winter :shock: ) but a great offer.
Have a great weekend.
'Life is either a daring adventure or nothing'
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Re: First ever Aussie FreezeFest

Postby FatCanyoner » Sun 22 Jul, 2012 5:55 pm

For those who are interested, I've written up a full trip report with plenty of photos about the first Aussie FreezeFest. In the end there were only seven canyoners brave (or stupid) enough to run with the idea of wet canyoning in the depths of winter, but that is still almost double the first American FreezeFest, and that has grown to almost 80 people last years!

Not content with simply copying the Yanks, three of us decided to up the ante by doing the coldest of the canyons completely nude! Given how cold the two in wetsuits / thermals / beanies etc were, we were quite proud of ourselves (even though we were shivering quite a bit by the end!).

Anyway, you can read all about it here: http://fatcanyoners.org/2012/07/14/aussie-freezefest/

Hopefully next year there will be a few more people keen to give it a try. It is, after all, the bad idea that caught on in the states, so why not here?
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Re: First ever Aussie FreezeFest

Postby FatCanyoner » Tue 17 Jul, 2018 5:24 pm

So, after running in 2012, '13, and '14, FreezeFest went into a bit of a hiatus. But this year we made it happen again. You can read the trip report here: https://fatcanyoners.org/2018/07/13/fre ... -wheengee/
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Re: First ever Aussie FreezeFest

Postby Ms_Mudd » Wed 18 Jul, 2018 9:16 am

absolutely nuts! Sounds fun in an insane kind of way though :lol:
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