BeDevilled Mount Buller, Victoria, Australia
By Derringer on 04-Jan-04. Waypoint GCHEPN

Well....wasn't that quite the adventure........

Two years ago I sat up at Team Oakeys cache above this one, looking down trying to pick a route and thinking "do I or don't I?"....
On that day I went with "don't I".....
Which brings us to here and now.....our annual Christmas camping trip was swung back here for the sole purpose of tackling the Devils staircase.
So with the previous recce burnt into my memory, I set off down the rock scree while the Queen and the Princess occasionally watched my progress from up at our campsite and on their stroll out to the crosscut saw, and I'll give you a tip, this way ain't no walk in the park, all those rocks aren't all nice and solid and the terrain is a hell of a lot steeper than it looks from up top.
So after what seemed like an hour of huffing and puffing and scrambling and climbing (with the occasional falling) , but was in fact exactly that, I finally made it to......
........the wrong elevation.........
Super.
So after checking all around there anyway.....just in case.....I started to climb my way straight up to, hopefully, the RIGHT elevation......
Once at the right elevation, I let my dicky ticker catch-up with my lungs, and sat and waited for both of them to get to me, then I started the search......looking, looking, looking......
Starting to get a bit concerned now......
Ok, enough of this, how about we look at the "too obvious" spot.....and Taa-Daaa!....there it is.....sweet.
So I then stood on the edge of the world and signed my life away.

Thanks Kevin for the big time adventure.

Now dear reader, the story doesn't end there.......oh no.....

What came next can only be described as absolute lunacy and epic failure as I decided to go to the Terrible Hollow straight from this cache.......

Now I know why they refer to down there as hell.........

Oh. My. God.

Gday watchers

Is the cache actually still in place?

Cheers

So glad I got to enjoy this one before its retirement!

Time to archive this one
K&M

Nooooooo! I'm just glad I grabbed this one one of the best cache hunts I've had

Great find while hiking in the area. After a 6hr drive, 2hr hike and a 3hr scramble Found and logged. Me and two non-caching mates set up camp on the ridge overlooking the cache and decided to just walk along the ridge to do a short reccy. after walking about 200m we found ourselves just near another cache "Between a cache and a hard place" Our reccy was going well as we logged this cache, We looked down the valley at BeDevilled and said it dosn't seem that far away, Ha. As we where only just going LOOK at the gully down to GZ with no climbing gear "It was sitting at camp", no torches or drinking water we stood at the top of the large scree slope and only 500m on the GPS and 3hrs of daylight we said "this close now lets go." We headed down the steep scree following the GPS. After some very hard walking we got within 150m we could see the possible site for GZ and we hoped we didn't need our climbing gear this far in to the walk. At this point the 5 star terrain is very fitting, only 50m from GZ and mate walked ahead to have a look at the cliffs then found the rock cairn. After a short search we found the cache Yay what a find but only HALF WAY. Signed log took photos. Great cache what an adventure both my non-caching mates really enjoyed this find, (Great into to caching a 4.5/5 and 5/5) Thanks Derringer
Now for the race back to camp before dark.

This entry was edited by MAC4x4 on Saturday, 28 January 2012 at 12:01:28 UTC.

@ 5.10pm Find #704

Wow! Truly an amazing caching experience

My first attempt at this cache failed due to time constraints. This time around I arrived at the nearby Macalister Springs with a good 4-5 hrs of day light. Set up camp in most picturesque spot with views over the Devils Staircase, Crosscut saw and beyond.

I pretty much had worked out what had to done to reach this cache on my last visit. It was just a matter of taking my time and slowly working my way to GZ, once I was less than 30m away GZ was soon spotted

Unfortunately after retrieving the cache, I discovered that the lid was badly damaged and further deteriorated when I removed it. Surprising the log was still in excellent condition. After signing the log I sat and admired the view for quite sometime, taking a lot of photos and just soaking up the ambience of the area.

Before heading back to my night’s camp, I had with me a waterproof container that I use for my phone and decided to leave it behind to hopefully keep the log safe and dry.
Hopefully I haven’t crossed the line by doing this and I apologize if I have. I’ve left the original container at GZ

Howitt Plains~Devils Staircase at EveryTrail

Thx Derringer for giving me the motivation to get back to one of my most favourite parts of the AAWT


Plans are already under way for an extended trip and hopefully an attempt on Razor Blade


This entry was edited by TeamOaky on Sunday, 20 November 2011 at 08:41:19 UTC.

Well we got there eventually! Aussies hardest cache in the bag!

Our 2nd attempt to "reach" this cache came out with a better out come than our first attempt.
On our first attempt back in April, we went down the gully of another ridge hoping that once we reached the bottom we would be able to swing around and up to the cache, this never happened, and we soon found ourselfs with 2 options, abseil down into the gully and hope for the best, or climb out way out. We ended up pulling out the roped and climbing back up the mountain face, which is when we placed aussies 2nd hardest cache "Between a cache and a hard place" After looking at the staircase for a while after climbing up the mountain face, we realised what route we needed to take for next time. Well this time we came back with a vengance!

After some planning, our plan was to get the drive out of the way on Thursday the 16th, camp in Jamison, then on the 17th over Jamison - Licola road, a 90km dirt road we have grown to enjoy over this year, drive up to the Mount Howitt carpark, finding a few caches along the way. We found one cache in Licola. We were going to attempt this cache on the Saturday, but realising how much time we had Friday, we forgot about all the other caches and raced up to the carpark to attempt Bedevilled today!

We made good time and were soon on our way, ropes and all at around 12:30pm. We arrived at the top of the staircase around 1:40pm and decided to do what many other finders have done, decend down into the gully that runs along side the ridge itself, then traverse onto the correct step. After walking a fair way down the scree slope, we decided to traverse onto one of the steps to get our bearings, there were short patches of rain, but not too much too worry about, so when up on the ide of the step we anchored our ropes in and waited out the short shower, I said to Hanseeka, go have a look up on the step and see how far it is to the cache, he went up and yelled back, 30m come up and have a look, so i hooked onto our guide rope and made my way up to the top of the step. I had a look over and said, its not too far over to there, lets go check it out, so we unclipped and walked over, when we spotted a small cairn! We thought we should go over and check it out, and then the GPSr started dropping the meters too GZ rapidly! We were soon 5 meters away! My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I screamed "OH MY GOD!!!! I FOUND IT HERE IT IS!" I opened it up to find the legendarie dinosaurs, we let them out for some not so prehistoric air, and the one koala too! I don't think Ive ever been so excited to sign a log book! We snapped a few photos but as we wanted to do a few things before heading back to the carpark so we went back along our rope and repelled down the side of the ridge back to the scree slope. It was tough going climbing up the massive boulders that make up the scree slope. There were lots of different kinds of thorns and pointy sticks so we ended up with a few cuts and grazes! I got a bit worried when reppeling though as it started to hail for about 30 secs, but other than that and a few pathces of light rain, the weather held out for our time on the mountain! Having said that it poured back at the tent, even up at buller today clearing out 2 caches it started to snow on us!

Thanks for the challenge Derringer! We love how this one pushed us and made us work to get it! Look forward to finding more of yours.
Jonti.

Well I'll be devilled .... Second, and this time successful, attempt at this one.
After zig zagging up Mt Howitt Road we found ourselves zig zagging down a gully of rocks.
All the time watching the distance to the cache go down a lot slower than the distance travelled.
Time to attempt a traverse hoping it was the right time to do so?
Trying to gauge the position on such up and down terrain required trial and error.
With luck on our side we happended upon the cache much to our delight.

What a great spot to be for that moment in time whilst we signed the log and took a couple of snaps!

Time to practise our rope skills so we abseilled down a little to start our traverse back to the rocks.
We then found ourselves zig zagging back up the gully navigating a path of every changing steps.

Thanks again Derringer for derring us to tackle this cache.
TFTC TNLN SL (F459)

Rated: for Overall Experience

Decided to have a go at this cache after finding “Between a cache and a hard place” worked out what route to take and made the decision that I would not need the ropes (1st mistake)
Got up early the next morning and only had two hours spare to attempt this cache (2nd mistake)
My first traverse had me way to high directly above and about 300m away form GZ. Backed tracked to where I could descend gully and made another traverse, this time I was two stairs to high, I climbed down one stair but was then faced with a shear drop to the next level about 110m from cache and directly above, without the ropes I had to back track again by the time I had made it back to the gully my 2 hrs was well and truly up. I was starting to rush this cache and it was not the sort of thing to done on this cache.
I now know where to find GZ and will attempt again on my next visit
My 3rd mistake was, I had worked out a good elevation for GZ the night before and instead of trusting GPSrs went with what I thought was going to be GZ
Thx again Derringer for the caching adventure

I feel I am still searching as I didn't get close enough (303m) to look for it....
After a part attempt down a gully our day became a day of reconnaissance.
I now feel I know which way I will go next time. Due to the prospect of rain we didn't attempt again.
Ended up camping at the hut for a night and sauntering up to Mt Howitt, which, was another reason for the trip up.
Thanks Derringer for derring to place the cache. I hope to be back.
TFTC DNF DNSL.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Well we might have found it if we had of picked the right way to approach it, went down a very steep valley before realizing that this was not the best way to be going, we scaled the valley wall with our ropes which turned out to be a bit of fun, after studying the ridge more carefully, we determined what way we will go next time, didn't do it this trip because we only had a small amount of time before the rain closed in, which it did the next morning!

Thanks Derringer, we may not have found the cache, but you took us to an area which we had a lot of fun!
379Jonti379

Woohoo me and Hanseeka are coming for Bedivilled today!!!!!!!!!!!!

20 years ago, I sat on the Cross Cut Saw at the top of Stanley’s Name Spur with my son eating Primas filled from the last patches of the winters snow looking down into the Terrible Hollow and across at the Devils Staircase. It was truly one of the magic moments in my life. Since then I have always wanted to get onto the Devils Staircase. I have returned to Macalister Springs several times since but hadn’t made it onto the staircase. Thanks Derringer for providing the motivation to fulfil a long held dream.

Now, a lot heavier, far less hair but no wiser when it comes to hiking up mountain ridges we planned a 3 day expedition along the same route I did 20 years ago as a day walk but this time we will get onto the Devils Staircase.

With Phantom51 and Stickler who have already submitted their logs, we took a different route to BeDevilled. We didn’t follow the ridge at all but descended via a steep gully and with some skilful navigation (and perhaps some luck) traversed around the side of the gully to come onto the ridge at GZ. What a great achievement and view, it was worth the wait.

To those that follow, make sure that you do not have a fear of heights – the gully was very steep and filled with loose rocks but we were under control “most” of the time. The traverse to the ridge was mostly on grass, very very steep and exposed and any slip would have resulted in a very nasty fall.

Great cache, great company, thanks everyone.

Well it has been since 01/01/06 (damn hot) since I was last here scoping this cache which has been elusive to most (expect a few die hard cachers).

We had a partially new team and plenty of time on our side for this trip, so made it a 3.5 day excursion.

We started on the Howqua River and walked up Queen Spur Road, with a right onto Stanleys Name Spur Track which lead to the rim of the Cross-cut. Had a pleasant night at Macaslister Springs although as you would expect, very busy with "day trippers".

Sunday was the day to tackle the Staircase, but after undertaking a "risk assessment", we chose not to traverse the ridge, which if a mistake was made - could result in a quick death (or worse?).

Our team chose the longer (but safe) option of walking down the scree slope next to the staircase and once working out exactly where the cache was, accessing it from the side onto the correct "step". We soon had it in hand in a spectacular location (and no ropes were harmed in logging this cache!). We were very surprised the cache had been found only 2 days earlier - well done. The walk out (up!) wasn't too bad, abit slow.

Back to camp early afternoon for a snooze, with an exit back to the Howqua River the next day, via the Howqua Feeder Track.

Thanks Team and Derringer for making this trip a very memorable one (I just love doing these things twice?).

The decision was made by the Team earlier in January to give this one a go. The one and only time I had seen the Staircase was just before the bushfires in 2006 from the other side of the hollow during a failed attempt to locate The Razor (lack of water).

After a late evening arrival in the Upper Howqua is was a quick 4km walk up the valley to the campsite just before Queens Spur takes off to the left. We settled in for the night in the quiet valley only to be woken at 4am by very loud thunder and extremely bright lighting and a small amount of rain. What was in store for us?

The next day we were off up the spur and then onto the walking track that took us too the edge of the Terrible Hollow with the Staircase just over there. Wow what a sight!!!! We walked the final distance to Macallister Springs and set up camp amongst the snow gums with the other 30 or so walkers.

Well the day had arrived and as we looked into the gap the decision was made to approach from the valley on the Springs side. We then made our way down a very steep slope and with precise navigation, by the others in the team, we found ourselves approaching the correct level.

GZ achieved, great feeling and what a view. We took the time to take the pics and rest in the shade of a gum tree before the climb out.

As Stickler mentioned the climb was not as bad as we thought it would be, we just took it slow and steady with plenty of breaks just like we did on the way down.

The rest of the day at our camp was nice and easy prior to the walk out via Mt Howitt and the feeder track that was completed on the Monday in warming conditions.

This area has to be the best when it comes to walking, views etc. I will have to get back as there a couple of caches still on the otherside of the Hollow that are on my To Do list.

Thanks Derringer for what I would have to rate my best find.

Found at 1400. Ever since this I've been into geocaching, this one has been on my to-do list, and today DJ Rascal and I were can finally enjoy the spoils of completing it. We got off to an early start this morning, leaving Wodonga at 0530, and while we knew the journey would take a few hours, we were surprised how slow going it was just to reach our starting point.

After passing through Mansfield, we went via Sheepyard Flat and Picture Point to arrive at the Mt. Howitt car park at 1200. The walk in was very enjoyable, as at this time in the day it wasn't too hot, and the wind was drifting across us nicely. After an hours walk, we arrived at one of my favourite huts in all the highplains (Vallejo Gantner), bumping into some fellow walkers staying the night there, before making our way on to GZ. Whilst we were fairly well prepared for what lay in wait for us, we got to the first gully from the edge of the camping grounds for a truly spectacular view of the 'Cross Cut' (my favourtie walk) and the 'Devil's Staircase', and thought 'Geeez'.

We made our way across to the staircase and were soon neck deep in rock scrambling/climbing before coming to some very interesting ascensions that often left us contemplating what the best course of action was. After much rock negotiating, we decided to play it safe on one part of the ascension, and got out our rope to help lower ourselves down. With the last 100m in front of us to go, the cache was in sight, as well as the breathtaking views from 'Speculation' to 'The Viking'. I remember the last walk my family did across the 'Cross Cut', and trying to find the best vantage point to take a photo of the 'Cross Cut'.....well this is it! I simply wanted to sit out here all day, but alas, we still had to make the climb back up, the walk back to the car, and the long drive home.

The climb out was much easier than the ascent in, although DJ may attest to this after he took a fallen rock the size of a grapefruit to the shoulder narrowly missing his head from 5m up. Once back at the hut, we continued straight on to the car park, bumping into some more fellow hikers on their way to Mt. Howitt, and got back to the car at 1600. In total, we spent approximately 16 hours in getting to and from the cache, but it was worth every moment to stand at GZ.

Thanks Derringer for a truly amazing cache! It won't be forgotten for a very long time....if ever!

Dropped off GC for the next lucky visitor.

What an epic journey this turned out to be.

This had been in planning for a number of weeks, but unable to set a date in concrete until 4 days earlier. We had a very "approx" date but didn't know if it was going to be a 1 or 2 day adventure. We packed the wagon for a 2 day deal in any case, but as it turns out it was a 1 day affair.

We were given a few options from CraigD (big thanks to Craig) for our approach to the hardest cache in Vic. We decided to drive the furthest we could before we set off on foot to the required destination. Sometimes along the drive I actually thought we could walk faster then I was driving because of the terrain. We really underestimated the time it would take to get to the carpark, I though maybe 4 hours from home but it was 6 (and felt like 10!)
We approached the Mt Howitt carpark from Mansfield, along the Howqua Trk, Brocks Rd, Bluff Link Rd, Bluff Trk, and onto the King Billy Trk.
It was all smooth till we got to Bluff trk and it was pretty much a crawl along the rocky tracks all the way from there.

We arrived at the carpark at 1200 and made our way along Mt Howitt walking track to Vallejo Gunther Hut for a quick visit. After signing the book it was off to the Devils staircase, we umm'ed and ahh'ed for a bit deciding on the best route to get there once we were in view of what laid ahead.
We took the slightly easier way of making our way round the contour and decreasing our altitude as we went, and making a sideways approach to the cache rather than the straight down the ridge option. Once we made our way to the ridge line and found we were just over 100mt from the cache with a substantial drop off in front of us so out came the rope.
We took our time with the descent and made the last 95mt look very easy.

Cache log was signed, views were admired and photographed repeatedly, lunch was eaten and it was time to go back.

It was time for Karma to catch up with me today. A few times during the week whilst I was away with work I had managed to be the cause of a few objects hitting the heads of a couple of fellow workers below. Now it was going to be my turn.

It was rope time again and I think Marcus thought I was doing it all too easy. I reckon he thought he'd put up an extra challenge to me by kicking me a rock down to have a closer look at (not intentionally or wanted but it was coming my way none the less).
I managed to catch a quick glimpse of a "boulder" hurtling towards my head after hearing "WATCH YOUR HEAD" a couple of times before making the split second decision to turn my head sideways and copping it on the shoulder (it wasn't my first choice, I'd rather have gotten out of the way all together), and luckily it had hit me right where my bags padded shoulder strap was, lessening the blow from a skull cracking disaster to a mere bruised muscle.
With that bit over it was back the way we came and the rest of the trip compared to the rock incident was fairly uneventful, only that it took until 2230 to get home.

16 hours, the hardest cache in Vic and 4 others under the belt, I reckon it was a great day.

TNLN, Thanks Derringer for the experience, not one to be forgotten for a while.

Cheers.

PS the lid to the container is cracked, I wrapped the cache in a shopping bag to protect it from moisture (it was all I had), and buried the cache under the rocks to stop the bag deteriorating in the weather too quickly but the container will need replacing eventually.

This one has just been added to my "TO DO" list for the up and coming game - The Well Rounded Cacher.
Looking forward to the challenge.

Mate! You guys are crazy!!!! . I mean this in the nicest most possible way and with more admiration than you can imagine. A great log right up Craig D and great pictures as well. I don't think I would have the cajones to do that. LOL.

Unarchiving

Thanks and well done to CraigD. for reaching this cache - it isn't easy!!
K&M

Armed with a muggle mate from uni, we decided that it was time to have a bit of fun in the Howitt area. Being from Central Victoria our approach was made from the west, and this time we opted to ascend the legendary Helicopter Spur. Alas, due to a few delays on the trip over we didn't leave the cars until 5:30pm!

Using headtorches from the end of the old vehicle track, we made our way up through the cliffs. At times we shone our torches over the edges of the spur and see nothing beneath us [:o] The top was reached in good time, and we camped the night at the base of the King Billies.

The next morning we made our way over Mt Magdala and past Hells Window in windy conditions. After having lunch on the West Peak we continued on towards Macalister Springs, our campsite for the night. On the way over I pointed out the Devils Staircase and mentioned to my mate that the VMTC had used it as a route before... somehow it stuck in his mind! We soon arrived at the hut and staked our claim on a patch of turf for the evening.

After filtering some water and wandering around the surroundings, my mate suggested we do a trip to the Devil's Staircase. As we set off at 4:30pm, something twigged in my mind, and upon reaching the edge of the Terrible Hollow I whipped out my Smartphone and dialed up mobile.geocaching.com.au. Soon my suspicions were confirmed; there was an archived Derringer cache down there! The coordinates were soon entered into the GPSr and we were on our way.

Contouring around, we reached the top of the Devils Staircase and began the descent. The spur soon became one of the narrowest I've encountered; the dropoffs either side were quite.... interesting [:o]

The spur was a little more challenging than the one we had ascended the previous day, and not having a rope made it quite memorable! My friend had done a bit of climbing before, and with his guidance we descended down the 'steps' towards to bottom. Fortunately we were traveling light, and I would not like to repeat the descent with anything more than a small daypack!

After a few hairy moments on the way down, I glanced at my GPS and saw there was less than 100m to GZ! The worst having been passed, we continued on eagerly. In our exuberance I didn't let the GPS settle, resulting in one additional step being descended before realising the error of our ways and returning to the designated place. The cache was located at 5:30pm, and we both signed the log book whilst enjoying the panoramic views. The container is still in perfect condition, and the fire didn't affect the immediate surroundings at GZ.

With fading light, we began retracing our steps back towards our campsite. The trip up was much easier than the descent, although I wouldn't like to do it again without ropes if overnight packs were being carried. We arrived back at the hut at 6:15pm in minimal light, extremely pleased with our achievements. We celebrated the night in style with in front of the open fire in Vallejo Gantner hut.

The snow gods must have looked down kindly on our achievements, as we awoke the next morning to 3-4" of snow everywhere! Breakfast was enjoyed in the hut, followed by pancakes, and then our tents were dissasembled and equipment stowed in our packs. We eventually departed Macalister Springs at 11:40am.

The trip out was fantastic, and we opted to head back to the cars via Stanley Name Spur. It was snowing most of the way down to 1200m, and we reached the cars at 5pm (had a 1 hour break part-way along to boil the billy and thaw out). From there it was back to Mansfield for an all-you-can-eat buffet at the pub, washed down with $2.50 hot chocolates; a fitting end to a fantastic weekend.

TNLN due to the impromptu nature of the visit.

Thanks Derringer for my most memorable cache to date. This one will be hard to top

(Btw, although we reached the cache without ropes I would STRONGLY encourage ALL future parties to carry appropriate climbing equipment.)

Sentinel Fire maps indicate this cache has been cooked.
There is little chance it survived the flames.
It, and many others will be replaced and remnants removed over the coming year.
On the bright side it means lots of High Country trips
Am really looking forward to this one - its in a magnificent position - one of my best
Kevin

The Vic High Country is ablaze, am delisting until access to the area is safe
Kevin

We'd never been out to the Mt. Howitt area before, and with three Derringer virgins taunting us, we thought it could be a good weekend to go exploring. After hiking in to the Vallejo Gantner hut on Friday morning, we set out, bright eyed and bushy tailed, and with day packs stuffed with climbing gear, well prepared for a devilishly tricky cache. Our approach path was a little steep, but not too bad - the rope was brought out a few times, and finally we had reached our destination - a lot faster than we had expected. The cache was obvious (thankfully), and after playing with the plastic dinosaurs, we set off on Part Two of the day's mission: A Terrible....

(photos coming soon)

Well, this cache along with "A Terrible..." are very tough. Our trip with Rhinogeo and Sherb turned out to be a reccy, as we were all tired by the time we got to Macallister Springs. There will be a next time, but by a different route perhaps, as 3 days was not enough! mmm...more thought required and cooler weather would be the go.

Did Not Find on 01/01/06 . With Stickler and Sherb, we managed to get to within 400m of the cache, but considering our level of fatigue after walking from Mount Speculation the previous day, we didn't risk an attempt [xx(]

Our reconnaisance trip was spectacular nevertheless, and will serve us well for next time