★ Crankenstein 24

An impressive looking arete - but the route tends to climb mostly on the face well to the right side of the arete. This route is bolted with old-school bash-in rusty carrots with no hangers and should be treated with caution. The route may have only had two ascents as of 2021 - rock is quite fragile. The topo diagram on this page is not accurate regarding the bolt count and number of bolts on rap points. Bring a single set of cams from finger to hand size to beef up anchors and backup some of the crustier bolts. Take care and bring plenty of bolt plates.

Approach by walking down steep gully 50m to the east of the top of Wafer Thin Fin. At bottom of gully walk left along narrow ledge for 20m to top of route. Look for single rusty carrot on flat top. This bolt marks the top of the rap down point but not the top of the route. Backup single bolt up with finger sized cam in break 3m behind it. Fix rope and rap down wall 30m to double carrot bolt belay and loose hillside. Fix a 70m+ to these bolts and rap down hillside and then down route to base of wall. It's best to clip into a few bolts on the way down to stay connected to the wall. Give the holds a scrub whilst your at it - they will be dirty!

1. 35m (24) Up overhung left side of arete until move around to right side. Up to small footledge and semi-hanging DBB. About 11 BRs.

2. 40m (24) Follow the steep line of sandy scoops for miles until it blanks out on a black wall. Thin moves then up to belay at base of steep hillside (Balderstone Point) and single bolt (backup with rap rope!). Move belay up to DBB at base of top pitch. 13 bolts?

3. 35m (24) Hard undercut start then much easier climbing that wanders right then back left. Alarmingly ironstone jug finish. 7 bolts.

Although sport climbing is well entrenched as the most popular form of Blueys climbing, mixed-climbing on gear and bolts has generally been the rule over the long term. Please try to use available natural gear where possible, and do not bolt cracks or potential trad climbs. If you do the bolts may be removed.

Because of the softness of Blue Mountains sandstone, bolting should only be done by those with a solid knowledge of glue-in equipping. A recent fatality serves as a reminder that this is not an area to experiment with bolting.

If you do need to top rope, please do it through your own gear as the wear on the anchors is both difficult and expensive to maintain.

At many Blue Mountains crags, the somewhat close spacing of routes and prolific horizontal featuring means that it is easy to envisage literally hundreds of trivial linkups. By all means climb these to your hearts content but, unless it is an exceptional case due to some significant objective merit, please generally refrain from writing up linkups. A proliferation of descriptions of trivial linkups would only clutter up the guide and add confusion and will generally not add value to your fellow climbers. (If you still can't resist, consider adding a brief note to the parent route description, rather than cluttering up the guide with a whole new route entry).

If you have benefited from climbing infrastructure in NSW, please consider making a donation towards maintenance costs. The Sydney Rockclimbing Club Rebolting Fund finances the replacement of old bolts on existing climbs and the maintenance of other hardware such as fixed ropes and anchors. The SRC purchases hardware, such as bolts and glue, and distributes them to volunteer rebolters across the state of New South Wales. For more information, including donation details, visit https://sydneyrockies.org.au/rebolting/

It would be appreciated if brushing of holds and minimisation/removal of tick marks becomes part of your climbing routine. Consider bringing a water squirt bottle and mop-up rag to better remove chalk. Only use soft (hair/nylon) bristled brushes, never steel brushes.

The removal of vegetation - both from the cliff bases and the climbs - is not seen as beneficial to aesthetics of the environment nor to our access to it.

Remember, to maintain access our best approach is to 'Respect Native Habitat, Tread Softly and Leave No Trace'. Do not cut flora and keep any tracks and infrastructure as minimal as possible or risk possible closures.

For the latest access related information, or to report something of concern, visit the Australian Climbing Association NSW Blue Mountains page at https://acansw.org.au/blue-mountains/