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Access Issues: inherited from Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains are a World Heritage listed area. The Grose Valley, the cliffs around Katoomba and much of the Narrow Neck peninsula are part of the Blue Mountains National Park which is managed by the NPWS. The Western Escarpment - where most of the climbing is - is Crown Land managed by the BMCC. While the NPWS Plan of Management nominates several locations in the National Park where rock climbing is deemed appropriate, the majority of the climbing remains unacknowledged. To maintain access our best approach is to 'Respect Native Habitat, Tread Softly and Leave No Trace'.

Approach:© (mjw)

Huge boulder 30m down hill from Descent Gull Area.

Ethic: inherited from Blue Mountains

Mixed-climbing on gear and bolts has generally been the rule in the Blueies. Please try to use available natural gear where possible, and do not bolt cracks or potential trad climbs.

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.

It would be appreciated if brushing of holds becomes part of your climbing routine - do it with a soft bristled brush and never a steel brush!

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. Generally it's best to leave all this sort of stuff to the local climbers.

Some content has been provided under license from: © Australian Climbing Association Queensland (Creative Commons, Attribution, Share-Alike 2.5 AU)

Routes

RouteGradeStylePopularity
1 Spastic Octopus

Start: Nth facing wall 30m down from 'Last Chance'.

FA: G.Robbins, 1980

18
Sport 10m
2 Helen

Start: crack 3m right of SO.

FA: C.Monteath, 1971

15
Trad 12m
3 Intermission

Start: Traverse line 1m right of H.

FA: G.Weigand, 1981

19
Trad 15m
4 Bolt Upright

Start: Blunt arete 8m to the right. Solo!

FA: M.Law, 1978

15 R
Trad 22m
5 The Loch Ness Whippet

Start: 5m right of BU.

FA: A.Farquar, 1992

23
Sport 22m
6 * Salem Super Direct

Start: Blunt arete 2m right of TLNW.

FA: A.Penney,J.Smoothy, 1978

19 R
Trad 23m
7 ** Zany

Start: This diagonal 4m right again.

FA: K.Carrigan,M.Law,A.Penney, 1978

19
Sport 23m
8 * Pandemonium

Start: 1m right of Z.

FA: A.Penney,M.Law, 1978

20
Trad 23m
9 ** Mandelbrot Set

Start up arete under fixed hanger between Pandemonium and Hot Water, finishing up HW.

FA: W Stevens, 2002

22
Mixed 15m , 1
10 Hot Water

Start: Chimney 1m right of Z.

FA: J.Smoothy,A.Dunn,P.Martland, 1978

17
Trad 15m
11 Guinevere

Start: As for HW. Chimney and corner.

FA: M.Law,L.Hall, 1974

11
Trad 20m
12 Doughboy

Start: Left arete directly below G.

FA: W.Moon, 1980

15
Trad 15m
13 Crocodile Tears

Start: 3m right of D.

FA: W.Moon, 1980

15
Trad 15m