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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'.

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.

Areas

Map Name Style Climbs Ascents Height Grade Band Topos
17West Side Crag Crag All Unknown 28511m
18East Side Crag Crag Mostly Unknown 21215m
19Riverside Crag Crag Mostly Unknown 14015m

Routes

RouteGradeStylePopularity
1 Arrival
18
Unknown 12m
2 It's a fine line
18
Unknown 10m
3 Pain
17
Unknown 10m
4 It's a tough life
14
Unknown 10m
5 Just the ticket
13
Unknown 10m
6 Last of the orchids
15
Trad 14m
7 False start
17
Unknown 15m
8 Red Hot
18
Unknown 15m
9 Mistaken Identity
16
Unknown 15m
10 Rib tickler
16
Unknown 12m
11 LFC
19
Unknown 10m
12 Kickstart
19
Unknown 10m
13 MI
10
Unknown 10m
14 IPNTCIYM
13
Unknown 10m
15 Picnic

FA: Luxfor, Cameron & Chambers, 1993

8
Unknown 10m
16 Marchfly Madness

FA: Cameron, Chambers & Luxford, 1993

14
Unknown 8m

Open trips

There are no open trips for this crag

Learn about trips.