Ascents of Tom Thumb

Notes:

Splitter condies.

Rack: -2*1/2 ropes (60s but 50s would have been ideal). -anchor kits (just quads would have been fine) ~12 bolt plates -Bunch of alpine draws with bolt plate compatable biners -Few draws (would just bring alpines next time) -Few double slings -Set of nuts (unsed none) -single set cams equiv 0.3-3

Approx approx 1hr Raps*3 approx 45 mins (low angle featured terrain, would have been better to bag/saddlebag), can see where groups stop too early.

Pitched, approx 2.5hrs on route with some routefinding/carrot finding faff (hint- several belays are 'over the edge' on ledges and can be hard to spot).

Belays mostly double carrots/GIMBs.

Three star atmosphere/location, many bivy caves, route best framed as mountaineering adventure terrain, mostly rambling with a few spooky moves.

Good quality rock, generally easy climbing, nice belays. Don't bring more than thr suggested gear, unless you want to skip bolts/lace it up.

Sensational day, really couldn't have asked for a better Tom Thumb run! Apart from maybe a few more bolt plates haha!

Cruisy climbing, a bitta wayfinding required but not too bad. We still managed to find some decent gear

Shoutout to Sam, who downloaded the map from alltrails, so access was breezy.

Cool adventure route!

First multi-pitch in the blue mountains. Felt very wild with stunning surroundings. Fairly easy climbing on good rock, really enjoyable. Rolled the dice with a forecasted thunderstorm, had the place to ourselves, topped out just the bad weather arrived. Only took 2 carrot plates, plenty natural gear so no worries.

Great day. 9.5 hours car to car.

We had a 5am start on a soggy misty morning. Rap chains were easy to find using a map on Sydney Rockies site --> http://sydneyclimbing.com/The+Fortress.html and a the katoomba topo map.

We climbed as a party of three belaying caterpillar style, the slow way. Found the rock dry and better quality than expected.

Pitch two was pretty sketch. Someone had built a little cairn to use as a step-off. Got two nuts in before the first bolt and regretted not bringing my grey #4 cam for use on the first big horizontal break. Clipped bolt. Moved right to big plates, then left to the arete then got lost towards the top and found myself 12 metres run out trying to find a bolt with two heavy dragging ropes pulling on me.

There were a few moments on the climb when I couldn't find the next bolt, so placed a nut or threaded some ridiculous bollard only to find that the bolt was right in front of me at eye level.

Next time might plan to extend every runner on the climb because the rope drag is a bit of a fun killer.

Sun came out by the end as we were topping out.

There’s a lizard that lives at the rap chains at the top. It will eat — with relish — any squashed flies a belayer may have to offer. Pays it forward.

A fun scramble in an awesome location, can easily be done on majority trad gear. Jogged in and out.

Seconded pitch one, simul'd the rest, five hours car to car at a casual pace. Would love to run in and out and go for speed.

Bolts are more for guidance than protection. Definitely felt like I was soloing for most of this climb as falling would have been a bad idea. probably only placed 4-5 pieces of gear on the whole climb as there aren't many options. rock is super choss so test everything before you commit

Fun day out. Super easy cruisy but sparse gear leads to long runouts which could make for a scary time if you were less experienced on lead. Hard to fall tho! First abseil was fun, bit of exposure.

Broad-headed snake on pitch 2, under the roof, sitting comfortably in a handhold.

Views from the Fortress are always great! The climbing is alright. Not much gear needed. Although you could insist on climbing it more traditionally and eschew some of the carrots... which I ended up doing just to make it more interesting.

First multi pitch climb, unreal views!

Nice and cruisy for Erin and Ashton's first multi, teaching them a few things

Nice easy multi with Adam and Jack. Didn’t use much of the trad rack; think I only used a #2, #0.5 (but a 0.4# also fits) and a Bd 7 stopper.

A few big run outs, take looong draws and alpine draws.

7hr 20mins party of 3; first time for all

Introducing Noah to the Blue Mountains and to outdoor climbing. Left my bolt plates in the car, thankfully I bought nuts.