Ascents in Megalong Valley Crags

Yep, it goes but may feel spicy on lead, and having the right gear will be needed. Climbed it with a bit of difficulty and desperation at times ... Maybe ~23 ... All things considered ... Going to the top ..

RSP'd for the first shot and I got but should have warmed up. Almost got through but took a sit and let Jamie have a shot. He got through to possible belay and set one involving abseil rope. I cleaned it clean realising I had somehow missed the jug at my high point. Oh well. Had quick TR of the direct, a short rest and then tried the top half, but had to take a sit to sort some so-so gear and using the rap line for a temporary runner. Then climbed to top. Top bit needs a little bit of a clean maybe.

Might be 21'ish ...

First attempt/ascent after prior TR inspection; preplaced gear, with a rest or two, and a bit of rapline backup to keep calm. All moves done of the rope though a bit cruxy at times. Should be ok on next, proper attempt/ascent.

First shot today, in the freezing gale-force wind. Entertaining traverse, bizarre overhanging arete-feature (full of huge holes), and a thin face climbing finale. It's a shame about the terrible rock on the arete feature, because the climbing, the feature, and the exposure are outrageous. Coupled with the mixed-bag first pitch this probably doesn't deserve a star, but it's still a crazy adventure!

+5 stars for position

-1 star for dirtiness

-2 stars for the absolutely mingus jingus splingosity of a choss pile on the first pitch.

-1 for the choss on pitch 2

Hence 1 star is accurate.

After going up the Phoenix the grade 15 first pitch felt like nails, a sentiment potentially added to by the fact that less than 60% of the rock is load-bearing. Very much an access pitch, the fixed hand line is a goer! The second pitch has a rather exiting traverse which, whilst on good holds, felt stiff for 19. It then goes up the awesome feature that you came for. Tuck those knees into kneebars, shake those arms out and froth over the exposure! Matt lead this one finding himself a little bit off route and was relieved to find the ring bolt out to the left. He successfully climbed the whole pitch without gear for the brownpoint (similar to a green point but in reverse). This is very much not the recommended style for this route. The gear is possible but takes some finding. Not a lead for those just squeaking out 19s. Still... The exposure is so so so cool. Loved it!

NOT A CLIMB TO DO IF SOMEONE IS ON THE PHOENIX

Flash First Ascent. Mega exposure thugging! The first pitch is forgettable (except for the scary finale on loose rock), but the second pitch is stellar. Wild position over the Void, with pumpy jug-hauling and the odd-thin move thrown in for fun. Would be a popular route at any other crag.

Some pretty poor rock leads to some fairly average rock... Might clean up a bit ...

This route could be very good if the rock wasn't bad in several places. My partner pulled off quite a sizeable hold.

came off on the freshly-spooged slimper a metre from the anchors

damn you rain!

Josh led p1, me p2. Hard p1 18++

Great finger locks, dirty veggie offwidth, take plenty 1/2" to 1" cams and maybe a #5 of the wide bit. EXCITING!

Hmmm. Revegetated, dirty, loose blocks, and some nice climbing inbetween

Decided to aid climb it for a laugh (and some practice). 30min bush-bash walk in/out, and at least 60% of the crack is now covered in dense vegetation, which -over a 50m climb- is a lot of gardening. If the crack was clean, and a better way of accessing the crag found (the first ascentionist told me it's possible to walk to the top of the cliff), it would probably be a "very good" 2-star sort of climb. But as it stands NOW, you couldn't pay me to go back and free climb it.

I am not sure when I climbed this but I do remember it was a bit of an epic and lots of fun. We started up the finger crack to the left.

Rope solo. 2 laps to see how the 10 hours I've spent cleaning this crack turned out. The result: amazing. There is NO other crack climb like this in the Blue Mountains, what with such a long sustained section of pure fingercrack and numerous other styles in the mix. Probably only 20 if you do the entire 45m climb as 1 giant pitch (gear management critical), with the crux right at the top. With the new access route I've pioneered, this firebird has no excuse not to be more popular!

One lap lead, and another on rope-solo to get No-Chalk Rob's gear back. Great lead, spicey finish, loved every second of it. An absolutely brilliant climb. Amazingly sustained PROPER finger-crack, accompanied by every other style of crack climbing, mostly great rock, bomber gear, and epically long. As I've said before, there is NO other crack climb quite like it in the Blue Mountains. Crack-lovers get on it!

Another repeat. Top rope solo lap to escape the bottom of the crag as the rain set in. Some vegetation has started to return since I cleaned it last year (I pulled it all out as I climbed), but its still in damn good nick, and is one of the best cracks in the Blue Mountains. Get on it!

Another repeat. A speedy lead ascent (25min) to escape the crag as the sun went down. To save time, I simply ran it out as much as possible. Still nothing less than CLASSIC. It's good to see that EVERYONE I've taken out to this climb has reached the top singing its praises. GET ON IT!

Run out of gear on first and only try...went in through old overgrown track...next time!

Spent about 20mins cleaning this route. Would be mega classic if it got an even bigger clean, including chopping out the tree. Awesome long route with some amazing finger crack sections. I found this much easier than Janicepts. Track in and out was a bit of a battle, I would suggest rap down Archae... Instead of bashing through the jungle in the gully. If you trade climb you should get on this now!

Mega. 2nding Rene (great onsight buddy). Long, sustained and varied. Literally a finger crack route with an offwidth section.

Bit short on small gear but managed it, just ... Some lovely finger crack sections .. Interesting finish ..

Awesome climb. It was a bit of an adventure to get to, thanks for all of the fixed ropes. Once you get there and look down the climb you know that you are in for some fun.

A great continuous crackline that just eats gear. There were 2 tricky section but nothing too hard, would have helped if my fingers were a bit fatter.

It climbed better than it looked. Good moves in sections with some thought provoking sections of rock. Well led by Nic.

A great adventure to do on my birthday! A grade 20 crack for my 20th year! The finger locks are so bomber, and the gear is so good, plenty of footholds so there was no akward thin crack foot jamming. Just an excellent morning all round!

Great to climb this with Harry for his birthday. Awesome varied and consistently engaging route for the full 45m and probably not too difficult for the grade, if a bit insecure and gripping at times. The walk in is a super highway at the moment until you get to the fixed ropes but then they are easy to follow down to the cliff. Get on it.

A fine morning out!! In saying that, it took me 1:35 to onsight this thing. After Will topped out, the total time was slower than The Nose speed record.

Super happy with myself to get this done though, had a super sketchy moment right at the start with a horribly placed 0.5... (There was a good piece below it at least)

Took some commitment to start the finger crack section, but went through it relatively smoothly once I did! Took a while to figure out the upper crux but ended up lay-backing to get it done (and I hate lay-backing)!

Super stoked! 17 pieces of gear. (Most were in the top third when I realised my gear management wasn't too bad!!)

one the better climbs at the grade in the blue mountains.

Good climb, a little dirty in the crack lower down.

Roped solo after an earlier appointment to the soothing sounds of INXS. This is going to be a scary lead for me. Will need to come back with a fist full of green cams. The walk in is well trodden until right at the end (although I didn't find the first blue rope), it would have been easier in crampons. A very daunting approach, but the climb seems less exposed after the abseil. Definitely give this one a go. The key is to not get tunnel vision for the crack.

What a stellar route! Loved it so much. Footers everywhere until the crux. We took doubles 0.3-2, singles 3-5 an assortment of microcams for the top, nuts, and triple 1s and 4 0.75s. Now for the recommendations of a fellow stitcher-uperer... Bring like 3 or 4 0.4s, 3 or 4 0.5s and doubles 0.3-2, nuts, micros and singles 3-5. Save your 5 for after the tree (much excitement was generated from placing it early). Gear management was good all things considered but wouldve loved to have traded my 0.75s for 0.5s.

See below... if you don't find an obvious trail turn off, do not go bashing down a gully (that turns out to be one gully to the south, and a jungle) 😅 The actual route is quite clear and we saw all the fixed ropes except the first one mentioned.

Great climbing, because it's a few degrees short of vertical it has some proper finger and toe jamming while still at a moderate grade, which seems rare in the Bluies. And I like hard sections with good stances in between. Thought I was going to lose it a few times with slipping feet, and one stuck cam to clean, but all just worked out somehow.

Think we took single 3-5, double 1-2, triple 0.3 - 0.75.

Excellent for a Blue Mountains crack climb. Some wider sections and a plant here and there, but there aren't that many clean fingers sections around so they are to be savoured when you find them.

Worth the walk over there and not too hard to find.

Definitely climb as a single pitch. I didn't regret taking the 5 but it certainly isn't necessary if you don't have one.

2020 Nov - took 3 hours of bush bashing in the wrong direction to find this climb

Showing Roxy my personal pick for 2nd best crack in the mountains under 20.

I don't know if it was just the way I was feeling or the extremely spoogey conditions, but this thing felt absolutely desperate today. The entire crack and wall was damp, muddy, and coated in dirt, despite that I thought it barely rained the last few days. I rapped down this thinking, this is gonna be amazing and was astounded at how slippery and insecure the entire climb felt. I know it's grade 20, but it literally felt every bit of grade 23 at least in today's conditions. It would be interesting to revisit this when it is totally dry, but it felt like a joke at grade 20 today. I got the onsight in the end, but not really sure how. As far as gear goes, I didn't have a 5, but that would have been nice. Instead, I had 2 4's,a 3, doubles of 2-.75, 3 .5s, 4 .4s, 3 .3s, and a red and green C3. I also had a random offset alien that may have been close to a .2. I probably could have left the nuts at home but did manage to place 2 overall. I had 19 draws which seemed crazy, but I used them all in the end. This thing was epic and would be worth a revisit when dry to see if I was smoking crack today or not. All in all, a great arvo!

bottom section was a bit dirty and slippery. had a decent fall on my first piece of gear (green cam), did the rest clean. finger crack sections are cool but short, rest of the climb is not that remarkable. overall nice adventure including approach