Ascents in The Fortress as Tick

Definitely on the adventurous end of the spectrum. Lots of things to be careful of, the least of which are black snakes! Very easy to get your rope stuck on the second rap as we did due to the convex profile of the line with numerous ironstone edges. Still lots of loose rock on the route. Every pitch has fun climbing and the crux of the climb is probably negotiating the grass tree etc. on pitch three. Very run out in sections with plenty of dubious rock to spice things up! That’s why it’s a great adventure. Recommend bringing a head torch in case your rope gets stuck...not for the faint hearted.

Great day out - fun climbing and some awesome overhangs

I think we missed the actual P1 since we climbed on natural pro / scrambled up bushes, thinking the first bolt I saw was P1's (figured later it's the first P2 bolt), then stopped most of the way up P2 when I ran out of gear; built an anchor with 2 high cams + bolt. Ollie finished P2 off and we had a cramped lunch on the ledge at the actual end of P2.

Took some rests P3... seconder gets the heavy pack/extra rope, which was even more debilitating when trying to link the steep moves at the start of P6. Eventually I aided the second two bolts with a prusik, but that was still a major hour-long battle as the sun set and light drizzle passed through. Maybe we were off-route - the end was a bush-bash in the dark, followed by a much longer head-torch bush-bash from the anchors to find the trail back to the rap anchors.

Gear: took doubles #.3 to #2 and one #3 as per mikl's advice, ~16 bolt plates & QDs, single & double slings. Still felt run out in parts, especially given how many holds broke off (and not just the obvious thin/hollow ones).

13+ hour car-to-car epic.

Couldnt find the Fortress Crack so ended up on this one instead. Pretty much all carrots. Face climbing on dubious rock all the way, easy climbing but you’re constantly worried that your crimp will snap or ironstone foothold will break off as many did. Great views though over the Grose Valley. Take 10 bolt plates, single rack of cams 0.4-2 and some wires.

Very good. Obviously in a great position but maybe not the classic we were hoping for. Comfortable belays to climb as a party of 3.

Climbed with Anne. Led P3,4,6.

Pulled off a surprising number of holds, especially having climbed it less than two months ago - including a huge hand hold on P3 that led to a ~10m whipper.

Should be clean now everyone - make the walk out and get on it!!

Skipped first pitch. Second pitch start is good, but deteriorates rapidly amongst much fragileness and dubious pro. Crux corner good fun, but then so much mank the temptation to escape early onto Tom Thumb wins.

Has this climb been attempted since the 1960s? Quite possibly not! With not a single tick recorded, nor any route information, this day was bound to be an adventure!

The trail to the abseil carrots was quite pleasant. The journey to the start of the route following the abseil was not. There is not much in the way of a discernable path at the bottom of the cliffline and a landslide has created some very hazardous chossy parts.

The climb itself was also incredibly chossy. I apologised profusely for sending down multiple chunks of rock along the way, the largest being a microwave-sized ex-foothold that simply gave way. The quality of rock is quite awful at the beginning, so be very careful with what you choose to weight. The climbing improves towards the middle, with a few layback sections and some nice stemming moves in the corner. There is even a two move rooflet at one point.

The view is a stunning; as you ascend, the Grose Valley unveils itself in a glorious vista. During golden hour, the cliffs are illuminated by some amazing lighting from the setting sun. However, taking this in did mean I found myself wriggling up a very dirty chimney in the dark, before a dodgy scramble back to the access track by the light of my headtorch.

One for the adventurers. Make sure your choss climbing is on point as rocks tend to explode off the wall quite suddenly after holding together when you test them.

Rapped off Black Snake Moan (one uncomfortable hanging station). The walk across to the climb crosses a fresh scree slope which I managed to slide down 7m after a foothold landslide. Climbing back up, I blew off several pieces of rock, which would be par for the rest of the day.

1. Pretty sure we started in the wrong place, but it's all very much the same loose/crumbly rock and dirt everywhere so whatever.

2. Less dirty, still chossy. A couple of nice crack moves but nothing to write home about. Climb through the tree that has declared ownership of the line halfway up.

3. Probably the best climbing? 2 pitches of interesting corner. Still plenty of loose rock and thin plates to snap off.

4. Aaron ripped off a small microwave at the beginning and tried to throw it at me. He missed and it tumbled into the valley with an impressive smash. After that, I elected to hide behind a tree until he finished the pitch.

5. One rusty manky carrot here. Nice belay station, climbing out the roof is easier and less chossy than it looks. Went around and into the gully.

6. Eating vegetables. Lots of loose dirt and rocks came my way. Belay was a chockstone that probably wasn't there in the 60s.

7. A tall chimney that had limited protection and tops out to stem across dirt on both sides. Nervously claw at crumbly rock and step across to match feet on one face and crawl up to the trees.

All in all, a ridiculous day. At least 5 killer rocks launched in my direction, lots of sketchy choss-leading by Zuni (he estimated about half his cam placements were actually effective), and a pretty intense introduction to choss adventure climbing for Aaron.

Keen to see if anybody else ever goes up this disintegrating relic.

nice moves, variable rock

nice alpine style positions

Went back and lead it.

With David Eckstein, alternate pitches, I failed to start the second pitch in the right place and ended up doing a pitch to the left behind the belay and finished it at the top of the last rappel station. we then traversed right to the correct belay.

really nice intro to multipitch climbing. Great views

Not so nice in the summer sun. Fun day out!

How do people write off this route? Is 150m of blazing jugs not good enough for you?! 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th pitches all fantastic. Mostly clean and solid.

First Multipitch a while back, thought I logged it but apparently not. Last pitch in the dark with head torches haha

Less interesting the second time round. A good one to take your canyoner/bushwalker mate on though.

Not getting the ropes stuck on the abseils and rope drag are the cruxes.

Great day out. Fun rap in and easy climbing out.

great fun, very enjoyable

Finding the beginning of the climb is a touch difficult. There is a buttress out on which the anchors are--it helps to know exactly what this looks before setting off. Researching this and the walk in as much as possible helps--we did and still added 30 minutes due to getting lost.

The abseils are good. I was thinking of a 150m vertical abseil, so looking out over the ledge each time was reassuring. It's more like a slope which is broken with dirt, rock/scrub horizontals, so that the one abseil pitch is like 15m, 25m and then 10m. It can be quite difficult to avoid vegetation and tree branches, and also knocking off rock. Helmets are required on those below, and they should be conscious of where they are standing and where the abseiler is.

The climbing is easy. The major difficulty is route finding - and by route finding is to say finding the bolts. My friend lead this and then I'd find carrots that he missed and then the climber after me would also find missed carrots. It is so juggy, when you look up it's not a vertical wall that you can follow the bolts - some parts its just when you're right in front of it - not below it or above it or to the side. Gear - whether cams - does not place.

For me as my first multi-pitch, as a seconder it was awesome. The climbing is good, no worries, i think even anxious climbers would be fine. My lead climber did not mind some mammoth run outs on due to missed carrots. Leading it for this reason does require a good head and a lot of people would not mind long run outs on grade 12 - but if you do, the exposure would make this unpleasant.

The start of the 2nd pitch is not a grade 12. The climb starts 1.2m off the grade--the ledge is a cave, getting the feet onto this lip is a seriously hard move--on a single pitch climb there would be a pile of rocks at the bottom for this first move.

Finding the bolts on the 4th pitch was extremely difficult. This is a grade 8. I wasn't leading, but the basically the guide said you start up to the right, then move left and straight up. The leader did, and then could not see a single bolt, anywhere, moving around.

If there were markers of where the bolts were leading this would be jolly good fun.

As my first multi-pitch, I have rated this as a mega classic for the grade (13). A sport 150m multi-pitch in a UNESCO Heritage Listed National Park, an abseil down into the Grose Valley, the stunning nature of the walk in--there would be nothing remotely like this for its grade elsewhere in Australia, and the fact that it is so good, I honestly don't know what more could be expected.

Fun day out with Pat and Nate. Beautiful views. Needed to take more water!

Hot.

Beautiful view and great exposure. The walk in and out is all part of the adventure. It’s a very easy climb but good to blow the cobwebs out if you haven’t climbed in a while. Would highly recommend if you were taking a beginner. It’s a mix of a scramble and a climb.

Good day out and adventurous for the grade. Good mix of natural pro and carrots where needed (if you can find them)

Mega windy day so plans changed from Margarine Ridge to Tom Thumb. First abseil was tough in the wind, but the route felt relatively sheltered once we got on it. It presented a nice mix of easy climbing in a great location. Having a rack of a few cams and nuts meant I felt the climb was well protected on the first and second pitches where there were less bolts/carrots around.

Easy climbing, hardest part is route finding. Some of the carrots are hidden amongst chossy iron stone. Climb isn’t direct rather it wonders around the face.