★★ Bellbird Wall 18

Park at 'Pulpit' Rock carpark and walk down towards 'Pulpit' Rock (take care if using Google maps, there are two or three pulpit rock lookouts/carparks. Use the link provided to get the correct one). Turn off left at the 12th drain (wide wooden drains cross this track) after about 200m. Follow the evident trail trending right for about 60m leading to the ridge line. At this point turn L and look for a single RB. Hook in here with your safety line and set up your ropes off the 2RB's around the corner. Rap down 46m passing FH's and RB's to the ledge.There's a belay on the left and on the right, use the ones on the left. Set up your ropes off draws (as there is a lot of friction, hard to pull ropes otherwise) on these RB's and rap 46m to the base. Best to belay to the tree and belay the next climber on the exposed 'walk' to the right. Facing the cliff walk 20m right taking care and up to the tree in the corner where the route starts (single ring belay, and good tree on right). Take 16 draws, and a couple for the anchors.

1. 45m (16) Up the wall left of the corner on a little rib, staying right of dead tree. Diagonally left across slabby wall with one thin section. 16 rings to 2RB belay on the RHS of the big ledge.

2. 40m (18) Move belay 5m to the left. Head up and left to ledge. Head up though exciting bulge and onto slab. Up to traverse then pull up onto face. Climb to crack and up to belay station.

3. 15m (15) The Champagne pitch! Start up 3D chimney with holds everywhere. Shuffle thru this, past 2 bolts and launch out, around and up to exciting headwall overlooking the spectacular Grose Valley below.

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'. Do not cut flora and keep any tracks and infrastructure as minimal as possible.

Practically all crags are either in National Park or in council reserve: dog owners are reminded that dogs are not allowed in National Parks at any time and fines have been issued, while for crags on council reserve the BMCC leash law requires that dogs be on-leash.

For the latest access related information, or to report something of concern, visit the Australian Climbing Association NSW Blue Mountains page at https://acansw.org.au/blue-mountains/

Although sport climbing is well entrenched as the most popular form of Blueys climbing, mixed-climbing on gear and bolts has generally been the rule over the long term. Please try to use available natural gear where possible, and do not bolt cracks or potential trad climbs. If you do the bolts may be removed.

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.

At many Blue Mountains crags, the somewhat close spacing of routes and prolific horizontal featuring means that it is easy to envisage literally hundreds of trivial linkups. By all means climb these to your hearts content but, unless it is an exceptional case due to some significant objective merit, please generally refrain from writing up linkups. A proliferation of descriptions of trivial linkups would only clutter up the guide and add confusion and will generally not add value to your fellow climbers. (If you still can't resist, consider adding a brief note to the parent route description, rather than cluttering up the guide with a whole new route entry).

If you have benefited from climbing infrastructure in NSW, please consider making a donation towards maintenance costs. The Sydney Rockclimbing Club Rebolting Fund finances the replacement of old bolts on existing climbs and the maintenance of other hardware such as fixed ropes and anchors. The SRC purchases hardware, such as bolts and glue, and distributes them to volunteer rebolters across the state of New South Wales. For more information, including donation details, visit https://sydneyrockies.org.au/rebolting/

It would be appreciated if brushing of holds and minimisation/removal of tick marks becomes part of your climbing routine. Consider bringing a water squirt bottle and mop-up rag to better remove chalk. Only use soft (hair/nylon) bristled brushes, never steel brushes.

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.

Remember, to maintain access our best approach is to 'Respect Native Habitat, Tread Softly and Leave No Trace'. Do not cut flora and keep any tracks and infrastructure as minimal as possible or risk possible closures.

For the latest access related information, or to report something of concern, visit the Australian Climbing Association NSW Blue Mountains page at https://acansw.org.au/blue-mountains/