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Access: Access road is 4WD only (and probably should be closed)

Due to heavy rainfall in 2021/2022 the road down to this crag is now in very poor condition - with a liquefied mud section up top that can bog even the best 4wd vehicles. Advise walking down instead.

See warning details and discuss

Created about two years ago

description

Stunning steep face climbing, but rather committing.

Starts on the cliffline directly below where the access track to pole 28 splits (to either the left, or right side). Walk 30m downhill to the obvious rocky buttress.

Find the rap anchors on the rock buttress, rap down 5m to the belay at the top of the pitch. Re-direct the rap rope, and abseil down the "groove" in the direction of Reservoir Dogs/The Block, straight down the gray slab on the LEFT side of the arete (looking out), 30m to the belay on the triangular ledge.

Climb up from the ledge, move left along the break and out through the roof. Clip the bolt past the lip of the roof, and commit to the intimidating crux, with sustained hard moves throughout the runout straight up the wall (avoid straying off right on moss and friable rock) until the next bolt. Up vague seam on good rock (avoid moss out right) to rest. Dyno off ledge, and straight up the guts of the turret-headwall on spaced bolts, with sustained thin and technical climbing all the way to the belay.

Bring up Second, then scramble back up the initial 5m rap (consider roping up, or backing-up the scramble off the abseil rope).

If you are unable to complete the pitch, either Jumaar up the abseil rope, or you can rap again (35m) from the belay on the ledge to the ground, and find the exit gully by following the cliffline around to the left (looking out) as for the Three Brothers area.

Route history

11 Aug 2015Route setter: Paul Frothy Thomson
21 Aug 2015First ascent: Paul Frothy Thomson

Belayed by Jason Nguyen

Warnings

14 May 2022 Warning Access: Access road is 4WD only (and probably should be closed)

Location

Lat/Lon: -33.67907, 150.27634

Grade citation

25 R Assigned grade
25 R
26 [24 - 27] + grAId

ethic

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/

inherited from Blue Mountains

Seasonality

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Seasonality

Quality

Mega Classic
Classic
Very Good
Good
Average
Don't Bother
Crap

Overall quality 83 from 2 ratings.

Tick Types

Red point 1
Tick 1
Attempt 2

Comment keywords

steep roof lip easy short committing runout fall sustained crux hard awesome super exciting fantastic stoked great cool

Selected Guidebooks more Hide

Author(s): Simon Carter

Date: 2019

ISBN: 9780958079082

The latest comprehensive, latest and greatest Blue Mountains Climbing Guide is here and it has more routes than you can poke a clip stick at! 3421 to be exact. You are not going to get bored.

Author(s): Simon Carter

Date: 2019

ISBN: 9780958079075

Simon Carter's "Best of the Blue" is the latest selected climbing guide book for the Blue Mountains and covers 1000 routes and 19 different climbing areas. For all the sport climbers out there, the travellers, or just anyone who doesn't want to lug around the big guide that's more than 3 times the size - cut out the riff-raff and get to the good stuff! This will pretty much cover everything you need!

Accommodations nearby more Hide

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Tue 28 Mar
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