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Description

A bouldering crag with some OK problems - generally good landings and many climbs don’t need a crash pad.

Access issues inherited from Blue Mountains

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/

Approach

Head Zig Zag but instead of following the track down the hill keep walking straight ahead and then rightwards along the top of the cliff, down a little gully and along a bit more and you are there

Alternate access: 4X is now more easily accessed from Kenny St. Just follow the new fire trail to Engineers Cascade and walk down the gully and you're at 4X.

Ethic inherited from 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/

Tags

Routes

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Grade Route

Pockety traverse - before the main area (from the Engineers Cascade side) - probably want a pad for this one.

Start under cave - throw to the right and up to top out

Start as for for Albino Redback but straight(ish) up.

Start as for Albino Redback and finish at top of Frostbite

Start below and left of white lichen, throw for the jug and easy to top.

Start on low jug one metre left of gum tree - follow jugs up to water stain top out (down climb campus top out to climbers right).

Start matched on low rail, out to pockets, up edges to top.

Tom O'Halloran

Start as for Garth's Arete RHV, once matched on two crimps after pocket, continue up left for 2 hard moves, and a juggy top-out.

Obvious campus problem next to Garth’s arete. Good hands and absolutely no feet.

Surely been done, but seems obvious and is a good bit of climbing, even as a bit of an eliminate. Sit start in the low slot to the right of Garths Arete. Move right hand to small lip slot, left hand up to a glued edge. Move to ironband rail and make a big thwomp up to a small edge before moving right to a tricky gaston and up to finish the 4. Avoiding the left arete jugs the whole time.

Find the glued on hold next to campus top out and follow chalk to the top.

Slopey low traverse - ends at water stain or extend to Miles Davis for added grades

Low slopey traverse. Second half of Miles Davis.

The full traverse - left to right - finish on high orange jug near tree. Individual moves are probably V1/V2, but it’s a long pumpfest.

Juggy slab right of main area (looking in)... easy, but pretty high.

Areas

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Grades
Engineering XXXX boulder field
7
15
5m
6

Routes

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Grade Route

Surely been done, but seems obvious and is a good bit of climbing, even as a bit of an eliminate. Sit start in the low slot to the right of Garths Arete. Move right hand to small lip slot, left hand up to a glued edge. Move to ironband rail and make a big thwomp up to a small edge before moving right to a tricky gaston and up to finish the 4. Avoiding the left arete jugs the whole time.

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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!

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