★★ Beggars Banquet 24

A few tasty morsels pinched from under the probing eyes of the locals. Climbs face right of DwD. Varied climbing with a different style on every pitch.

Start 6-8m R of DwD (i.e. about 15-20m R of where the abseil lands).

1. 30m (22) Best pitch of the route! Steep right facing flake to start then continuous pumpy climbing to finish on ledge with large tree belay.

2. 15m (17) Scramble un-roped 20m up left to large ledge. Rope up again then ditty right across face to enter short hand crack, and up it to ledge below corner. Belay off large tree and single ring.

3. 20m (24) Wildly contorted. Couple of chossy moves to enter steep stemming corner, out right under roof to small ledge. Out right again and onto thin face. Up to hanging belay (same belay below P3 of DwD)

4. 40m (24) Layaway up right leading very thin seam for 20m, then join into Fat Yak P1 for 20m of easier slab past two ugly horizontals to comfy bolt belay on small ledge (the higher of the two set of anchors).

5. 40m (22) Da pumper pitch. Up right on stellar orange rock into subtle corner scoopy thing. 10m up this head left across steep pumpy wall to climatic ledge mantle. Semi-hanging belay on small ledge.

6. 15m (21) Orange rock mantle, over bulge then up grey wall to top anchor.

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/