★★★ Hotel California 22

10 pitch sport route (all rings or homemade stainless hangers, which some odd-ball fat nosed biners struggle with, but take bolt plates for the carrots instead incase, and for the anchor above pitch 3, and in case the belays get too crowded). Don't rap down Mirrorball, easy to jam your rope, use the rap station about 20m further right, with care (knot the rope ends!). Access the start via abseil 15m R of Mirrorball (Mirrorball B, 2 x 45m abseils), walk right past pinnacle at 40 m, hit base of cliff at 100m, drop down, then go up to cliff (near start of Big Nose). Walk round the base of buttress and drop down a bit, then go up and you can see a 8m pinnacle/flake leaning against the steep face. This is the start. About 350m walk. There is a much easier variant to the first 3 pitches by starting up Contented Cows, all rings at 17, 8 (12m), and 19.

There is a blue emergency bin below Pitch 5, with some water, food, clothing, torches, and basic shelter. Don't call 000 just because you are benighted, so the police don't have to go out at night to babysit you. Please arrange to replace anything you use.

1. 45m (22) Up and left to ledge, through overhang, further up and left, through roof, then back right to the belay.

2. 30m (20) Straight up the groove until easier climbing, then up and left to belay on ledge.

3. 40m (17) Up and slightly left to ledge, then pull through roof and up. Scramble to base of next short wall, belay off homemade hanger and carrot (TAKE HANGER FOR CARROT!). Old tree anchor seems to have either degraded, or was a poor choice to begin with.

4. 35m (10) Up short wall, then scramble up and left about 30m through vegetation to the base of the cliff corner and anchors (rescue drum here).

5. 30m (17) Up the right wall of corner and arete, then traverse left to the ledge. Carrot + RB Belay.

6. 50m (19) Up onto the wall then traverse right about 20m and up following rings to ledge and belay.

7. 30m (20) Thin move to start, up to roof and jugs, pull through and up to ledge.

8. 25m (18) Up wall, then jug haul through the bulges to the top. Belay anchors are back and right about 6m in a small cave.

9. Scramble up and left to the base of the choss cave, then right around the base about 20m to the start of the last pitch. (You can escape left and up gully from this ledge).

10. 20m (16) Straight up the wall to belay at anchors on top.

To exit, walk up to the top of the ridge and then follow the path back to Bells Line of Road (20 min).

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/