Routes in Blackheath Area for selected grade

The obvious, large undercut arête.

1. 23m (18) Start around left on easy block. Traverse right to arête and first bolt. Then up via 6 rings and medium cams to DRBB. (The direct start is about 20,)

2. 6m Ugly thuggery through overhung mess. 5 bolts, no lower off.

Another old trad line only recently written up. Sustained climbing up rightward slanting crack on pinkish rock.

1. 15m Up groove then move slightly left. Up for a few moves then back right to crack through bulge. Follow crack to ledge.

2. 25m Move diagonally right a few moves up slab, then trend back left to ledge at base of obvious crack. Up crack to horizontal break. Traverse right and follow crack to small ledge below final bulge.

3. 8m Follow crack to small roof, climb it to reach jugs leading to top. Tree anchor.

No info known about this route as it is not listed in print guides.

Start left of steps up roof. Swing through the left side of the roof then either continue to the top on unpleasant ironstone (as per the original "route"), or traverse the lip, or reverse.

Start: 5m right again.

1. 30m (16) Crack to ledge.

2. 28m (18) 'Steep' crack to top.

Start: As for CO.

1. 30m (18) As for CO to ledge.

2. 25m (18) Slab, diagonally left slab to arete.

3. 35m (18) Up onto the slab, left of bulge and up.

The crack and slab at the left end on the wall. Finishes at lower-off under roof - a 60m rope gets you on the ground with stretch (put a knot at the end please).

P4) Up crack and left at top. Good rock (!), pro and climbing. Best pitch of the route.

The dirty but decent looking crack. It will get better as it cleans up. Take small cams and a vision of what could be.

Face crack right of vegetated corner

The crack on the upper side of the boulder. Starts out as hands then quickly widens to offwidth (carrots protects the top part).

3m left to wall and narrow ledge, crack, up and mantle. Diagonally right and up (poor pro!). Diagonally left up ramp and corner to orange overlap.Traverse around nose, up right side of arete. Take wires!

Start: At SCC anchor 1.

Start as for Manx/Bonnieville then follow the carrots up the wall and over the boulder/roof at the top. Take small cams, a medium wire, and a #3 Camalot or similar for the start

Aka the Bellbird Wall trad variant, it beggars belief that it took until now for these splitters to be climbed! Approach and rap in as per Bellbird Wall (BbW).

1. Clip first bolt of The Next Doctor to keep belayer safe, then move right and up into corner passing small gear (crux - #0.3 cams/small wires). Take care with delicate and reachy face climbing staying left of some loose rock. Follow the obvious stemming corner through short choss patch then up past great gear and moves into cave. Stem up and out to exit cave on right, be sure to place gear in crack at lip of cave before slab runout above. Take a deep breath and gingerly climb the slab aiming for hand crack a few metres above (or runout can be avoided by stepping left into small corner on left). Continue up crack feature on easier terrain to DBB as per P.1 BbW.

2. Atop first boulder as for BbW P.2, clipping the first bolt, then trend left following the wide horizontal crack aiming for wide chimney and carrot on left wall. Clip this and pull onto arete and up to gear in small crack (#0.3-0.4). Continue up wide crack to rejoin BbW, trying not the clip the bolts when they appear! DBB as for BbW P.3.

3. Start as per BbW's cool bottomless chimney but trend right following main crack at lip to top. (This pitch also goes all on gear.)

The easiest and tradiiest route on the wall - was the last to be climbed! Rap in from The Opportunistic Pathogen or Rocket Girl anchors to shared belay with The Dimerisation Interface. Both ways involve swinging across. From here follow the incredibly obvious cliff splitting crack to the top. Real trad climbers will ignore all the bolts next to the crack in the first 15m. Enjoy the pump! Bring a double rack with x1 #5 or #6. Belay off the double bolts on the slabby bit of rock about 10m up the hill from the cliff edge.

Corner crack in position to die for. The rock is solid and the climb is well protected. Soft for the grade. Find two carrots at the top to rap down to a mini ledge. Start on the left of a boulder to climb up.

Start: A blatantly obvious wide crack with 2 roofs on the first pitch. This is the first crack you will come to as you exit from dry creek bed approach. A small tree is directly in front of the start of the crack, and a rusty carabiner and old shoe mark the start of the climb.

1. 35m (18) Pleasant climbing up the wide crack, sling the occasional chockstone. Pull through roof on huge holds hand size crack to next roof, step left and up to comfy belay in sentry box.

2. 45m (18) Steeply out of sentry box on to wall, continue up wall via crack/flake to stance (steep for the grade). Short crack then corner to large sloping ledge, belay at large gum tree.

3. 40m (18) Rightward arching crack for a few metres to join leftward arching corner with large groove in the left wall. Up the corner then step left and continue up the groove to loose ledge. Traverse 5m left over big block to small stance directly under flake of pitch 4. Belay #3 and #3.5 friend in wall above ledge.

4. 35m (18) Pull on to wall using big ironstones. Vertical wall climbing using flake for gear for a few metres then the angle eases, ramble up to final headwall. If doing direct finish, belay from carrot bolts at base of wall, or if doing the original finish traverse right across wall to ledge and belay 10m before chimney.

5. 50m (16) Traverse into chimney/gully. Climb up until gully steepens then escape right along ledge to arete (belay). A few moves to top.

Starts 5 metres right of Sidewinder. The 3rd pitch of this climb is the variant finish to StCC which precedes the one recorded as 42. It was climbed without bolts.

1. 30m Up crack to belay on shattered ledge behind tree.

2. 12m Traverse right to DBB as for St Clemens Crack.

3. 30m Move left, up through break in overhang moving right to slab and shallow corner above. Up this then traverse right to arete. Up this and wall above to top and tree belay.

Starts several hundred metres right of 'Serendipitous Cracks', and about 100m left of the Hat Hill Creek waterfall. The climb is the small left facing corner crack in the middle of the steep yellow wall of sand, and is distinguished by two gnarled fig trees at the base of the corner.

1. 48m 18 Follow the horribly loose and chossy corner until you eventually reach a ledge liberally covered in large loose blocks and sand dunes. Calm down from the ascent then organise a retreat, using the dead, rotten tree, and a large slung flake that looks disturbingly loose.

Further pitches may be possible, but the territory looks steep and uncompromising, and the "rock" looks like it gets worse before getting better. Make sure you take double ropes if you intend to retreat (it's a full 50m rap).

Climb ferny crack of Grandpa Chook for about 7m then traverse right to arete (3 BRs) to break, 2 aid pitons then easily to bollard and piton belay on right.

Several sets of side-by-side and other single carrots visible from above start.

Looks very freeable - but description says aid. The direct start looks cleaner and better and is marked "SCA" - apparently Silver City Express.

Good looking corner but vegetated again. Was cleaned before climbing.

Start: Marked SD/JB

1. (40m) Follow corner crack to top – tree belay.

Climbed on News Years Day and the name reflects the condition of the first ascentionists as well as the climb. Start. Keep following the ramp above Ferny Chimney to the top of block. Climb starts off its left hand side.

1. 20 Straight up the obvious crack.

Thin finger crack 10m left of The Phoenix. Has its own lower offs.

Off the ledge to the left of the dead tree. Ringbolts. Good!

Follows the obvious orange streak up the middle of the wall. Ringbolts.

Rings, just to the right of Pompadour.

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.

Left arete of big wall. All ringbolts.

1. 20m (18)- Hard for grade for first two bolts, consider a big stick to stick clip 2nd ring. Then long pointless runout to 3rd ring. Belay from chains in cave and move belay 10m R to rings at waist level.

2. 15m (12) heave ho up and then L to arete and rings in cosy cave.

3. 25m (18) up arete to rings at top.

Can just rap to first chain belay ledge from top anchor with single 60m rope, and then on to ground.

Shared start with previous, then straight up. Fun jug hauling. Rebolted 2017.

A bit of a sandbag with one of the hardest moves on the whole wall. Rebolted 2017.

Pretty crap, unless you like grunty mantles. Oh, and if you fall off try not to hit a ledge. Start just R of BB.

Start: as for BB then right line of bolts

1. 30m (18)

2. 40m (10)

A famous chimney slot problem - originally done on trad (at grade 20) and now retrobolted. Up ramp to base of chimney (optional belay). Squeeze upwards and be thankful it is no longer graded 17!

On paper this appears to be the easiest route in this neck of the woods BUT the opening move is a real slap in the face. Bolted undercut shallow corner with low anchors. This route was originally done on trad in the 70s and finished off to the right onto the arete (old piton) right of Abso as a 35m pitch that topped out.

Access route to the mini routes above the big cave. Climb Hillbilly (24) then traverse right along break (grade 18) to small ledge.

Ridiculous steepness for the grade. Steep pocketed start through right side of the left most of the Gateway caves. Finish with airy traverse right to anchors. Backjump or second to clean. Rebolted 2019.