Ascents in Katoomba Cliffs as Onsight

Quite the minefield of lookout-launched trash to navigate on the way. Could be a good Clean Up Australia Day site.

Scary and hard, I thought. Felt at least 22.

Pitch was wet and slimy. Mega effort from Aaron to get it done with no crack gloves or tape, sliding out of the crack with bloodied hands. I somehow stayed on, all credit to the crack gloves. A few odd pieces, then 4x #2 camalots in a row, then all #3's to the belay.

The hardest I've worked for a pitch of climbing in a long time. I was peaking. Admittedly it was wet, but even in the dry I would have struggled. Cracks are not my thing, and there's no escape on this pitch. For me personally, this was only slightly easier (1 grade?) than the crux pitch. I used 6x #3 camalots, 2x equivalent-sized hexes, 2x #4 camalots and this was only just enough for my level of comfort (4m+ runouts). You need all the big gear to adequately protect the pitch - you cannot supplement with anything smaller anywhere on the pitch. If I did it again (I never will) I would take 10-12 #3 camalots.

A little safety note on the top-out: After clipping some carrots to stand on a ledge with a final 5m headwall to finish. This is protected by one carrot. If you only clipped this carrot (like me) and then fell on last moves topping out, the rope wouldn't even have a chance to take up before you broke both legs on the flat ledge below. Instead, there is a cam slot that is hard to see as it's in your handhold above your head. Roughly #1 camalot size. Use it! (I would strongly advocate the addition of a final bolt to mitigate a potential future catastrophe - you have just clipped 4 or 5 in a row, after all)

that first move is hard!! I dropped it once, but thanks to rope stretch came back to the belay and managed to second the whole pitch clean afterwards, but it felt sustained and so looooong!! The first move is the hardest of the whole route. Great lead by Charlie, who ignored the thread placement suggested in the description!

happy to onsight this, as there were some really technical moves and small sharp crimps. A few good rests too, so not as sustained as pitch 1, but it is intimidating. I placed a #3 low and a #2 closer to the end — they helped, but I wouldn't place anything else. Can totally be done without them too... Felt cool to haul on the jugs on the top to the shock of a large group of kids on the lookout who went insane when I popped up out of nowhere, haha....

Fantastic mildly sustained climbing. good rests but some tricky boulder moves throughout. the runout bit was chill, easy moves if rested. would pump me out to place the recommended sling.

nice lead from Bruno Alves Buzatto after just climbing prev pitch (maybe 10 min break). more sustained with one committing move with sharp crimps but otherwise very nice. cams were pretty superfluous, big whips would’ve been fine on these new u-bolts. school group kids watching kept the pressure on haha

Good gear, a bit dirty

Pretty cruisy, handy to rack n4 to protect the crux

Linked up from the big ledge to the bolt just under the roof, which I recommend doing as there is no other good spot to and not enough decent gear for building belay lower down. Made it for the best value pitch IMO. Nice and sustained with some interesting climbing and a bit of flaky choss at the start. Moving into the corner is heady, managed to protect the traverse with a shallow n5, even shittier n2 and some prayers. Bring tissues

Easy airy traverse on bolts

Short lived balancy and technical difficulties protected by more steel than Mongolian warriors themselves. Otherwise good gear but you have to do moves in between. Might be easier than pitch 3 if you can feet. Chunky chains on the top out