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Backyard Basic

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Description

New lower mountains cliff under development. Is a good beginners crag on good rock.

This cliff is similar to the nearby birdwood gully walls and being in the lower mountains it contains some great rock and some sandy. All of the new routes have been bolted with beginners in mind and top ropes could easily be set up.

All the grades may be due to change with repeats??

The downside of it being a suburban crag is there is a lot of rubbish and a surprising amount of bongs at the base of the look out. We hope to be able to clean this up in the near future.

Access issues inherited from Lower Blue Mountains

Be sensible.

Approach

Park in the car park of Lomatia Park which is at the end of Lomatia Lane in Springwood.

At the carpark, the beginning of the grassy track is at the front of the house at the end of the street. Follow that track around the house and keep walking till you pass a couple of cul-de-sac, first being Park Ave and then Norton Ave.

Descent notes

At the end of Norton Ave cul-de-sac, with your back to the street, look for a sort of path and head directly into the bush till you get to a cliff edge without descending much. Once at the cliff edge, the crag is to your left, look for an easy scramble down. If you have to bush bash too much then you are likely not on the path.

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/

History

History timeline chart

Two routes of unknown history existed before Sharpie and Mobe the dog found this cliff at Christmas.

Tags

Routes

Add route(s) Add topo Reorder Bulk edit Convert grades
Grade Route

First route of the crag. Stem up the tree to start until you reach the good jug. Nice wall climbing with a reachy top. Grade 16 if you dont use the tree to start

Set: Ben JengA, 2014

FFA: Ben Jenga, 2014

Great crimpy wall on good edges until the top flake that isn't as good as you hope.

Set: Ben JengA., 2014

FFA: Ben Jenga, 2014

Super top moves that require a bit of thinking and crimping.

Set: Sharpie, 2014

FFA: Sharpie, 2014

Warning Rock: Dangerous

Some of the best rock on the wall with some sneaky pockets. Be careful with the top white jugs.

Set: Sharpie, 2014

FFA: Sharpie, 2014

Good interesting climbing in and out of caves. The top is reminiscent of the descent gully walls at Nowra.

Set: Sharpie, 2014

FFA: Sharpie, 2014

The left glue in carrot route to the chain. Details unknown? The hardest route at the crag, sequenced moves see you past the lower crux if you move your feet.

Supporting theCrag is not only good for your Karma
it also gives you access to great benefits on theCrag and beyond.

The right glue in carrot route, details unknown? Funk up the steep start to an easy finish. Home to one of the best holds on the wall.

Steep beginning to an easy top. Reachy moves to good jugs!

Set: Ben JengA, 2014

FFA: Ben Jenga, 2014

Soon to be bolted.

Soon to be bolted.

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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!

Accommodations nearby more Hide

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Tue 12 Sep
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