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Seasonality
Description
Afternoon sun
A fantastic morning out. Rap in-climb out.
This area is located on private property owned by the Hydro Majestic Hotel. Access could be removed at any time. Please respect the land.
If you want, it is possible to do all the routes off the ledge. You will need a 60m rope or longer. All the routes start off the same small dirt ledge, so it can be cosy if more than one group is here.
The sun hits the crag at about 1:30pm in summer.
© (mjw)Access issues inherited from Medlow Bath
Private
Tolerated
Many of these crags are located on private property - and could be closed at any time. Do not piss off local residents by parking cars at the end of Belgravia St - park back near the train line and walk 100m up the road.
The Belgravia St descent track and Devondale bouldering is located on private property (it is NOT owned by the Hydro Majestic Hotel). This property changed hands in 2018 for a cool $1.9 million, and the new landowners have not expressed concerns about the public on their land - yet. It is very important that this property is treated with utmost respect - and if you are approached by the owners then please be courteous. If they have concerns please get them to contact ACANSW.
Blue Mountains City Council is the land manager for The Block, Katoomba Bros, Sandpit, Valley Farm & Sooty Crag. Access to all these areas is via the private land mentioned above.
The mega lux Hydro Majestic Hotel owns private land that includes the Sunbath Wall, Reservoir Dogs, Sporting Complex, The Underworld & Pole 28. Access to to these private land crags is NOT guaranteed and could be closed at any time.
DJ crag is also located on private property - with the owner apparently living below the cliff itself.
Approach
Rap in
10-20 min
The approach is a bit of a rabbit warren of small foot tracks getting less and less distinct as you get further from the carpark. Check the print guidebook.
The rap point is at the top of 'Smoko' - you have to scramble down a few metres to them (take care!). Always a good idea to take a separate rap rope and leave it in place - just in case.
© (mjw)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/
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Some content has been provided under license from: © Australian Climbing Association Queensland (Creative Commons, Attribution, Share-Alike 2.5 AU)
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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.
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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!
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Accommodations nearby more Hide
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Henryk on ★★ Like a Cut Snake 21 - P1000973.jpg
The Sporting Complex - 20150611_145152.jpg
Dave Adams on ★★★ The Life of Riley 25 - Testing the new bolts.
Paul Thomson on ★★ Leviathan 26 - 11403384_1162606443753141_3973819285490881523_n.jpg