★★★ The Obvious Elbow (of Aristocrat Arthur Decanter) 27

A giant 55m single pitch straight up the face between Disco Non-Stop Party and I Have a Dream on stunning rock. Now with its own (harder) direct finish!

20 bolts, and some well-placed rollers and long runners will be crucial to mitigating rope drag.

Can be accessed from the top via Walls Lookdown, or by a bolted traverse in from near Lunch Ledge (meaning your belayer doesn't have to second you) and is equipped for ground-up ascents.

For Top Access, from the Walls Lookdown lookout at Pierces Pass, walk east down the hill (following the cliffline) towards Lunch Ledge, easily spotting the sharp-looking arete that is Disco Non-Stop Party. The rap for this route is 4m left (looking out) of the bolts at the top of the arête). Rap 55m down the route to a cosy ledge.

To access the climb from Lunch Ledge, follow the normal Lunch Ledge access track (criss-crossing the creek) until just before the track takes a turn left and heads away from the little creek. Cross the creek to the right side (looking out) via convenient logs and head towards a short vibrant brown arete. Hug the rock below the arete, continue past 2 rings (anchors for Damascus below) and move through scrub until you arrive at a single ringbolt protecting the Grade 3 traverse in front (can be backed up off old carrots).

Up from the belay via easy corner. Then straight into sustained hard moves for 6 bolts. Deviate left along horizontal break to near arête, then rising traverse back right (the "elbow") to middle of face and small stance. Directly up past more hard moves separated by jugs, following the line of bolts fairly directly (no need to wander around), to a particularly hard finale.

NOTE: A hold solely useful for aiding past the crux has since snapped. If this is your limit, consider equipping this route on abseil, and placing a long running on the bolt above the crux.

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/