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White Linen Wall

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Access issues inherited from Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains are a World Heritage listed area. The Grose Valley, the cliffs around Katoomba and much of the Narrow Neck peninsula are part of the Blue Mountains National Park which is managed by the NPWS. The Western Escarpment - where most of the climbing is - is Crown Land managed by the BMCC. While the NPWS Plan of Management nominates several locations in the National Park where rock climbing is deemed appropriate, the majority of the climbing remains unacknowledged. 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.

Practically all crags are either in National Park or in council reserve: dog owners are reminded that dogs are not allowed in National Parks at any time and fines have been issued, while for crags on council reserve the BMCC leash law requires that dogs be on-leash.

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/

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)

Routes

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Cool campus start 3m R of Dr Foopsickle then straight up, across the DF traverse, to some long moves on good holds. The single bolt anchor is not great but its better to add a few moves to the R, staying just below the bulge and out of the moss, to the DF DRB. Name & FA unknown, please add if you know more.

Rebolted 2004

Short n sweet

FA: B. Hodgeson, 1988

You can keep your feet on if you are tall.

FA: J.Scarborough, 2001

Start: up levitation then move leftwards into search and destroy, eliminates the batman start to SAD and is the BEST/ONLY way to climb this route!!!

FA: Garth Miller

Batman start.

Start: Route 60m to the left of 'Dr Foopsickle'.

FA: Lee Cossey

A little easier finish to inertia. When you feel the pain at the top of inertia why not flop out right to the jug and do 2 reachs to the top of S&D.

FA: ben cossey., 2006

FA: L.Cossey, 2001

The chalk at the start says 32, but the guidebook says 33. Batman start. Use rollers/extenders and skip the 5th or 6th bolt, so that rope drag doesn't make the crux easier!

Set: P Sage, 2000

FFA: Ben Cossey, 2014

Rebolted 2004. A great climb! There is a slight right hand variant that avoids the crux and the best moves which is referred to as Dirty Linen, 26. Roman

FA: M. Baker & K. Carrigan, 1992

Warning - the first bolt fell out of this route (2007?) and the fall resulted in a broken back. The other bolts have not been replaced - the current first bolt is a long stick clip and is positioned upside down in a roof. It hasn't fallen out - yet. The route however has some very good moves, marred by the hanging swamp at the start and soft dirty rock.

FA: B. Hodgeson, 1998

About 6-8m R of Better than Nothing there's a line of rings up the very cool looking 30-40 degree wall. It has a tag, but judging by the dirt its perhaps been a while since its seen any action. More info welcome.

The next three routes start about 25m L of White Linen and share the same start.

Jumpfest. Dyno your way to glory. Was 26, maybe still is. Start as for Tutu Sullied Flesh. Head right and then up through a couple of big moves.

Gabriele G

FA: M. Baker, 1998

A good fun gymnastic route. Start at the large sandy ledge about 15m left of White Linen. Rebolted 2020/21ish (thanks), but beware the repositioned 3rd bolt is now a much harder clip if you prefer the direct beta past the 2nd, and also makes it riskier to skip the 4th (i.e. as per the Temptation video).

FA: S. Johns, 1992

Hard stuff. Start as for Tutu Sullied Flesh then break left. Norry

FA: L. Cossey, 1999

FA: L. Wishart, 1997

The last route at the far left end of White Linen Wall, only about 10m to the right of Jaws on Wave Wall.

FA: M. Law, 1995

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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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