Anyone Have Recommendations For The Blue Mountains? (AUS)

Sam Mwrote:

...The kebab shop is "Cedar Takeaway & Fresh Felafel" on the main street in Katoomba.

Can confirm that this place is da bomb. Line going out the door when we rolled in.

Sam Mwrote:

Blackheath is definitely the center. If you're staying on the west side of the highway, you can walk to the most popular crags. (I mean you can walk from the east side of town too, my mother in law still walks to the train station all the time!). Within 20 minutes drive you'll have access to almost everything.

September is a good month. The weather might be a bit 2-faced. You'll have days of cracking conditions with blue skies ans cold dry wind (maybe too much wind) or then the mist and rain can come in for a few days and it can go a bit Pacific Northwest temperate rainforest.

There are definitely dry cave options. The most popular are Binary Cave at Sublime Point, Adults Only cave at Bardens Lookout, main wall at centennial glen, then up off north past Bell you have Bowen's Creek and Bell Supercrag (these are more of a drive and a longer approach, Bowens is maybe the most sheltered though especially from westerly winds)

I generally put it as: 17 = 5.9, 18-20 = 5.10, 21-23 = 5.11, 24 = 5.12a, then I think about 28 is 5.13a. 29 = French 8a seems consensus.

It's hard to find that grade range right next to each other, but easy enough with a short walk. E.g. right hand side of Shipley has good 18-19 climbs, left hand side has good 27-28 climbs. At Celebrity Crag, the Jimmy Cliff sector has good 18-19s, then walk around to Sharon Stone sector for harder climbs. At Sublime Point, there are good easy pitches along the right hand end and Binary cave (Choc Chip Chai, Theory of Negativity etc) - then some mega stuff on the Bentrovarto Wall. Bardens Lookout has great moderate sport (crowded on weekends...) then go around the corner and you have the Adults Only cave with Bloodlines etc. Bell Supercrag has great variety though the 18s are a bit chossy (helmets...). Absolutely beautiful routes though (Jean Jaurès Wall).

You could also try Medlow Bath, easier stuff at the main area (beware Old Salt though, bit of a sandbag) then you could walk around to Life Of Reily or The Underworld where the country's hardest 9a+ sport route currently exists.

A few of the sport crags have a 5.11 minimum gate. E.g. Boronia, Logan Brae.

Sam, we hit adult's at Barden & got on the 4 star TWOAF. Would've been nice to have a couple days to try to RP but that crag is awesome. Also went to binary cave & Ben T. My son had a super satisfying flash on Guillotine (no tree). Your beta was spot on but the hike out of sublime point was a little more than I wanted after a long day of climbing. It had the best view of all the crags that we visited though.

I had my son with me so I didn't need to find partners but there was a sizeable group of vans & caravans at the Mt York campground. They were a chatty bunch so I can see where a solo traveler can bum a belay in a pinch. Another place would probably be the flying fox at katoomba. We met loads of solo travelers that were there to climb.

As you know, we were a bit unlucky with the weather but we were able to climb at both Shipley & Bardens the day after rain & it was *mostly dry. Blowing wind helped a lot to dry the rock out.

I found katoomba to be a very charming town & wouldn't hesitate to move there. Being surrounded by a lifetime of climbing is a treat. You're so lucky mate. Thanks for all the beta & I hope to be back 1 day.

OMG this topic is a bible! Thanks so much...

Has any of you recomendations about the best crags to go to for a 2 days trip and overhanging routes up to the high 20s (I can OS 27 when lucky, not sure on sandstone though ;-)) Will be there end of September.

I'd say Barden's Lookout would be a good fit for a 2 day trip. Easy to find, high concentration of 20s, short walk to electric blue where you can find steep routes. Hope 1 of the locals can chime in about temps for Sept although I'm almost sure they'll say that it'll be optimal

Thanks Jérémy. I'd like to try at least 2 different areas. What about Diamond Falls, Centennial and Boronia? I have the "Best of the Blue" and I am looking for the Best of the Best of the Blue, as I will only be around for 2, maybe 3, days...

I don't climb at your level, but recall that Centennial, Shipley's, and several other areas are basically different sections of the same cliff line and pretty much adjacent to one another and all easily accessible from town ( once we took the train and once we drove). Plenty to keep you busy just in that area for many more than the 2-3 days you will have available. The upper teens/low 20s were excellent quality, the harder routes looked at least as good!!!!

Madge Macdonald at Centennial Glen was very high on my to do list but we never went because of the temps. We needed an all day sunny crag so opted to hit Shipley instead. Boronia looks like it has a bunch of good routes, I don't think it was on our radar because the locals weren't saying anything about it. Same for diamond falls (approach looks a little long as well). 

If you want to hit another sector, Shipley has a fairly short approach and a high concentration of climbs. I'd like another shot at language of desire. That route was so good.

Sorry I'm not too helpful, really hope 1 of the locals can chime in.

Hey, looks like you all have the recommendations in hand haha.

Boronia is great and a local favourite especially after work in summer when it is often cool and breezy in the evening. Its main problem is many of the routes share a limited number of starts, so it can feel more crowded. Often shenanigans happen where people back clean when projecting so other people can then go up the starts to get on their own projects etc. Perhaps the main problem is its the same carpark as Mt Piddington which is the best trad crag so most people are there to just go trad climbing.

(Haven't climbed much this year, just not part of my life right now been crazy with other stuff. Though the last outdoor climb I did was the first ascent of a pinnacle, made it count lol)

We also had some serious geological activity! This is the biggest landslide since the Dogface landslide in the 1930s.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-13/carne-wall-landslide-blackheath-one-of-biggest-blue-mountains/105628404

The two monstrous corners on either side of the now-collapsed buttress were both Ewbank specials. No-one else was in a hurry to claim them as most had (apparently correctly) written off that cliffline as R-rated dangerous choss. As well, its the same cliff line where Macca got himself really messed in a fall up a few years ago so there is the body count to back that up.

Edit: IIRC even the technical canyon folk used to gossip about the instability of Carne Wall. Traversing around the base is a possible route out of the mouth of of Arethusa Canyon, but canyoners who tried it reported it was sketchy as hell, it was warned against in the guidebook.

Yikes! News didn't mention anyone getting hurt, that's a relief. We had a couple of holds break on us but nothing to write home about. Glad no one was there when it happened. 

Jeremy Lwrote:

Yikes! News didn't mention anyone getting hurt, that's a relief. We had a couple of holds break on us but nothing to write home about. Glad no one was there when it happened. 

Yeah lucky its an obscure unpopular area that had already been flagged as choss.

There are more popular areas where I think the risk is there as well. In particular people have noticed movement and widening cracks on the Lost Pillar recently. The "Wafer Thin Fin" route is a relatively popular route to the summit and adventurous day. But a few people are refusing to climb on that tower now. Worth noting that as it might be on some people's tick lists.

Hanging Rock has been "ready to go" for decades now. It still might at any moment.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNPmUwGOnN2/?igsh=YTJ5MXZoMW9oNXJ1

Doesn't show the landslide in action but shows before & after. Must've sounded like the earth was waking up.

Gabywrote:

OMG this topic is a bible! Thanks so much...

Has any of you recomendations about the best crags to go to for a 2 days trip and overhanging routes up to the high 20s (I can OS 27 when lucky, not sure on sandstone though ;-)) Will be there end of September.

Centennial Glen (especially wave wall) for sure would be my recommendation for steep sport climbing in that grade range.

The centennial glen/shipley upper crags are within 30 minute walk from each other, so it's common to do them both in one day.

Bell supercrag is really a collection of ~4-5 crags that face different directions, with a lot of roof cover (it's located in a twisty canyon), so you'll have rain cover/shade or sun on at least one quality wall basically at every time of the day. 

I haven't personally been to these because theyre way beyond my level, but these grade 25+ crags occupy some of the highest user ratings on thecrag.com: Diamond Falls crag, Elphinstone crag, and the three super exposed rap-in climb-out aretes at Pierces Pass (Disco non-stop party 25, I have a dream 25)

Check them all out on thecrag.com 

The movie Apex starring Charlize Theron was filmed in the Blue Mountains last year.

The local paper said Lucas Trihey was involved in the outdoor filming. He's a fixture in Blue Mountains rope access and has some pretty badass first ascents to his name as well. Filming locations were listed as Centennial Glen (including the 'mini canyon' below the climbing areas that you walk past on the way down to the Porters Pass crags), Glenbrook Gorge, Blackheath Grand Canyon and also Wolgan View Canyon. All of those are accessible and would be great rest day activities for the visiting climber.

Map at 0:08 clearly shows the Grose valley in central Blue Mountains National park, but it's re-labelled as the made-up Wandarra National Park.

(The last major movie to be filmed in the Blue Mountains will surprise you....it was in fact The Great Gatsby, the 2013 one with Leonardo DiCaprio. The ornamental gardens at Mt Wilson doubled for Long Island. They took over a huge section of the canyoner's campsite for a bit. At the time there was an active nudist section of one of the canyoneering clubs, and legend has it that Leo himself got treated to the sight of a party of nude canyoners returning from the Wollangambe, clothed only in sandy static rope and Petzl piranas)

I live in Australia too. It will be hot it has been a mix of 40 degree days to highs of 25 the weather doesn't really know what it wants to do.