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Blue Mountains in Mid/Late October?
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My fiancee and I are planning our honeymoon and debating between Greece and Australia. We want to do a mix of sightseeing, relaxing, and climbing. We've been to Europe several times so we're leaning toward Australia, and the Blue Mountains seem like an obvious choice (lots of single and multipitch routes of high quality, close proximity to Sydney, lots of other non-climbing outdoor activities) but I'm worried it might be too hot. Has anyone been to the area in that season? If so, what was your experience? Alternatively, if you've climbed in Greece in October and would/wouldn't recommend it, that's helpful too. |
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It’s not too bad and there’s always shaded places as it’s a massive area. Hire a car. |
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Have you read this basic guide to the area? |
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After a couple of wet years things are drying out and warming up. October is a good time for the Blue Mountains. Only Dec-Feb it might be too hot in some areas. The exchange rate is currently on your side and so far we don't have the fires and chaos that Greece currently has. |
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It's a warm time of year, but really, if you're not a pro climber, who wants to come to Australia on holiday and freeze their ass off midwinter, just for better climbing conditions. The Blackheath Rhododendron Festival is first weekend in November so it's a pretty time to visit. It'll be warm enough to rappel down some slot canyons as well for a rest day, and of course go to the beach. While there are exceptions, *generally* the crags face west and get morning shade and afternoon sun, so a brisk morning session will always get you climbable conditions even on hot days. |
Damien Gildea wrote: Do you reckon the perception of climbing seasons in the Blue Mountains has changed over the years? I feel like it used to be only the most insular locals would climb through winter, everyone else went somewhere warmer. And the Blue Mountains was a summer destination, all the Queensland and Victorian clubs would come for Christmas or new years trips in the middle of summer. But Tom O'halloran was just saying he plans his season for May-September, of course he's trying to develop the absolutely hardest possible routes. Even so heaps of people climb through winter now and do Nowra trips as an afterthought, Nowra seems to have more of a local scene as well (which is great!). Seems to be a combination of more variety of new routes in sheltered warmer spots (Bell), better accessories (hand warmers, heater fans, portable hangboards), people in general climbing harder grades with better tactics and willing to climb in the cold. And climate change. The Black Summer 2019/2020 was apocalyptic it felt like living on Venus, you couldn't go outside. |
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I'm bumping this, because I ended up reading that Common Climber review elsewhere and I have to comment on it - https://www.commonclimber.com/blue-mountains-review.html Firstly for some reason they say you should rappel to clean and THIS IS NOT THE LOCAL ETHIC! WE LOWER, ALWAYS LOWER TO CLEAN. None of that Yankee "cleaning sport climbs on rappel" bullshit thanks. It always seems to be Americans having lowering accidents (and at the Shipley Grey Slabs), so don't join the list. Secondly, one of the crags they reviewed is the Soft Parade. That crag is crap, its really pretty bad and a lot of locals think it should never have been developed. I'm horrified to think a visitor formed their opinion after climbing there. Don't go to the Soft Parade! (They also go to Bardens, Porters and climbed Sweet Dreams, which are all fine choices) Now I can imagine because they're Common Climber they have a mandate to review the easy climbing, fair enough. But if you are going to climb easy routes in the Blue Mounts (YDS 5.0 to 5.6) you *really should* plan to climb trad. There are basically no good easy sport routes. A comprehensive trad ticklist is here thecrag.com/en/list/4751366526 |
