Castle Hill Fiday 10 July to Sunday 12 July 2009 Kerry, Owen and Roman
Where Kerry rang about a possible climbing trip to the mythical Blue Mountains near Sydney I was preparing the family for a one year stint in Kyoto, Japan. The schedule was very tight but passing on a climbing trip was never really an option. Last year Kerry and Owen looked after me at a Bouldering trip to Castle Hill near Christchurch so it was definitely my turn to show what kind of vertical bliss Down Under had to offer. So it was with great delight that I picked up Glenda, Dave, Kerry and Owen from the airport early Saturday morning. Needless to say, that we spend little time with formalities and headed straight for the Blue Mountains. The only tourist thing we did on the way is to fill up on sugar and caffeine at the fabulous Conditorei Patisserie Schwarz at Wentworth Falls. Even though the plan was to go shopping in Katoomba, we basically dropped our gear at our place of rest: Fairway Close in Blackheath and headed straight for the next best climbing crag. Since we only had half a day left, James Bond with its mixture of slab, gentle multi-pitch and mid-grade sports climbing, was the area of choice. The most difficult aspect of the first day climbing was to try and not get absolutely trashed on the first day on the rock. Staying the distance and lasting a full four days was the strategy but seeing all the beautiful orange sandstone we were tempted to try as much as possible. Saturday the first day ended just before darkness fell with a meal at the Gardner’s Inn in Blackheath. A couple of beers later we found ourselves watching climbing video’s back at our comfortable lodge near the golf course. All plans of cooking and barbecuing were abandoned as we perused all the new crags that had sprung up in the Blue Mountains since our last climbing trip several years ago. The agenda was crystal clear: let’s just climb.
 The 4 Day tick list:
Day1 – James Bond
1) Astin Martin (bolt runners, slab, 15)
2)Lotus Esprit (bolt runners, slab, 18) one hard move at the top
3) Dr. No (arête 21)
4) Mr.Big (multipitch, 19)
5) Ah, Miss Money Penney (24)
6) The Living Daylights (23, hard deadpoint boulder problem at the end)
7) Thunderball (24, big dyno to the right or crimp like hell)
8) Ian Fleming (19, bolt runners)
Day2-Boganville
1) Fisher Monger’s Wife (20, steep and pumpy)
2) Boganville (classic long 21)
3) Yobo Cowbait (21/22)
4) Big Shoulders and Bear Guts (23)
5) Barby Boys (24/25 awesome)
6) The original Bogan (19 with extension 21)
Day3-Upper Shipley
1) Jack High (19 slab)
2) Flaming Flamingo (19 with 24 extension)\
3) Nude Tuesday (18 slab)
4) These People are Sandwiches (22)
5) Pallets of Pie (24)
6) Language of Desire (24, too hard to get of the ground)
7)Lardy Lady’s Lats (22, from slab to roof)
8)Junket Pumper (24)
9) Stephen Grunter (18, roof to start, mantle, finish roof)
Day4-Zap Crag
1) Mr.McGlue 18
2) Resistor (20 with killer move)
3) Static Discharge (23 with interesting roof move)
4) Buzz (18 on top of lower Zap, beautiful knife-blade arête)
5) Jug Buzz (22)
 Sunday, Day 2 started lucky. A phone call from Steve and Megan invited us to one of their new and still secret premier climbing area at Narrow Neck; the redoubtable Boganville. We just had time for a quick injection of pastry and a few fast “short Blacks” before we found ourselves – in the wrong direction, thanks to Roman’s navigational skills – on a one hour walk along the Narrow Neck escarpment. Since the crag is still secret that’s all I can say but for more information see Steve and Megan who have put an enormous amount of work into equipping one of the most spectacular cliffs in the Blue Mountains. Steep, overhanging and long is the name of the game at this gorgeous orange wall in the Mountains. Not having climbed for a long time outdoors it was a truly humbling experience enjoyed by all of us. Highlights of the day included onsights of crag classics like: the long and sustained Boganville (21) and Big Shoulders and Bear Guts (23). A hearty good spanking was experienced by everyone (except Steve who kindly put the draws on with a busted hand), on the awesome Barby Boys (24/25 ). Once again we left the crag only to arrive in darkness back at our cars. It was time for Indian which would keep the bush flies happy for days to come.
 Monday Day 3 was pretty much exactly the same as the previous day with the motto being: if you still have got anything left in the tank, its time to use it and go as hard as you can. After our compulsory quick fix at the local bakery in Blackheath, we hit Upper Shipley for some hard moves and big falls. Highlights of the day included These People are Sausages (22) and Palettes of Pie (24). Dave hit the classic slabs and Glenda styled up Lardy Lady’s Lats. But by the afternoon we still had some juice left and decided to have a go at Junket Pumper (24) with its big holds and crimpy crux. We finished the day with a fun new edition to the crag called Stephen Grunter (18) that involved a bouldery start to a mantle and finished in a roof. Since this was our last night it was time for something special and after a quick shower (and a climbing video) we found ourselves in classic Mount Vic Pub at Mount Victoria. Our dinner was consumed in the Ewbank Room and a game of darts with lots of spirits sealed the day.
 Our fourth and last day Tuesday dawned all too quickly and we had one more crag up our sleeves before the plane left for New Zealand again. Zap Crag at Mount York was the micro-crag of Choice even though our skinless digits started to complain. It was the grade 23 move on the aptly named Resistor (graded 20) that reminded us that it was time to go home but not before Kerry and Owen flashed Static Discharge (23) . Our final climb and Owen’s most valiant onsight attempt after four days of climbing was the amazingly steep and pump Jug Buzz (22) at Upper Zap Crag. It was time to say good-bye to all the crags we weren’t able to visit this time. There was so much more we would have liked to do: Deep-water soloing at the Dam Cliffs, getting scared at Tarana, multi-pitching at Pirches Pass and a canyon for good measures on one of our days off. It will have to wait until next time because we will be back…..
Roman
22 March 2010
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