My first visit to Jolls Bridge was a long time ago - an early exploration with Leo. I was shocked to discover that it was in 2005 some 16 years ago. Back then things were still pretty 'adventurous' meaning run out on carrot bolts with optional trad placements if you were faint of heart. There were virtually no anchors and routes were hard to locate so the memory was pretty grim. When an invitation to revisit suddenly jolted the hidden memories back from my subconsciece mind, I was eager to see how the area had changed. Reading that this Hawkesbury classic crag with one of the most stunning views in NSW had undergone a renaissance, renewed the interest. It was time to look up an old friend and see what he has been up to for all those years. What we found - well hidden in the formidable bush surrounding the great Hawkesbury bend near Jolls Bridge - was one of the best long sport climbing crags near Sydney. This time Jack and Laurence joined me on a reexamination of a old school crag brought into the 21st century of modern sport climbing. For a great introduction and how to locate the access path and obtional rap point see: Day Climbing at Jolls Bridge.
Absolute Honey (20**) quite cruxy for the grade with a hard movie in the middle. Use layaway on the left to get past the crimpy section in the middle.
Go North young thang (21**) at the succulent young man wall with its bright orange sandstone. up the slab for a few meters to a stance then traverse out left to gain little rooflet. Very hard crux to get past a little overhang with underclings, highstep and big reach to a sloper. Laurence on the Crux.
Moved across to sports wall for some of the hardere classics since there were three of us and the immaculate longer routes would take us too long. Mental note to come back for the plethora of 40 meter pitches - amazing. Sportwall is a little tricky to find. You walk under it and past it to a little corner where you find Finger Candy 22** mixed/trad and a little cave through which you can climb up on the sports shelf.
Stairway to Heaven (21**) best warmup here with okay moves.
Shining Path (25***) mega boulder problem start- three in a row at the bottom than easy to the top. Very committing long moves with accuracy. Hard body position and just smearing with your legs on the immaculate sandstone. Partially manufactured mega classic. Jack on the lower crux moves.
Rivers Edge (24**) tricky start moves to establish on the wall - gain first ironstone edge and crank like a demon possessed past the high crimp section, short desperate crimp section than easier to the top.
One sick puppy (21**) nice pumpy moves through a huge roof. Looks chossy but is quite solid, fun moves on old bolt hangers with the third bolt almost rusted through. Still put a bolt plate on it and moves past it on jugs to double ring bolts of Read my Lips (24). Probably no longer worthe while unless you have done everything on Sports Wall.
It was an exceptionallly windy day and we barely sratched the surface of this crag. Each sector you walk past deserves a day of attention on its own. Some of the longer 40 meter lines are very imposing and would have taken too much time with three people so we left them for another day. We will be back soon to taste some of the excellent exposure available at this magic place. Hopefully the next trip will not be quite as far away..... |
