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Bronte / Clovelly Sea Cliffs
Unlike the more popular cliffs further north, the Bronte/Clovelly crags tend not to be so crowded, so they're a good choice for those weekends when Diamond Bay is like Pitt Street at lunchtime. The guide book lists 19 climbs here, ranging in height from 7m to 25m and from grade 8 to 24.
The guide for the area is the newly published Sun, Surf and Sandstone online guide book. This crag is described here, here and here.
Clovelly
The climbs:
?? 10m 21
The projecting block about 30m south of the access gully, distinguished by 4 of the most rusted bolts I have ever seen on top. Start below the vegetated crack on the right of the block. Up to the obvious hand traverse line just above the lip, then follow it out to the arete (crux). Continue to just past arete, lunge up to a monster pocket, then more easily up the slightly overhanging wall to the top. Belay off the bolts (with fear!), with some bomber cam placements on the top of the block. Top rope only.
About 10m south of the descent gully is a flat grey wall about 3m high and about 15m long. It contains some nice move up problems and an excellent but sapping traverse. There are 3 sets of BBs on top, so top-roping most of the face is possible.
Sarah 7m 8
The obvious corner on the left hand side of the descent gully. A good place for beginners to learn to lead on natural pro (takes some great hexes). 3 BBs on top. To the left (facing the cliff) is another set of 3 BBs, which allow most of the nice red face left of here to be top-roped.
Peter 7m 16
The small flake/corner 1.5m right of Sarah. Quite a fun climb up a flake/corner to a small, chossy roof (be careful - most of the choss is loose). 3 BBs on top. Top rope only.
?? 7m 22
Starts about 1.5m right of Peter. Start with hands in the juggy break. Get your feet on the wall, then up on crimpy sidepulls to a huge reach up to the sloping hold a foot below the large break below the chossy roof. 3BBs on top (near edge). Top rope only.
Underneath this climb is a large roof with a boulder problem chipped into it. Follow the line of 8 chipped jugs out to the lip of the roof.
DTD (anyone know its name?) 7m 23+
Marked start about 2m right of the previous climb, at the obvious chipped hold. Jump to break, huge move up to sidepull pocket, then harder moves (which we haven't managed to do yet!) up to the large break below the roof. Top rope only.
Flag Fall 9m 14 (originally graded 16)
The corner high up on the wall at the right hand end of this section. Another funnish climb, although the fun bit is very short! 4 BBs on top (2 rusty, 2 relatively new).
Solidarity 10m 20
The obvious flake on the far end of the black wall around the arete from Flag Fall. Make sure its low tide before you attempt this one, since the waves can splash right up the climb (I've seen waves hitting the top of the black section of rock!). 1 "thing" below the roof (I'd hesitate to call it a bolt!), then a good bolt just over the roof. Cams/wires behind the flake then easily up past mid to large cam breaks to the top. 1 good bolt for the belay, and a massive bollard about 15m back.
About 30m north of Solidarity is a small bay which has 5 hard looking climbs up it (4 on the south side, and 1 on the north side). Most of the bolts look rusted, and protection on top is virtually non-existent. To get to this area, either walk north from the main Clovelly area (which may only be an option at low tide), or abseil in off the white block 25m further north, and walk back south. Three of the climbs in this bay were put up by Trevor Cooper-Williams during 1993.
Dusty Condom (Not listed in guide book) 15m 20/21 (originally graded 16)
The middle climb on the nice yellow wall on the southern side of the bay. Start below the flake low down on the wall. Up to a hands free ledge with a bent bolt at knee level, then up the nice yellow wall past two big ring bolts to a sandy, slopey break. #4 camalot in the break, then up the chossy, grotty headwall past another plastic wrapped ring bolt to the top. Belay off a slightly rusty ring bolt and a horribly rusty fixed hanger, with possibly a dodgy cam placement just behind the hanger. Probably hasn't seen many climbers, since it's very sandy and encrusted in pidgeon crap.
To the right of Dusty Condom, Trevor also put up "Dead Mans Fingers", an unrepeated climb of at least grade 25 featuring 5 ring bolts and a double ring bolt lower off. I haven't attempted it (yet!), so can't give any more details.
Steep (Not listed in guide book) 8m 22/23 (originally graded 21)
The short roof climb on the northern side of the bay, distinguished by a single ring bolt at ground level (for the belayer). Start by getting a boost up to the right hand end of the flake, or hard free moves to get into the flake, then hand traverse left to the ring bolt (you can get a right heel hook going after a move or two). Hard moves up to jugs in the roof, then more easily to the second ring bolt. Crank over the lip to some slopers on the left, then a big move up to the slopey break above the double ring bolt lower off. A great climb on excellent, solid rock, although the holds tend to be a little sandy.
About 15m north of the bay is a large white cement block on the edge of the cliff. Below this there are the following 3 climbs. Access is either from the descent gully, or by abseil off the block. Unlike many of the climbs at Clovelly (which are either top rope climbs, or have rusted bolts), this area generally has good quality bolts, both on the face and on top.
I have heard that these climbs were put up by Matt Carter from Bondi. Does anyone have any more details?
?? (Not listed in guide book) 12m 11
Starts below the nose about 10m south of the white block. Up the easy, juggy wall past 2 BRs to the bulging top section. Clip the third BR (reachy), then crank over the bulge to the top (two BBs). Probably not a bad beginner's introduction to the sea cliffs, particularly if the top is avoided by traversing out right.
?? (Not listed in guide book) 12m 16
Starts almost directly below the cement block, and is distinguished by a ring bolt and a rusty carrot bolt just below the top. Quite steep, particularly towards the top. Up past a BR to a smallish roof, then mantle over it onto a ledge capped with conglomerate (crux). Head up the white sandy flake to clip the second BR, then up and slightly left to the third BR. From here its straight up the flake feature to the top, past a ring bolt and another carrot. Cam placements on the ledge (bomber #1 friend placement), plus slings around the cement block for the belay.
?? (Not listed in guide book) 12m 23
The overhanging arete 10m right of the previous climb. Start up left of the arete past a single bolt, then traverse right to the first ring bolt. Up the arete past another ring bolt to a small ledge (#1 friend placement to the left, if necessary), then top out. Two BBs on top for the belay. An excellent, pumpy climb with an amazing amount of exposure. Once you've gained the arete, you're out past the ledge, with nothing below you but the sea 20m down. This makes for not only exciting leading, but also exciting seconding (sitting means taking a big swing out over the ocean).
Another 50m north of this is a wide rubbishy bay with a nice looking orange wall at its base, just in front of the Clovelly bowling club. The wall has had three routes chipped into it, but there are no bolts, so top-roping is currently the only option.
?? (Not listed in guide book) 18m 18
Start below the large flake on the headwall, towards the northern end of the face. Rap in and start just above the white choss below the orange rock, or start from the ground if you're really desperate. Follow the chipped holds, marvelling at how closely the climb resembles a ladder. Top out, vowing never to chip a route like that one (or at all!). Belay off the green log fence, using at least two posts at all times.
Bronte
The climbs:
Not Wot It Seams 18m 14
An undistinguished climb reminiscent of the unlisted climb described below. Be careful of the tide, as large waves rush through under the giant block and can splash up the climb to quite a height. Good cam placements on top about a metre from the edge (although be careful of some of the rock), with a single carrot bolt about 5m back.
?? (Not listed in guide book) 15m 13
To the north of the big rubbishy gully. Two BBs on top. Start on the ledge sticking out into the middle of the rock pool, a few metres to the right of the belay stance. Mantle up, repeat, repeat, repeat (boring!). The crux move is over the bulging windblown cave about one third of the way up (where I'm standing in the photo).
Further north again is a 60m long road cutting, with distinctive red rock on the eastern (seaward) side (see ). Despite looking pretty chossy, the rock is actually reasonably solid and the bouldering is surprisingly good. The strata in the rock here slopes down towards the sea, so the eastern side has lots of incut jugs, while the western side has lots of big flat slopers. The traverse on the eastern side is great for building stamina, since all of the holds are good, but the feet are poor or undercut for much of it's length.
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