Bald Head

While the cliff line is pretty continuous from the bottom to the top, the upper cliff is dominated by a series of beautiful sheer orange and black striped walls. Most of the recorded climbs avoid these walls, however, taking the lines of least resistance up a number of cliff splitting chimneys that break the defences of these walls.

While the documented access is down Hat Hill Creek, it's also possible to head down a gully on the opposite (eastern) side of Bald Head. This gully is a lot dryer, and isn't much more hassle, involving just one or two 25m abseils off good trees. At the bottom of the gully, head left (facing out) to reach the main part of the cliff.

The guidebooks for the area are the "Rockclimbs in the Grose Valley" guide, by Warwick Williams and "Rockclimbs in the Upper Blue Mountains (2nd Edition)". The latter has a much better description of the start of "Beche de Merl" (of course we didn't have that with us, did we!?).

Upper Cliff Line

Lower Cliff Line

The climb starts behind a little tree directly in front of an obvious rounded chimney in the middle of a prominent orange wall (prominent because of the absolutely superb rock).

Take a standard rack of wires and cams - some big cams and hexes are also useful on the first pitch (a #5 camalot might be useful, although you can get by without it), as are slings for chockstones and threads. Helmets are (as always) a must, and double ropes might be useful to reduce drag above the big roof.

Pitch 1 35m 18
Probably the most superb 35m of rock I've climbed on in the Blueys, and the moves are good too! The chimney is delightful (if a little runout - take your time organising pro), and the swing over the big roof is bloody fantastic!!! A final short corner and small roof are a perfect finishing touch for this superb pitch, and the belay in the sentry box is lovely too.

Pitch 2 20m 18
Another good little pitch on fine rock, just a shame about the vegetation. The moves from the top of the sentry box out onto the right face are great, although from there up the ledges and bushes spoil things somewhat. Belay off a tree 25m back from the edge (watch out for rope drag on the loose scree).

From here the route continues up for another 3 or 4 pitches, and eventually heads up the huge cliff splitting chimney visible way up on the skyline. We'd run out of time, so carefully walked off left (take care - the halfway ledge is covered in steep scree in a few places, and a slip will almost certainly send you hurtling over the edge).

Starts several hundred metres right of SC, and about 100m left of the Hat Hill Creek waterfall. The climb is the small left facing corner crack in the middle of the steep yellow wall of sand, and is distinguished by two gnarled fig trees at the base of the corner.

Pitch 1 48m 18
Probably one of the most terrifying pitches I've done, and I only seconded it!! Follow the horribly loose and chossy corner until you eventually reach a ledge liberally covered in large loose blocks and sand dunes. Calm down from the ascent then organise a retreat, using the dead, rotten tree, and a large slung flake that looks disturbingly loose.

Further pitches may be possible, but the territory looks steep and uncompromising, and the "rock" looks like it gets worse before getting better. Make sure you take double ropes if you intend to retreat (it's a full 50m rap).

FRA: A. Duckworth, P. Monks, 18th March 2001 (existing back off gear retrieved from half height).