Home > Crags > Blue Mountains > Coke Ovens
Coke Ovens
The Coke Ovens is one of the more popular crags in the awe inspiring Wolgan Valley and is located just above the ghost town of Newnes, north east of Lithgow.
The crag is located above the industrial ruins at Newnes, on the southern side of the Wolgan River. The vast majority of routes are located on the lower cliff line, which varies between about 40m and 60m in height; the upper cliff line (up to about 90m in height) has very few recorded routes, but has heaps of potential for bolted face routes.
Despite rumours to the contrary, routes at the Coke Ovens are on generally excellent rock, with a high precentage being on that gorgeous frictional reddy-peach coloured stone so sought after elsewhere in the Mountains. There are a surprising number of cracks (and not all of them are corner cracks, either), and almost all of these are beautifully angular, with lovely square edges and very parallel sides (none of those chossy cracks so common elsewhere in the Mountains!).
The guide for the area is the "Rockclimbs in the Upper Blue Mountains (2nd Edition)" guide book.
Flame 22m 22
The bolted arete just right of "War of the Roses". A technical route that is pretty strenuous, despite being quite slabby. The two bolts and one fixed hanger only make the route "sporting", rather than a "sport route"; in other words take along a selection of tiny to mid size cams (a #0 friend is nice) and some wires. Belay and rap as for "War of the Roses". This route is partially protected from the rain (but add a grade or three!).
War of the Roses (1st pitch only) 23m 16
Marked "WR". The fantastic looking corner crack in gorgeous peach coloured rock. A truly superb climb, offering sustained laybacking and superb jamming on excellent rock, with enough rests to make it realistic at the grade. The crack itself is surprisingly parallel, being perfect hand jam width almost the entire way up (take at least 4 bits of gear around #2 camalot size; hex placements are bomber, since there are minor undulations in the crack). An easy slab above the corner leads to the cam, piton and thread belay. Take some back-off tape to rappel off and a knife to cut the existing tape off the piton and thread. Stays dry in the rain.
Home > Crags > Blue Mountains > Coke Ovens
Get your own Free Home Page