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Narrabeen
Narrabeen consists of a number of crags located on both sides of the Wakehurst Parkway, just west of the sport and recreation centre on Narrabeen lakes. The crags are located in a large area of bush, although the roar of traffic from the Wakehurst Parkway tends to spoil things a bit.
Public transport is non-existent, with the nearest bus stop located at Narrabeen, about 40 minutes walk at the eastern end of the Wakehurst Parkway. I probably wouldn't bother going without a car.
There are three main areas at Narrabeen: the Northern Slabs (clearly visible on the northern side of the road), the Steep Side and the Pootang Crag. Both the Northern Slabs and the Steep Side are generally well bolted (particularly the steep side), although a couple of cams and some wires might be handy on the odd occasion (particularly at the Northern Slabs).
The guide for the area is the newly published Sun, Surf and Sandstone online guide book. This crag is described here, here and here.
The Northern Slabs
This is the obvious cliff line visible on the northern side of the road about 1km west of the sport and recreation camp. To get to the crag, park near the locked triangular gate and follow the path past it to the green exhaust stack. Follow the path right and up the hill to the crag. The slabs tend to seep badly after rain, and are quite dirty even at the best of times. Still, they face south, and don't pick up too much sun so are a good choice in summer.
Into the Void 15m 19
A nice, basically straight forward slab with one tough move past the final bolt. Three bolts (take brackets) in all, although the second isn't the best, so be careful. Tree and cam belay.
Common Origin 15m 16
A surprisingly juggy slab, with lots of great rests. A bit run out to the first bolt, but the moves are pretty easy to that point. Basically easy moves to the second bolt (take #0.75 and #2 camalots), then attack the rounded top out (the crux). Single bolt, #1 camalot and tree belay.
Descent for these two routes is via rappel off the suffering tree at the top of Common Origin. It would probably be a good idea for someone to install a rap station on the headwall behind the tree, before the poor thing gets killed.
?? 8m 18
Not listed in the guidebook, but marked 20 or 2 at the base. Start on the blunt arete to the right of the very right hand end of the main face, below a largish roof. Easily up nice orange rock past 1 BR and 2 fixed hangers to the large roof. Easily out roof on jugs to clip third fixed hanger just over lip, then heelhook and crank up and right to rap chain in large break. An excellent climb with some great photo opportunities, and so well protected its worth a go even if 18 is a challenge.
This climb has been extended straight up the arete, but looks a lot harder than 18. A variant also heads left at the third fixed hanger, along the obvious hand traverse (fixed hanger) then up the headwall to the top. This one is about grade 21 and has 2 fixed hangers on the headwall. Just to the right is another climb with an obvious back off sling hanging off a large, scary looking flake. This climb is about grade 24, I've heard. None of these climbs are listed in the guidebook.
Narrabeen Steep Side
Although only short, the steep side contains primarily harder routes, with most of the climbs in the 22-28 range. The crag faces north west, with access via a path that heads south from the Wakehurst Parkway about 100m west of the Northern Slabs gate. The crag is about 30m up the hill from the road.
Septic Penguins 12m 20
An absolute classic! Steep, juggy and pumpy as all hell! Three bolts and a homemade fixed hanger over protect the short traverse (probably the hardest moves on the climb), but only two or three need to be clipped. Layback/undercling the arete past another bolt to some small breaks. Up past another bolt to another break, then a longer move up to a monster jug in a dish below the top-out. Grovelly top out to #2 camalot and tree belay. Although the hardest technical moves are down low (just after the start), the sustained steepness of this climb means that (for me, at least), the crux was up towards the top, where my endurance ran out.
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