Climbing in the Blue Mountains

A crisp winters morning was what greeted us today. Still, if the haze of clouds would only part, there was a chance that we might get some climbing done. Optimisticly, we set off to the of cliffs Upper Shipley, wearing almost every layer of clothes that we'd got. 

It's an impressive cliff and very well bolted. Things were looking cold, but promising...

Until we came around to the base of the cliffs and the true temperatures were revealed; everything was frozen! 

The top rim of the cliffs, literally had big icicles hanging from them!

Amazingly, there were a couple of Ozzy climbers already on a route and as we were consulting our guide, one came over and pointed out the routes that we were looking at. It was way too cold, but it's not everyday that you're at the base of a rock climb in the Blue Mountains, so we thought we'd go for it and do a 'token climb' anyway. Luckily for me, tough fingered Clare decided to get the rope up. In warmer conditions, it would have been a pleasure, today it was just novelty value. It was a great climb, with good bolts, holds, rock and friction.

But it was cold! I climbed the first half until it began to get too steep, with gloves on! Arriving at the chains, I couldn't feel my fingers at all and took a while to re-thread the ropes!

Despite the ridiculous temperature and a slight disappointment that our climbing here was obviously going to be cut short, we were both elated to have completed a climb in 'The Blueys'.

Walking further along the base of the cliffs, we had to dodge falling icicles as they were beginning to melt and release above us!

We checked out a few more areas out of interest and to enjoy the views, but knew that any further climbing was out of the question. 

We took ourselves back to the van and after thawing out with coffee and burritos,  went to see the famous sight of 'The Theee Sisters' - three rock towers. We avoided the main tourist viewpoint, which was thronging with people and instead went to a nearby pull in where we got a better view - and all to ourselves! They were good to see, but not as good as the waterfalls and where we'd been climbing in my opinion.

With the cold snap looking to stay for a few more days, it seemed daft to stay and shiver, so descended down to Sydney. The Blue Mountains are at the same height as Snowdon, so as we coasted down to sea level, the thermometer crept up and by 4:30pm, we'd left winter behind and were entering summer! 

The camp we are at is very close to the city, yet is on a wildlife reserve, so before dark, we walked down to the river and saw these Kookaburra, just chilling. 

We also saw, bush turkeys, a big Bass jump from the water, and heard lots of stripy marsh frogs, who could only just be heard over the racket of the cockatoos!

Blue Mountains - Upper Shipley:

- Pompadour, 13 (Bolted)