Here’s a bit more sports action news from the Blue Mountains plus a sneak preview of the new guidebook which is nearly finished (soon to be at the printers) and we expect will be available in five weeks (give or take).
This summer has seen the development of one of the hottest new hard sport climbing destinations of recent years in the Blue Mountains. It is called The Underworld – and this big foreboding overhang is now home to some of the best roof climbing in the Blueys.
The area was first developed with three routes back in the early nineties. The obscure location, rumours of bad bolts and lack of raving about it by guidebook authors, all helped ensure it was all but completely forgotten. The foreboding overhang was rediscovered in late 2009, was seen in new light, and it suddenly became the subject of intense energy from a motivated crew who quickly bolted the biggest lines and dispatched their projects in a whirlwind of great sports action.
At first glance the area might not look too exciting.
But walk up underneath and the size of the overhang becomes a bit more apparent. Here is the photo topo from the forthcoming guidebook (a little taster of what you can expect from the new book). It didn’t take long before the biggest roofs were criss-crossed with projects and link ups!
Elmar Jerg on Julius Caesar (24), this is one of the original routes here and a good one for getting used to the angle of the dangle. It has now been rebolted.
Zac Vertrees picked a plum and bolted a line straight out the biggest roof.
And here’s the shot I really wanted to show you. It took Zac a few days to work out this key bat-hang move, but how cool is that!?
It took a few more days of trying since that shot was taken, but Zac has now sent the route — and it is called Assassins. Zac had earlier said to me that the route could be graded anything up to about 33, but in the end he said it went easily and graded it 29. Cough, cough, I’m calling sandbag on that! Since when has Zac had to work this hard, or spent that long, on a 29? In my hi-res I can see veins exploding out of his forehead, it looks like he’s about to blow a gasket!
Vince Day has been one of the main developers, having established a swag of the hardest test-pieces here. Here he’s trying the FA of a grade 32 link-up with superb climbing.
Elmar Jerg picked the prominent prow in the middle of the crag to play on. This project is going down soon eh?
And Hugh Sutton joined in the fun. He later climbed his project here, The River Styx, at grade 25. He also added several easier climbs as well.
So there you have it, the Underworld unveiled! Great stuff fellas.
And as the new guidebook says:
It’s a good summer area which only sees sun briefly first thing in the morning. Gear: bring the usual sports action kit plus at least one extra set of muscles.
