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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
All NSW	(General)	(General)	(General)

Topic Date User

Climbing banned Centennial Trev Blue Mtns - NPWS 1-May-2015 At 7:49:29 AM Mr Poopypants

Message

Hi Folks

A few points:

This area has been visited by lots of different people: climbers, bushwalkers, commercial groups, locals (quite a few locals are very active climbers and outdoors types) for many years. Long before the routes went up. Anybody that doesn't believe that is having themselves on.

It was generally agreed by every climber I know who has been there that the area was too special to be bolted or "developed", even though we knew it would happen one day. Yes, there are plenty of other climbing areas in the park, but this one is pretty special and different. It would obviously be protected by the Parks.

The NPWS in Blackheath are not anti-climbing. The Blue Mts NPWS people went to great lengths to consult with the climbing community during the drafting of the PoM, both locally and from further afield. They initiated the contact with groups and individuals. There were several submissions made by climbers and the NPWS were very open to ideas and suggestions made at meetings they organised. The PoM adopted many of the submissions made by climbers. There was an organised group of climbers from all over who coordinated their approach. Quite a few of the group have been responsible for route development in the mts.

The NPWS were not openly opposed to bolting as a blanket thing, they left this to be regulated by the climbing community. This is what every climber we spoke to wanted. They are far more concerned with other environmental and management issues, eg cars pushing bush back at car parks, new tracks eroding, rubbish and toilet areas developing around campsites or carparks etc (the list is long).

What became obvious is that their resources are stretched and we need to fix our own problems to avoid becoming their problem. Every climber present at the meetings (and others that I spoke to) agreed that we need to jump in when a problem arises and be proactive about finding a remedy.

Bolting is not their big worry with this. If the main cause of the dramatic increase in visitation isn't removed (the climbs) the NPWS will be forced to act to protect the arch (whether we think it needs protecting or not). They've told us this now. It is in the best interest of climbing all over the Park that this area is cleaned up by climbers and that a good job is done.

Contrary to what some of you think climbers have quite a good rapport with the Parks in Blackheath and we need to keep it that way. We all know there are plenty of other areas in the park that they have ignored bolting at and are not concerned about climbers using for recreation. They even now draw a distinction between recreational climbing and commercial use.

Before you crucify me, I'm not saying that the situation is perfect for climbers but a lot of local and non-local climbers have actually engaged with the parks and things have improved considerably. There's even space in the park for sport climbing :-) I've found the Rangers very approachable and not anti-climbing or anti-bolting at all, quite a few of them climb. (and yes, I do know quite a few of them)

They do monitor route development and are aware of what is going on.[slight edit] They really haven't intervened much, if at all, recently in the Blue Mts area, look at Bell. Lets keep it that way.

For what it is worth (probably nothing) I think the smart thing would be for climbers to remove those bolts and repair the holes properly and for the problem to just go away before the Parks have to get involved. (and I love a new climbing area as much as anyone) It's a shame to lose any climbs anywhere, but let's pick our battles wisely.

Cheers
G.