Bangor West – Rock Climbing

Bangor West is an area located just west of Cronulla to the south of Sydney.  It is a small crag but does have 101 routes according the The Crag with 64% of these being sport routes, 28% trad, 4% bouldering, and 1% top rope.  The routes range from easy beginner climbs to much more challenging routes for experienced climbers.  Most of the routes are short but fun and the crag is overlooks a beautiful valley with Woronora River winding along the base of the gully.    

Parking can be found along the street on Arunta Close and the approach is a very quick 5 minute hike that starts between two houses where there is a large metal gate.  Past the gate the grass turns into a dirt trail that descends down a narrow gully where you have to climb down the sandstone rocks via fixed ropes and iron rebar steps.  At the base the crag extends in both directions but we turned to the right and set up our gear along the main wall.  

Main Wall

We started off on a a slightly overhung route called Andrew’s Bulge that is graded a 15.  Note: There are several climbing grading systems used across the world and there is a conversion chart on wikipedia located here.  Australia and New Zealand use the Ewbank grading system.  However, while the grading is useful there can be significant variation in difficulty between various crags depending on who set the grades.  After climbing Andrew’s Bulge we moved on to Zulu Trainer (13) which is more of a balance/slab type of route.

Andrew’s Bulge

The Block

Just in front of the main wall is an isolated block of rock aptly named The Block with several routes on east and south faces and a large cave on the west side.  We climbed Nananapper (14) and Whippersnapper (13) on the west face which were fun.  Then we moved to the cave/roof and led Lucky’s Roof  (18 since we started at the cairn).  This one was actually much easier than I thought it would be but was great to practice roof climbing.  I would like to try some of the other variants as well next time.  

Lucky’s Roof without me clinging to the underside 

Back to the Main Wall

After Lucky’s Roof we moved back to the main wall and climbed Python (17) which I thought was much more challenging.  The route started awkwardly and then moved to the arete before traversing a bit to the right near the top.  I really enjoyed this one.  

Our final climb was called Flash as a Rat (16/17 since we traversed to the right of the bulge).  It would be great to try this one again with the 20 grade variant that goes over the rounded buttress.  

Summary

I found Bangor West an easily accessible, fun climbing spot very close to Sydney.  The climbs are short but there is a good variety and range of climbs.   The area is wooded and the views overlooking the river are gorgeous.  I would highly recommend visiting and exploring this area!