Blue Mountains lookout Pulpit Rock reopens after Black Summer bushfire devastation

A popular lookout in the Blue Mountains has reopened six years after being destroyed in the Black Summer bushfires. Pulpit Rock, located at Blackheath, was significantly damaged by the Gospers Mountain fire in 2019, which burned for 79 days and swallowed the Grose Valley.

Neil Monteith, a local climber, recalled witnessing the fire from the side of a 100-metre sandstone cliff face. "It looked like a nuclear bomb going off," he said. "This huge mushroom cloud started to form over on the other side."

Monteith was climbing near Pulpit Rock when the fire was pushing up the back of Mount Banks. He remembered getting a phone call from his wife, saying, 'You need to stop climbing, you need to get home now.'

The Black Summer mega blaze destroyed the Pulpit Rock lookout, leaving only piles of metal and wood in its wake. "All the wooden steps that led down to the lookout were totally erased," Mr Monteith said. "The whole area was just black charcoal."

Restoration Efforts

Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill, who worked as a firefighter during the Black Summer, remembered the devastation at Pulpit Rock. "The ground itself was literally baked; it was like a moonscape," he said.

However, after six years of restoration work, the area has reopened with upgraded lookouts and walking trails, new picnic facilities, toilets, and shelters. The work was funded with almost $1 million from the Commonwealth and $3.7m from the NSW government.

"It looks stunning," Cr Greenhill said. "Much of the former timber infrastructure has been rebuilt in sandstone to make it more resilient to bushfires."

Climbing and Tourism

Monteith expressed excitement about the reopening of the cliff he was climbing during the fire, Bellbird Wall, which was one of the top three most popular multi-pitch routes in the Blue Mountains. "Now it's been shut for six years it's slightly faded in people's memories," he said. "It's a whole generation of climbers later who haven't experienced it."

However, concerns have been raised about the installation of paid parking meters at the lookout, with Monteith saying, "$12 an hour, is only a rate that works for someone who's just popping in to look at the lookout for one hour." Cr Greenhill said a $38 day pass would make it more cost-effective for half-day or full-day visitors.

"The reality is our residents, through their rates, are paying an enormous amount for us to retain visitor infrastructure," he said. "We're now edging up to six million visitors a year."