One of the very tallest cliffs in Qld at over 200 vertical metres. The site of some very bold climbing. Characterised by long routes. Has been traversed twice: from left to right & right to left.
Triangular in shape, the shortest routes are those on the left (Opus=100m) with the longest on the RHS (the three Deception routes are almost 300m). Rock quality is generally better on the face, poorer on the Deception routes.
Access from the carpark at Cotswold Rd. to the National Park is across gazetted private land - from the sluice gate:
East Face - Sluice gate
walk up roughly 400m to the National Parks sign:
East Face - Maroon National Park boundary
This is the start of the National Park. Visitors are urged to stay on the path or use established tracks, rather than blazing a new trail.
Following this track will save you 4-5mins & a good 30m of elevation gain/loss. It passes below Virgin's Window Buttress & the evergreen route Jezebel (16) on the left, when the track starts to slope down & winds its way in behind Egg Rock, scramble across the gully here for the lower RHS routes. 1-1:15 approach.
across slabs + boulders - this will bring you directly below the prominent Phaedra ledge & SBB. 1:15-1:30 approach.
The very first route (officially) established on Maroon here. Quite possibly Bert Salmon or Don Groom may have climbed something on Maroon earlier, but no record exists of this.
Rick White & Dave Reeve established Deception I here in February 1968. Rick came back 2weeks later with Graham Simpson to establish Deception II.
Rick named them "deception" as he felt the East Face was deceiving in its size, being almost invisible from the road.
This cliff was a favourite of Rick's & he continued to push development here through the 60's & 70's, even bringing Henry Barber out here to free Beau Brummel & later, Tobin Sorensen to free Nympho.
The two classics of the East Face:
Ruby was nothing special at the time Rick pegged up it in 1971 (it was freed a fortnight later by Tony Kelly & Jon Oddie), a vegetated, messy route, better forgotten
Phaedra was established very early on by Rick & Ted Cais pegging & bolting their way up it. Successive pitches were freed over the years, with pitch 4 estimated to go free at about grade 27-28. Was almost freed in the 90's & Glen Foley almost freed it in 2007.
Tim Balla established a couple of hard, single pitch finishes to Phaedra in the 90's: one out left, the other out right from the 3rd belay.
Scott Camps established his hardman 4 pitch 24 here in the 80's.
A plethora of variant finishes to Beau Brummel were established through the 70's & 80's.
Queensland & Australia's first 22 went up here by Rick: Valhalla in 1972.
John Hattink took a mega fall on The Anti-Christ whilst attempting to free it in the mid 70s. Accounts vary & are subject to exaggeration, but certainly over 20m. John busted his head & scalp & Rick carried him out, got most of the way down, then realised his car keys were in the pack at the cliff.
The most recent new route here is Deception 33 1/3, by Hamish Ousby & Antonius Barton in 2021.
Adam Donahough & Gareth Lewellyn freed The Anti-Christ in 2007 at grade 27.
The official record for fastest ascent of ROI is a free solo, in just under 20mins.
Some content has been provided under license from: © Australian Climbing Association Queensland (Creative Commons, Attribution, Share-Alike 2.5 AU)
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A few years ago there was basically Frog Buttress and Coolum. Since then there has been more development than Barangaroo and South East Queensland should be on any climbers radar no matter what your style. Except ice climbing, definitely no ice climbing. But over 1250 routes with hard sport, multipitches and quality trad to make a great trip.
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Hidden within the ordinary people of Queensland there exists a tight-knit community of scabby knuckles, grazed knees, massive forearms and iron-clad wills. This guidebooks seeks to shed light on this community and blocks of choice with all the information, skills and knowledge to open the door for you to explore all the bouldering that Queensland has to offer.
★★ Phaedra 22 A1 - Phaedra - 1st belay
East Face - P2 of Deception II
Kyle Addy on ★ Valhalla 22 M2 - 20190825_113047.jpg
Kyle Addy and Duncan Steel † on ★★ Phaedra 22 A1 - Phaedra
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