Cliff Guide for Flat Rock

L'Essence

You'll need it for this one. A good climb stuffed by lazy bolting. For what it's worth, this route got 3 stars in Bill Andrews' old Northern 'Grampians' guide.

This route now has been re bolted.

Start at The first `weakness' R of the overhanging section. Hard move over over hang to shallow left facing corner, follw this with increasing difficulty to where it ends. Traverse hard left to a tricky mantle and good face climbing up wall above.

FA: Dave Fearnley, 1986

Wander up the mossy wall, stepping R above the roof described, then back L to a juggy overhang.

Start: Start about 15m R of L'Essence, just L of a small, square-cut roof and corner close to the ground.

FA: Louise Shepherd, Chris Peisker, 1986

Melting Moments

Delicately up orange wall to first overhang. Bouldery moves over overhang, bolt, up and R to second overhang. Brushed wall to top.

Start: Start 7m R of 'Yellow Cake'.

FA: Shepherd, Fearnley, 1986

Unraveling Fukishima

A bit weird with a couple of tricky moves, especially if you're short. Starts 5m left of landmark flake, 2m right of high RB. Traverse in then mantle past shallow pockets, up flake then super reachy traverse right to cross Cooking in Chernobyl. Finish up pumpy headwall. 7 RBs + fixed sling.

FA: Neil Monteith, 2012

Cooking In Chernobyl

The L-facing flake that is a major feature of this wall.

Start: Start 25m R of 'Melting Moments'.

FA: Shepherd, Chris Peisker, 1986

Corner, then L wall, behind chockstone and either bridge or climb face.

Start: Line R of 'Cooking In Chernobyl'.

FA: Andrew Thomson, Keith Lockwood, 1972

The largest and smallest cams will be handy for the exciting finish.

Start: Start just R of 'Blues Maker'.

FA: Alan McCulloch, Norm Booth, Ed Neve, 1992

The corner.

Start: Line 18m R of 'Blues Maker'.

FA: Lockwood, Thomson, 1972

Somewhat novel. Move up to L end of horizontal crack. Follow line R until it runs out, continue to corner and step down. Now reverse it or, perhaps, don't bother to start.

FA: David Lovell, Maryborough Venturers sometime., 2000

Don't blink. You're probably sick of this climb by the time you've read to here. The corner stands out from the walking track but is not very attractive on close acquaintance. Start by a tree below and L of the short orange corner at the L end of the cliff. Diagonally R to corner, up corner a bit. Step R around arete and finish steeply.

FA: Details unknown., 2000

Optimal Arousal

Steep. Boring adjective but exciting climbing.

Start: Start below overhanging wall a few m R of 'The Short Orange Corner'.

FA: Peter Martin, Ed Neve, 1987

Looks ridiculously hard for the grade.

FA: Peter Martin, Jarod McCulloch, Simon Mentz, 1988

Another year, another climb. Start 20m R of 'Optimal Arousal' opposite cave/boulder. 'Steep' wall, hand traverse L then up easy crack.

FA: Peter Martin, 1989

Sky Rocket

Unobtrusive but quite pleasant. Crack 10m R of 'Perceived Freedom'. Approach from the R and walk L to end of ledge. Up with a tricky start and thin midsection.

FA: James McIntosh, Melanie Taws, 1987

A Day In The Life Of Ethel The Aardvark

Nondescript. Crack 5m R of 'Sky Rocket'.

FA: Mcintosh, Taws, 1987

Apollo 13

Bolt left of Pegleg

FA: noddy,

Pegleg

Very nice. Thin crack with an old piton 5m L of 'Bellerophon' and 10m R of Aditloeta. Awkward bulging top is hard to protect. May have been top-roped or aided ages ago.

FA: Allan Hope, 1986

Robots Don't Day Dream

Reachy climbing up face between 'Bellerophon' and 'Pegleg'. Be careful with pro.

FA: Aidan Banfield, 1989

Bellerophon

Something of an easy classic. The major corner to the ledge and rap rings.

FA: Charles Gunst, Richard Rodd, Margaret Brookes, 1974

Matthew Flinders

Quite serious for the grade. Not well protected at first, potential groundfall from 7m. Take large hexes or cams. Start 2m R of 'Bellerophon'. Up tending L a tad to a sling at horizontal break. Up and R to nut, then up and leftish to finish just R of corner, taking care with large boulder.

FA: Unknown, 2000

Vicious Fungus

Good face-climbing with some subtle placements. Cams to #3½.

Start: Thin cracks 2m R of 'Matthew Flinders', 2m L of prominent black water streak.

FA: Aidan Banfield, Matthew Brooks, 1990

Streaks Ahead

Sustained face climbing on turtle shell rock.

Start: Middle of face R of 'Bellerophon', 2m R of 'Vicious Fungus', on left edge of black streak. Take small cams and wires.

FA: Graeme Smith, Gunther Zippel, 1990

Hallucinations

Start: Black water streak 8m R of 'Bellerophon', 2m R of 'Streaks Ahead'.

FA: Brooks, Banfield, 1992

Fungal Fantasies

Looks good. 3m R of black water streak is a slight groove. Up L edge of groove.

FA: Brooks, Jeff Manton, Banfield, 1990

Magic Mushroom

Good fun and surprisingly exposed. Take 5 or 6 slings. Start just R of 'Fungal Fantasies' and climb the "mushrooms" on the wall just L of the scooped arete.

FA: Mark Savage, Banfield, 1989

Steep, easy climbing without much protection. Crack 15m R of the scooped arete.

FA: Uknown, 2000

Crack 10m R of Explorer's Groove. Rounded crux at the top, maybe a 2½ cam would help.

FA: Unknown, 2000

L of two lines 10m R of 'Voyage Of Discovery'. Up the narrow groove to an open smooth groove.

FA: Barry Windridge, Ian Thorn, Gordon Bedford, 2000

Cesspool

Sounds gorgeous. Easy line 6m R of 'Rungwalk'.

FA: Bedford, Windridge, Thorn., 2000

P Of P

I can see them queuing for this. Cracks 9m R of 'Cesspool', 3m L of blocks.

FA: Bedford, Windridge, Thorn., 2000

Looks filthy but the climbing is much better than it appears. Needs a more direct finish.

Start: Just left of 'Pegleg' below the dirty groove

FA: Kieran Loughran, Meg Sleeman, 2000

Up crack 2m left of 'Sky Rocket', step left and follow vague groove to top.

FA: Keith Lockwood, Kieran Loughran, Tim Lockwood, Glen Jones, 1999

Obvious line but doesn't appeal. Pro is a bit awkward to place but good. Start 5m L of 'Mistaken Identity'. Up to and through the break in the overhang and continue.

FA: Brendan Abernathy, Andy Reynolds, 1998

Mistaken Identity

A good wall leads to a corner with a rounded finish and fiddly pro. The second hanging corner left of 'Epsilon Plus'. Wall into corner. Corner with dodgy protection (2 each of #3 & #4 RPs for final moves, twist the RPs if you can).

FA: Kieran Loughran & Bill Andrews, 1985

Dirty, with soft rock and sparse protection. The first hanging corner left of 'Epsilon Plus', 10m right of 'Mistaken Identity'. Easily up to corner then carefully up this to finish.

FA: Peter Martin, Simon Priest & Andrew Brookes, 1989

Iron In the Soul

Beautiful thin face two metres right of 'The Visiting Bloke'. 4 FHs - the addition of a recent retrobolt has tamed the once dubiously protected start. Rap chain for descent.

FA: Kieran Loughran, Meg Sleeman & Malcolm Matheson, 1991

Decadant Bolting

Death on a stick! It's a shame this route is ruined by macho bullshit runouts; if the 2 bolts were replaced, and another was added between them, it would actually be worthwhile. If you really want to prove you're a hero, don't whip out the drill in the first place!

Start: Start two metres left of 'Identity Crisis', four metres right of Iron In The Soul.

FA: Richard Smith & Kieran Loughran, 1991

Who am I? What's my purpose in life? What am I doing here? Serious climbing with poor protection and dirt. The distinctive twin seams up the centre of the face, 10m left of 'Epsilon Plus'.

FA: Peter Martin & Chris Cope, 1989

Full Face Value

Good thin face with reachy crux at first bolt. Climb 'Identity Crisis' to first ledge. Right past FH, up and right, two BRs, and finish up right around bulge and up onto slab. Belay off trad in horizontal.

FA: Rob Nabben & Andrew Stevens, 1991

A complete body workout. Enjoy! This is one of the first recorded redpoints in 'Victoria'. Guild had previously practised the climb on top-rope. Heaven knows why he returned to lead it.

Start: The obvious, extremely wide left-facing corner-crack that splits the centre of the crag.

FA: Ian Guild & Chris Dewhirst, 1966

It's imperative that you don't fall (E5, 6a?)! Still, the ethic of this route is vastly superior to the partly bolted contrived boldness of Death on a Stick or 'Diazepam'.

Start: Start 5m R of 'Epsilon Plus'.

FA: Jarod McCulloch, Peter Martin & Richard Bugg, 1989

Benn Gunn

The initial corner is excellent but the second half of the climb is not so good. Beware of loose blocks at the top of the main corner. Even the obvious flake-roof should be treated with respect.

Start: The attractive corner 15m R of 'Epsilon Plus'.

FA: FA Andrew Thomson, David Mudie, 1970

FFA: Glenn Tempest, Kevin Lindorff, 1977

Big shiny ringbolts up short arete left of 'Crossfire'. Only has about 4m of truly indepedent climbing.

FA: Christoph & Simon Wheeler, 2003

Crossfire

A lovely orange corner leads to an exciting traverse. Slightly marred by a scrappy approach and finish.

Start: Start below orange corner R of 'Benn Gunn'.

FA: Kevin Lindorff & Glen Tempest, 1977

Schooner

A nice crack line which needs a bit more traffic to stay clean. While not as technically hard as 'Crossfire' the rock and protection is not as good and it makes for a hard lead.

Start: Start up 'Crossfire' to first ledge.

FA: Keith Egerton & Dave McLean, 1977

Steeper than it looks. Add some slings to a rack of small-medium wires and medium cams.

Start: Start a few metres L of Let X=X.

FA: Kieran Loughran, Norm Booth, 2007

Let X=X

Pretty good. Sharp corner leading to roof on L side of terrace. Undercut start to corner, bridge past bracken to roof. Traverse L, peg (?loose), to large ledge. Rap.

FA: Kieran Loughran, 1989

Speaking French

The right wall and arete of Let X=X is not too hard but has it moments, particularly the finish which is sensational. The start of Let X=X provides the crux and requires trad gear. So a large rack doesn't have to be carried here is the trad gear used in order of use: #0.75 (green) Camalot, #0.4 (grey) Camalot, #0.5 (purple) Camalot, #3 (blue) Camalot, #0.75 (green) Camalot (extend with sling).

Start: Start as for Let X=X

FA: Kieran Loughran, Norm Booth, 2008

Walking and Falling

Lots of interest in this climb. A long bouldering traverse just off the ground leads to a cruxy move guarding great climbing up an orange streak. It is possible to place small cams on the traversing start but they're more trouble than they're worth as you're so close to the ground - just stick clip the first bolt if you're concerned.

Start: Start about 8 metres right of the Let X=X corner and just left of the boulder on the right side of the wall.

FA: Kieran Loughran, Norm Booth, 2007

Riding and Climbing

Good thin face. First bolt is quite high but it's a good landing and shouldn't require a stick-clip.

FA: Steve Chapman, Kevin Lindorff, Rob Booth, 2010

Trad route with a sting in the tail. Take slings, wires and cams to #3 Friend (gold Camalot). Jugs up the right side of the wall then traverses to the central weakness. Start just right of 'Walking and Falling' being careful not to disturb the bones behind you. Climb up onto the boulder sitting at the base of the wall. Climb steep but easy rock until able to traverse left along the break to below the central seam on the wall. Climb the seam past a FH just below the top to rap anchor. Gear Beta: Crucial gear for the hard move below the final bolt is gkijv tqem (two letter shift alphabetic code- don't decode if you want the full onsight experience). When rapping be careful to keep the rope out of a thin crack where it will jam badly.

FA: Norm Booth, Kieran Loughran, 2007

Interesting climbing on steep rock that appears fragile but holds up quite well. This supersedes a weak previous route "An Imaginary Life". Take wires, slings and cams to 2.5 Friend (Red Camalot). The current descent is to scramble around to the rap anchor for "Hop Skip and Thump" but it really needs its own rap anchor. Start about 15m R of Let X=X on the R side of a boulder at the foot of the chimney-gully, being careful not to step on Skippy's bones. Bridge between boulder and face and pull onto face (FH) and up shallow crack in face to overhang. Directly through overhang and up face (2FH) and on to top. Kieran Loughran, Meg Sleeman climbed the original route in March 1992. Loughran and Norm Booth did the direct version November 2007.

FA: Keiran Loughran & Meg Sleeman, 1992

Takes rib/arete about 4 metres right of 'Skippy' Takes A 'Short Cut'.

FA: Keith Lockwood, Peter Canning, 2009

Skippity Do Dah

Sherpa Tim leads the geriartrics to glory up this short but intense number.

FA: Tim Lockwood, Kieran Loughran, Keith Lockwood, Norm Booth, 2009

Curtain Call

Start: Original problem on the lefthand side of the wall, starting with a sit-start.

'The Show Must Go On' is a harder version coming in from the bottom right.

Damsel

From horizontal, up and right to sharp pocket then up to break.

100 Pound Club

Big move to small edge, then big move to jug

Start: From low horizontal

FA: Klem Loskot, 1999

Start: Takes a right-trending line across the wall starting just right of 100 Pound Club's start holds.

Takes the right-trending line via the odd pocket just left of 100 Pound Club.

FA: Simon Weill, 2000

Epsilon Crack

Start of fin/jug and use crack to gain high edge. Up to finishing jug.

Lullaby Traverse

Steep face on pockets, slopers and edges

Start: As for 'Down Under'

FA: Klem Loskot, 2000

Down Under

Very low sit-start then traverse left - then back right to finish on the good jug. The direct straight up from the pockets (dyno) is V4/5.

Short problem on the right-side of the wall with a very awkward low sit-start.

The seam.

Start: Start near R end of back face of pinnacle.

FA: Chris Baxter, Wayne Maher, 1994

Balancy face-climbing.

Start: Start at the back of the pinnacle, just R of L arete.

FA: John Pawson, Chris Baxter, Wayne Maher, Meg Taylor, 1994

Steep.

Start: Below the arete just R of 'Eleventh Anniversary' is a pointed boulder. Start 2m R of boulder.

FA: Wayne Maher, Chris Baxter, 1994

Good, balancy climbing.

Start: Start opposite R arete of pinnacle.

FA: Chris Baxter, Wayne Maher, John Pawson, Meg Taylor, 1994

Undistinguished and not well protected.

Start: Start in middle of slab.

FA: Kieran Loughran, Meg Sleeman, 1994

Steep, juggy, rotten rock.

Start: Start around L of the slab.

FA: John Pawson, Meg Taylor, 1994

What The Dormouse Said

Nice moves. Sport route. Grade 15. More than enough to earn it a star!

Start: The next route left of 'Heat Haze'.

FA: Kieran Loughran, Ray Lassman, 2006

Grace Slick

I was going to grade it by the second-hardest move but have guessed at this. We both took a few goes on top-rope to work out the last moves but it's probably easier now it's cleaned. Sport route.

Start: The route left of 'What The Dormouse Said'.

FA: Kieran Loughran, Ray Lassman, 2006

White Rabbit

Lovely corner that's harder than it looks.

Start: The corner on the L side of the slab.

FA: Ray Lassman, Kieran Loughran, 2006