Routes as sport in Grampians

a.k.a Enter the Dragon, a.k.a. Mortal Combat. This is the subtle groove about 6-8m R of Mr J's arête. "33/34" with tricky beta on both cruxes and lots of kneebar action, says Alex. Start at the DRB at the base of Venom. Trend L past FH, through desperately blank looking bulge, to follow the line of anti-holds up the attractive faint groove, joining Venom at the big break. Nalle reported "8B boulder section with very precise and shoulder intensive moves, bad feet and the two worst slopers I’ve ever seen on a route. This is followed by an easier but absolutely amazing scoopy section to a pretty ok rest. From there you set up for one of the craziest dynos I’ve ever done! If you stick the low percentage dyno, there’s still a sustained run-out section with long moves to the anchor".

One of the hardest routes in 'Victoria'. A sustained full frontal assault on the highest part of the cave.

Start: Start just R of DF.

Just another incredible looking line on Taipan. It's the orange streak directly above Snake Flake's anchor, climbed in a single pitch from the ground.

An extension to Groovy, this was briefly the hardest route on the wall and may be the best. Climb it in 1 pitch from the ground. The sheer face above the finish of the Groovy groove is sparsely bolted (despite a dubious retrobolt by Dave Graham ... which lasted about 5 seconds after he left) up the black streak to a lower off. Can seep. Equipped by Zac Vertrees and Mike Law (with the top lower-off added by Jake Bresnehan), this was attempted by a who's who of Australian hard-men over 7 years before Ben's success.

Ben Cossey FA of Groove Train https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-PsXKda6JU

The visionary black streaks and water grooves about 5-8m R of Naja. The joke used to be that Steve Monks "marked his turf" at the top of Naja after every shot; it looks like perhaps Lee did too! Start as for Naja. Up Naja for 2 or 3 bolts then traverse right via an obvious undercling flake a few metres above the low roof. Use long (2m) extenders for this section. Now follow the incredible grooves, ignore the half-height anchor, and continue up via amazing sustained climbing on slopey edges to the top of the wall in one single mega pitch. Rap anchor (55m).

The other competitor for the most impressive line here, although it doesn't get as many stars. Yet to receive a 2nd ascent.

Start near the lonely boulder about 15m R of Bwana.

Up from the left to gain the faint arete then move R and up the steep grey face to the top.

The RH finish to 'Le Petit Mort'. Keep on truckin' up the steep headwall after doind most of LPM. Some people start up Chasin' the 'Shadow' instead, but they are silly.

The line out the middle of the big red cave. Three sections with increasing difficulties separated by good rests. Rock quality is second to none at the top. Glory jugging up final corner to double U bolt belay.

Starts as per PFOD then joins CL for a couple of bolts. Takes traverse line a few meters south of CL to same anchor

A shameless linkup but worthy none the less! Start up middle path and continue as per the flying duck. Do the crux dyno of the duck and then immediately head left into a rest before finishing at the path of yin anchors.

One of the hardest routes in the Grampians. Sustained. Often mistakenly called Samosa, but the naming theme is Nicaraguan revolutionaries not pastries!

The hardest climbing on 'Spurt Wall'. Splits after 3rd bolt of 'Tyranny' and finishes up 'Lifestyling'.

The scene of one of the biggest dummy spits in Australian climbing history. Cruelly stolen from Gordy by a roving Garth in his youthful prime. In a fit of vengeance Gordy promptly chipped off the vital holds, removed the bolts and covered the rest of the holds with sunscreen! Nathan Hoette managed to repeat it anyway. This is the extension of 'Tyranny' past a further two FHs to rap chain.

A link up. From the anchors of Snake Flake, traverse left into the top half of Groove Train via one bolt.

Second Pitch to Mirage. Quentin approached from Seventh Pillar LHV via Snake in the Grass. More like 33 according to Alex Megos.

Amazing line. 2nd from right

The only bolted line in this cave.

Classic Power Route.

As for Cl but keep going straight up via very reachy moves.

Start: Start as for CL.

Start up Middle Path, where Middle Path joins Path of Yin continue traversing right into steepness. Do the big dyno and then traverse further right into Eye of the Tiger and finish as per it's anchors.

Very bouldery crux section involving a long series of painful pockets.

Start: Ringbolted route 3m right of 'Chinese Water Torture'. Establish in 2001, an ascent by German hardman Andy Hofman grade 8a - 8c as not sure on Aussie grades! Recent ascentionists suggest 32 after repeated attemps by some very strong climbers.

Two cruxy bouldery moves to start then eases considerably. Stuart Wyithe originally bolted this thinking it was only going to be grade 26!

Start: Starts 2m right of 'Naughty Tickle Town'.

Looks like a pissy little link up but it was actually done before Aging 'Gigolo'.

Start: Start as for 'The Floating Cloud'

Looks like a pissy little link up but it was actually done before Aging Gigolo.

Start up The Floating Cloud then move left into Aging Gigolo.

Sustained slopy masterpiece that some reckon is the best thing on Spurt. It climbs a blazingly direct line of pockets and crimps. Typical Julian bullshit runouts to sketchy clips with the technical crux several metres above a bolt. 6 bolts.

Link 'Monkey' Direct into Koala

Popular with the euros. Up the next line R to a big dyno. Finish off L in the cave. Upgraded due to broken hold

In cave underneath main prow. Walk 100m left from poison bait cave on scree. Outrageous line through guts of cave with a crazy crux.

A bit of a glue job. The glued on hold has come off once again. Probably impossible atm january 2015

Tough rightwards heading line right of Flower Power. Slopy.

The original Vic Ranges hard route. Mega. Some think it might be 31...

Start: Start 5m R of DR at major scoopy weakness. Power endurance classic past 6 bolts to anchor

A great line that was strangely one of the last routes added. Seems so obvious now.

Start: Start 5m L of 'Desert Rose'.

Lunacy endurance traverse. Your forearms will explode.

One of the best in Oz. The only bad thing about this climb is that it was cruelly stolen from HB by a UK darkhorse. This should be on everyone's tick list. They simply don't get much better.

Start: Start 5m down R of 'Krankandangle'.

Start: Awesome position. Starts on the North face of 'Eastern Walls' and traverses left to arête and up awesome position. An old project opened up by Chris. Grade is ????

Daniel Ortega? Classic sustained line of pockets up a very steep wall. Six FH's and a fixed thread.

Start: Starts 3m left of 'Sandinista' at the pocketed crack. Stickclip first bolt and clean/dry holds before starting.

Another absorbing steep wall on excellent rock. Julian Saunders attempted this route direct with a huge sideways dyno (thus removing his nipples!). Eventually Nathan solved the climb by bailing around this dyno crux by a big traverse right.

Established after a tip-off from Jake the snake Bresnehan. "Named in honour of a great man, and possibly the best climb on the wall". Given 31 originally but has quickly been knocked down a grade. Start as for Mr J. Up most of Mr J p1 then, instead of going diagonally left past the last bolt to the cave, continue directly up. The crimpy orange wall has 4 more bolts and takes you about 4m R of Mr J p2, right to the top. A 70m rope can lower off the last bolt to the ledge - just! It's only a sport route if, like most grade 30 climbers, you skip the trad gear on Mr J.

Start 20m left of 'The Thin Red Line' near the left edge of Flame Wall. Dyno sideways to gain the hanging groove. Continue up the bulging face to a diabolical crux up high. Beware the pumpy finish.

Follow the amazing Prow. 3rd bolted line from right.

Bouldery number, 4th bolted route from right

Starts as RRH then moves left at obvious horizontal

Extension of 'Tunnel to Caracas' .

Climb all of 'Tunnel to Caracas' then continue up the seam above to join into 'Fat and Sassy' just before it takes the left fork in the seam. Finish up the runout top section of 'Fat and Sassy' to the top of the cave.

Rebolted / made sane in 2017. This is a great line & deserves repeats!

Linkup el supremo. First 3 bolts on TT, move R acros CTS and LPM, join MP at fifth bolt. Finish up MP.

A good one to do when the crag is realy busy!

Rock isn't as good as the other routes here, but it has a couple interesting moves.

Bouldery start into monkey puzzle.

Starts as CTS finishes up MP. Classic pumping.

Links eye of tiger start to path of Yin finish via a fun looking flake feature & a few new bolts

Crikey it's good. Which is better Path Of Yin or Eye Of The Tiger? Truly superb rock architecture, with fair dinkum good moves. Was a lot harder but then some creative thinking enabled the roof passage to be climbed with out too much strength, which produced an enormous increase in it's popularity! Incredibly steep, at least 15m overhung.

Start: Start at the back of the cave beneath the huge "eye" in the roof.

Start just left of SC. Amazing wall climb.

Bolted seam to anchor between Narcotic and Morepox

Climb to ledge. Move left to imposing black wall. Traverse left on knob style holds. Then up menacing headwall with just enough holds. Upgraded to reflect difficulty.

Steep wall hidden away from the prying eyes of the public.

Start: Starts on hidden ledge up right of Journey. You access this from above, by scrambling down juggy grey wall 20m R from the top of Journey.

Awkward undercut start then pockets and finally an all out throw for the ledge to join 'Fading Fast'. The subsequent addition of a DRB lower-off was rather unfortunate, as it is a retrobolt of 'Fading Fast' and the anchor of Contra can easily be reached a few metres higher and to the right.

Start: Incipient pocketed seam just left of Contra with several bolts.

Start just right of 'Abandon Ship' and head directly up the line of bolts. Some bouldery cruxes down low with an easy top out. Grade is a suggestion and may go up or down. Rebolted 2017

An old Martin Lama project that was cruelly stolen by a visiting Brit (and then named after Martin's flowing locks!).

Gordy's finest hour! He never made it to the top - he lowered from the fourth bolt and recorded it anyway, and now it's one of the most popular routes around at this grade.

Start as for Sneaky Snake but finish after "only" 35m, at the Nether anchor. Some tricky rope management is needed, with some tricky sideways runouts at the grade, but worth it.

The City of Peace - aka Nagasaki. 7 years in the making, fires, surgeries, viruses, broken bones, Covid and now it’s free. The spectacular route up the main turret in the middle of the big Orange cave.

Roof left of "Sport Crack".

Designed to be climbed as a quite scary sport route, but rumour has it there is the odd trad piece to sanitise it a little. No anchor...clean it how you wish! There is a piker's variant which goes at 27 by traversing a little higher than shown when you're about 15m into the traverse. Line 18a in the topo shows a grade 25 trad variant done by Matt Adams.

Start: Start on the boulder on the R edge of the huge cave, on the R side of the 2nd tier.

Roof climbers rave about this one. Steep jugging to a few hard moves at the end. Unfortunately once again the bolt spacing warrants caution.

Start down the very back of the left end of the main cave.

7 bolts to rap anchor. There's almost groundfall potential at the 5th and 6th bolts, and also beware the block behind you at the last bolt.

Starts 4m right of Here Comes The Storm. Very bouldery start leads to excellent sustained route with funky sequences. DRB lower-off.

Obvious RH Line

Links the best bits of 'The Tower' into one enduro mega pitch. Start as for Super Mario Direct and connect up to 'Inspector Gadget' Pitch 2 (now called Dr Claw) via undercling flake (2 shitty rusty FHs).

A cool boulder problem off the deck. A very suspicious grade considering Malcolm Matheson, Adam Demmert and Neil Monteith played on this for several years without success. Suits tall climbers with strong fingers. Equipped by Neil in 2003.

Start: Start 10m right of Terror of the Sea.

Boulderers will love this.

Start about 8m R of Nomads.

Jumpy moves up and R to the steep hanging prow, the gap above the 2nd bolt will give you more than enough of an airy feeling for such a short route.

Climbs the inside of the tunnel feature just R of Nomads. It looks a bit obscure but is very good.

Start as for Nomads.

Up Nomads to its 1st bolt then a perplexing move right into the tunnel to the undercling rail. Tough clip of 3rd bolt (long draw helps), then tough steep moves into roof finish.

Varied climbing amongst orange scoops, over zestful bulges, and up a quality headwall.

Start off the ledge on the right side of the cliff (about 20m off the ground) where there are belay (FH) bolts.

Pleasant climbing up the orange scoops leads to some powerful moves through the first of two bulges. Stumble past a second higher bulge before finishing up the sustained headwall in a great position. For a grade 22 outing climb to the 7th bolt and traverse 4m right to a rap/belay station.

Mega R to L traverse. Start in the back of the cave R of Pigs. Up through Pigs, cross GT at the 3rd bolt, pull the lip of Koala, move past MP and 'Nicotine', then finish as for LPM.

The line of the crag. Long steep pumper straight through the guts of the wall. To descend either; back-clean, lower off 'Nicotine' bolts (careful traversing over), or top out and untie (and leave your draws there for the next punter).

Starts as koala, into monkey direct. Finishes as nicotine headwall. Power Endurance.

Traverse the "ledge" to the final grey streak. Up this to rest in PNtT before a bouldery finale up and right on scoopy Taipan rock.

Long admired - now climbed! The u-bolted flared shiny orange crack on the west face of the Northern Pinnacle about 5m right of 'Hamstrung'. Brutal fingerlocks to start then up short reachy corner. Campus right along slick break to final crimpy face finish. Sustained. 6 bolts and lower-off.

Extension of A Bolt Too Far

Start up the orange flake line on the right hand side of the cliff. The first pitch is tenuous and a little goey. The 2nd pitch goes directly up the beautiful black streak littered with small quartz dykes.

Start as first pitch of CF. Traverse left off the ledge and weave up the awesome orange face. Classic Pumping.

Fantastic climbing on an outrageous feature. Batman to 4th bolt.

Link Krankandangle into Path of Yin via low bolt.

Up on upper tier. Through water streak on beautiful orange face. Has chain on third bolt.

Sustained thin face climbing on immaculate rock.

**6th bolt tightened with wrench 24/11/2018 - keep an eye on it though.

Start: About 3m right of Blimp are some tiny holds beside 2 RB’s.

1. 26m (28) Originally led as one mega pitch but perhaps better now as 2? Up thin face past many FH past some unusual features, R to corner (HDBB)

2. 20m (26) Thin wall (PR) then L to cracked overhang. Past this to hanging corner (2 BR) to finish past old PR on right.

BRs 10m right of AP, eventually joins AP

Steep and sustained. An early HB endurofest.

Start: Some way left of 'Manic Depressive' at the left end of the camping cave

The line left of Centrifugal Force a former project of Simon Young completed by another Simon.

Excellent climbing on immaculate rock.

Start: 1m left of Gotham City. The subtle weakness on the steep orange wall between Batman and Robin and Gotham City.

Links DLS into VG

10m left of 'Murder Psalm' is a flake crack which leads to a beautiful slab. Originally bolted by Roland Foster.

A subtle jigsaw of movement.

From the ledge keep going up wall above. Very bouldery!

Line of ringbolts starting 2m left of 'The Big Payback'. Finishes up 'On My Own'.

Starts down in the pit below Bat in A Hole. Hard pocket pulling through roof.

Very hard single crux move. 'Campus' slopy rails. One of the best 'lines' at Spurt. Four FH's. Nick Sellars tried to rename this route after some obscure Baghdad Cafe cake. The name didn't stick.

The trad placement has now been retroed - silly poms can keep using the #2.5 Fr if they wish. Another new bolt has thankfully straightened the half height deviation to the right, eliminating the ridiculous tough cross-through clip of the 'Academia' bolt.

Start: Start from near the R-hand end of the bouldering traverse, about 5m R of Kaa.

Takes one of Taipan's best scoop lines and is ultra classic in it's own right. Start 10m up L from the base of Invisible Fist. This scramble/traverse is 10m off the ground and trickier than it looks.

1. 25m (28) Groovy. Follow the disconcertingly holdless groove, deviating left around a blank bit at 15m via some crux cranks. Exciting finish well above bolt to rap anchor (30m to ground). Can feel very hard for 28 until you work it out.

Almost completely superseded by Sneaky Snake, especially until the start bulge gets freed. But still worth recording, for those who can't climb 33! Start 8m R of Naja. Stick clip and batman 10m to third bolt to bypass the blank bulge, then follow the awe-inspiring water grooves in the incredible steep sheer wall. Finish at the half-height DRB. 70m rope recommended. The low bulge has reportedly almost been freed, but will be MUCH harder - open project. Initially done with a batman start from the break above the 1st bolt (grade 30)

As for Sirocco pitch 2 past the first bolt (doing it's crux), then move L and up for 25m of new climbing between Seventh Banana and Sirocco to the top. You can also approach from Seventh Banana, by stepping R after doing the crux on p2.

Starts just left of Uranium-234, up the blank face past FH’s. A big runout to either the L’Essence or Uranium-234 anchor.

Looks can be deceiving. At R end of cliff, (5 metres L of Catch It), up left facing groove/corner to lower off. 3rd Ring is hard to clip.