Routes in South-Eastern Grampians

Good climbing on sound rock

Start: The corner right of 'Black Madonna'

Climb to overhang and up crack above.

Start: Starts a few meters right of 'Never Never' at a thin crack beside a large tree.

A major line which might be a good climb. Towards the RH end of the cliff is a prominent line with a roof on the L at 23m

1. 32m (-) Climb vegetated crack to narrow ledge below overhang. Go R on this to corner.

2. 18m (19) L up ramp, then thin crack to ledge.

3. 30m (15) Up line to small ledge in chimney.

4. 42m (-) Chimney then corner to below steep wall.

5. 22m (-) Up obvious weakness in wall.

Steep and exciting, originally graded 18!

Start: As for P2 of 'Rapier' Straight up the overhanging corner and cracks above.

The first Aussie female ascent at this grade, and an FA no less.

The first pitch is loose and unprotected making it hard to recommend the route in this form despite the good climbing higher up. Do the Combo instead.

Start: 2m R of TLGR.

1. 23m (19) Up R side of shattered pillar then the flake above to a ledge. Step L and follow thin crack to cramped stance.

2. 18m (19) Rotten crack to sentry box. Exposed moves up onto wall above. Step L to thin crack and up to ledge.

3. 10m (15) Step R to short crack, up this and steps above.

Excellent outing, steep, sustained and varied. This description includes the direct variants added on the first free ascent. Start: R of Duchess.

1. 32m (17) From below 2 overhangs 22m up Traverse L to avoid the first overhang then R just below the 2nd. Go through it and climb the corner above.

2. 15m (13) Go a little R and up grey crack.

3. 30m (18) Up corner for 3m. Traverse L and go up to stance. Exciting moves around overhang then crack to ceiling. Traverse R to exposed ledge.

4. 18m (12) Traverse R to ledge which is a little lower than the one you leave.

5. 35m (13) Up wall above. Diagonally up L to ceilings. Crawl L, up.

A long way L of the other routes, look for a groove line starting high on the cliff [it has some bright green lichen on the left wall high up but this doesn't stand out as much as it did 40 years ago!]. It is a V groove leading to an overhang then a steep R facing groove up the headwall. It is not however easy to find. I recently repeated it thinking I was on a new route, and as I had done the first free ascent of it in 1978 I should have had some idea what it looked like.

1. 39m (12) Pick you way up broken walls and ledges to below the groove with the lichen.

2. 22m (18) Up line to groove, up this to ledge. Corner to roof then R [crux] to groove and up around overhang.

Start: As for 'Conqueror'

1. 25m (18) Up 'Conqueror' a few meters then R and up unlikely looking wall to arete and V corner. A hard start to the corner then R and up to small ledge.

2. 20m (14) L of 3 lines

Excellent climbing up a nice line.

Start: 10m R of 'Dubloon'.

1. 20m (21) 'Small' R facing corner then thin bulging line.

2. 45m (-) Step back L, up wall to ledge. Straight up next wall then veer slightly R to climb wall just R of wide crack.

Another nice looking crack line.

Start: 30m L of APVS at the top of the step. Thin crack up L side of attractive wall.

1. 25m (19) Up thin crack exiting L

2. 20m (-) Up and R to follow line. Descend as for APVS.

Despite a few bushes on the first pitch this is a wothwhile route giving the easiest ascent of 'The Lonely Sea' wall.

Start: 5m R of TLGR

1. 18m (18) The crack to a ledge on R.

2. 18m (15) Up the big flakes to belay at the top of the second one.

3. 18m (13) Traverse 2m L and climb crack.

Exposed voyage up the L arete of 'The Lonely Sea' wall.

Start: 3m R of 'Keelhaul'.

1. 15m (21) Climb the arete on the L side of the wall with a few hard moves past a fixed peg.

2. 25m (21) Up shallow corner, traverse R under triangular overhang, then against your better judgement go L under next overhang. Up corner to ledge, with difficult moves to gain the crack splitting the rooflet above.

3. 20m (18) Climb corner,then R under roof. Up strenuously around arete and up to terrace. Bolted anchor ?40m abseil to ground.

Originally escaped off R, the exciting finish as described gives a good route.

Start: R of the QA buttress is a buttress distinguished by a 1m wide overhang just below its top. This overhang has a a couple of lines though it towards the RH side.

1. 25m (16) Up thin shallow cracks towards RH side of buttress moving L to foot of deep crack.

2. 15m (18) Good crack up and L to overhang. Jam through this and up.

Excellent positions.

Start: 3m R of 'Banksia'

1. 25m (20) Up wall then R around arete. Up corner a few moves then back L around arete and up wall to ledge. Step R and climb thin crack to exit R to block.

2. 35m (18) Wall then finger crack to roof. Step R and up line to step R to ledge. Finish up crack.

Short hand-crack (thin and bulging to start) at left end of best section of cliff, 70 m south of pinnacle and directly above the waterfall. At top of crack, traverse left to arete. Up.

On the wall R of Shadow Road there is a major crack line near the arete. The crack starts above a bulging lower wall. Start down and L of the crack.

1. 18m [20] Up and R following awkward seams and ledges to the foot of the crack. Hanging belay.

2. 32m [19] The crack to a good ledge on the R.

3. 22m [17] Step out R and pick your way up the grooves to the final steep crack thru’ the top bulge.

The first line left of this pinnacle (?)

Start: really unsure about where this is. Probably somewhere near 'Prince Albert'.

A good sustained 1st P and a very steep crack on the top one.

Start: About 120m L of 'Snuffy'. Look for a thin crack and shallow L facing corner up steep orange/red rock [see photo].

1. 25m (19) Up sustained line to steep exit.

2. 15m (10) Up easily to large terrace.

3. 20m (20) Very steep crack to a trying exit.

The first ascent of this cliff, long and wandering climb. Starts 50m L of Vertical Groove in R of face, near a small (now dead) tree close to the cliff.

Great atmospheric climbing, with dubious rock and gear. The tree used to start it may have perished in the fires.

Start: 5m R of SoG

attractive face, but loose rock abounds. Is probably a bit harder than 18 as suggested in the SE guide.

Start: Start just left of OLD and climb the attractive face.

Best done as a short route in its own right, then abseil off. Fun.

Start: As for 'Blackbeard'.

Enjoyable wall climbing which moves between the 2 seams to find the easiest way up.

Start: 2m R of 'Bowrail', 2 thin lines. Start from large slanting block on ground.

Start: As for 'Storm'

1. 25m (17) Continue up L into V corner above roofs where 'Storm' traverses R. Belay on ledge on R after V groove.

2. 33m (14) Traverse R to 'Storm' and finish up this.

Sustained, technical and varied. Good route. Care is needed with the rock as this buttress copped a blast in the 2006 bushfires. Initalled with a 'P' for some reason. Crack in orange wall 20m R of 'Pilgrim' II then arete, then veer R to committing moves up middle of buttress..

Climb initialled corner 30m R of 'Puppet' then continue up crack. A bit dirty and fiddly to protect at the top.

About 30m R of the LH end of the cliff is an initialled crack through an overhang. Strenuous hauling gets you through this and up the line above.

7m R of 'Torero', initailled. Slabby wall then corner.

Sustained and varied, really very good. Initalled crack 2m R of SF. Up crack to overhang then up shallow V corner in orange wall to overhang. Turn overhang on R then up wall and blocks.

Initialled juggy wall 2m R of Hexe. Step R, move up, step back L then up crack.

Looks amazing? Particularly for the grade - very thin crack (wires & small friends) up an inspiring wall. Starts just around the nose of the East facing wall, about 30m left of flay.

1. 30m, Crux. Delicately up bulges in middle of wall, trending left until it is possible to traverse right on black pockets into the crack. Great climbing up this to ledge below ceiling.

2. Up to short L facing corner to roof, then step around R and climb chossy wall above - either finish through two noses, or belay beneath them and walk off right.

Initialled. Climb jagged crack 5m R of BB then up R veering flake.

Unfortunately the bushfires have left the start [which was always a bit thin, loose and poorly protected] dangerously friable. Which is a pity as it is otherwise a very nice climb up a good line. Cairned and marked line 6m R of 'Flasher'. Up wall to shallow corner. Up V crack then R of arete and up twin cracks. Finish over blocks.

Nice crack route with nothing really shaky on it. Crack in black wall 17m R of 'Humpy' through overhangs to final wide steep crack [BD4 useful] which is more reasonable than it looks.

The large chimney cleft about 30m L of the RH end of the cliff. This whole area is fire affected and unstable looking

The first 2 pitches are very good, the 3rd is just a way off.

Start: 50m L of where the track reaches the cliff is a major L facing corner.

1. 20m (17) Up the corner to belay below roofs

2. 12m (19) L around stepped roofs. A couple of final wild moves get you around an arete from where you can move up to a ledge below the final roof.

3. 15m (15) L under roof and up mossy rock in the corner.

Up tiered corner L of pinnacle [which is 30m above ground] Traverse L below roof then up steep broken ground. Abseil from tree.

Start: Yet to be located. Possibly 2m L of 'Snuffy'.

Start: 60m L of 'Snuffy'.

1. 10m (18) Scramble up on L of buttress L of pinnacle to ledge below orange roof. Up corner then R to stance.

2. 15m (-) Up broken corner, traverse L 4m then up thin corner to stance below closed crack. Traverse R and climb first gully. Abseil from tree.

Nice

Start: 5m L ofJaD

Good looking crack. Again it might be harder and better than indicated but no one seems to have repeated it. Initialled. Up crack 2m R of Moo to ledge. Up L hand diagonal crack then jugs.

Looks very good and bloody hard for the grade. Could be worth more stars [and a higher grade] if anyone ever repeats it and comments on the quality and difficulty. Up wall 3m R of 'Ponderosa' to diagonal crack. Up crack to ledge. Step R and up wall over loose blocks. Up crack in summit block.

Looks like rotten rock and loose blocks abound.

Start: As for CoF.

1. 23m (14) As for CoF. It is also possible to scramble in from the L with a short roped section to the terrace.

2. 35m (18) Up CoF 5m then traverse L around edge to rotten looking groove. Up this to a steep exit R to a small stance.

3. 20m (12) Up and R through overhangs

Start: Superb clean wall between 'Quinkan' and 'Bunjil'. Seriously low on good gear however.

Start: Wall 3m right of big tree near 'Walunda'

1. 10m (20) Climb the wall then bulge, up right to ledge.

2. 35m (20) Up wall to ledge below smoother rock.

3. 35m (20) Up crack in headwall and on.

then head left up attractive crack

Start: Complete P1 of \\

1. -m (-) As per 'Sweet Sixteen'

2. 30m (22) Straight up, then traverse right into left facing corner. Traverse led (hard) on lip of overhang to right facing corner. Up this then step right to ledge

3. 50m (15) Up steep face on good holds, easing (this pitch is prominent from the ground).

4. 10m (-) Up easily

a varied climb with some fantastic jaming and a balancy, exciting crux.

Start: 2m right of 'Plummet', below a prominent hand crack runs up the middle third of the cliff.

Beautiful face climbing, although the line is a bit contrived. Well protected.

Start: approximately 70m right of OLD is a corner and intial 'C'. Right of this is a clean face approximately 8m wide, with a ledge at its base and chimney on its R (initalled 'A'). Scramble 3m up crack on left side of ledge and belay on ledge.

OK shorter route. Initialled corner in arete 10m R of HII to orange wall. Up wall and step L onto block. Pass overhang on L. Veer up R over large block to ledge. Abseil from tree.

Another short one. Initialled. Swing up R from 1m R of SMS, then up veering L to thin crack below roof. Up to juggy break then hand traverse R to ledge. Abseil from tree.

Up to R facing corner 1m R of WP. Step R and take crack though roof. Up

Cracks 3m R of CTWN

This is almost certainly an earlier version of 'Prince Albert'.

Start: Start on the back of Bomenya (?) on the southwest edge. Climb up over a couple of sloping ledges and then crossover to the southeast side and follow the crack to the summit.

Two clean, varied and enjoyable grade 17 pitches which deserve to be popular. Their are abseil chains at the top. 2x50m ropes required.

Start: Crack 4m R of KotSW and 3m L of the prominent corner of 'Conqueror'.

1. 25m (17) Climb crack, when it stops above steep wall step R and climb 'Conqueror' for 4m to sloping ledge on L.

2. 25m (17) L facing corner above. A nice pitch of jamming and bridging.

One of the better routes of the crag on some of the better rock, but not the "superb" the guide describes it as. Be prepared for some committing moves.

Start: As for 'Rapier'

1. 30m (22) Start up 'Rapier' then go straight up vertical corner capped by overhang. Pass this on R and power boldly up wall to shallow corner, step L to nose.

2. 18m (20) Up wall to ledge, finish up 'Rapier' DF

Very shattered and unstable since the fires, best avoided.

Start: 2m R of Yawl

Looks good, and rather unlikely for the grade. As it is a Peter Martin route it is possibly under graded.

Start: As for Yardarm

Straight up wall to roof [crux] and up to belay on L. Find a suitably stable abseil tree or continue up the original route.

Start: As for P2 of MD

Very good climbing with good pro. The best easy route in the Barbican region.

Start: Starts up prominent crack on west facing buttress at the far left end of the cliff

P 1 is strenous and sustained.

Start: 3m R of AaBoR.

1. 25m (20) Up to large flake on ledge. Climb impressive cracked wall above to belay on L as for AaBoR.

2. 20m (18) R and up overhanging wall. Up and R to wall. Up this past horizontal break to large ledge.

3. 25m (18) Up wall just R of arete with poor pro.

Two solid pitches.

Start: 5m R of 'Jamaica'. 10m L of 'Buccaneer' and 3m L of a chimney.

1. 27m (19) Thin crack to the second ledge.

2. 28m (20) From the next ledge climb awkward seam and step L to foot of middle crack,up this to terrace. Find tree to abseil off.

Sustained and strenuous. P2 is an old fashioned wide crack thrutch. OK if you like that kind of thing. Take some big cams [BD4 x 2]

Start: Thin crack 4m R of 'Buccaneer'.

1. 28m (18) Thin crack to ledge with tree. Awkward moves up corner to pinnacle on R.

2. 30m (18) Traverse 2m L and up corner on suss rock to overhang. Up wide bulging crack to terrace. Abseil from tree down R.

Considerable loose rock mars a strong line culminating in a spectacular position. Almost directly above the carpark is what appears to be a gully, but is the large vertical groove on the RHS of the main wall.

1. Crux, From the base of this, climb the left wall and enter small R facing corner which leads to a bulge. Step L to a ledge.

2. 25m, Pull over bulge and follow the line to a ledge on the R below the final roofs.

3. 25m, the line above - exciting. The abseil tree is just to the R.

Very unlikely looking wall climbing which looks very poorly protected. Sustained.

Start: 2m R of 'Fedallah'

1. 25m (20) Up face to short corner which leads to overhamg. Swing R onto steep slab then make a dramatic move L to a hanging slab. Up and L to join 'Fedallah' for 2m. Where that climb swings L cont. up line to stance below overhangs.

2. 25m (20) Short corner to roof. Move L and pull up R around lip in exciting situation. Follow line up R to join 'Marie', finish up this.

Altho' it initially struggles to stay out of 'Snake' P1 gives good climbing on good rock, P2 isn't bad despite some loose stuff.

Start: 7m R of 'Nails'

1. 25m (19) Climb groove to overhang, L under this [crux] then up next groove stepping R to ledge below roof.

2. 25m (18) R along ledge, climb corner to ledge on R. Up thin crack above to exit onto unstable ledge. L on this then up crack, veer up L to arete and follow it to an unexpectedly difficult conclusion.

A bit artificial, struggles to keep out of the chimney.

Start: 'Arete' 2m R of SL

Good short one to finish the day.

Start: 25m R of 'Frigate', 2m L of a largely free standing pillar.

Gymnastic climbing on good rock.

Start: 3m R of BT. Finger crack and seams up the red buttress between the chimney on the L and the chimney of Buccaneer. Above the crux climb L arete to top of buttress. Descend as for BT from abseil tree.

Good climbing with some sections of fragile rock and fiddly gear.

Start: Starts at the very left of the cliff, part way up the descent gully, on a short nice west facing wall.

The first route climbed at Eldorado. Enter dog-leg from left. Climb it, then left to arete. Right at ledge. Shattered crack.

Seam on front of next buttress above New Chum Hill. Finish up V-corner.

Orange corner on left side of face. Finish up face on right.

Line just right of left arete of Kaitoke buttress. Continue up arete and veer left.

Thin seam at right end of wall of next buttress up gully.

From 7m up gully, start up first crack, then go up and left to bigger one.

Right-leaning line on left of face.

Corner at left end of gully.

Crack 1m left of Inca Trail, then up left side of difficult rock. Right and up shallow, stepped corner.

Middle corner, entered from left.

The tiered, orange corner up and left of the first outcrop reached. Step right on to arete below orange roof. Up corners and small wall.

1. Ramp left of Sunspot to corner. Veer right up corners, then left to ledge.

2. 4m left to corner-crack. Up.

Middle line. BR.

Curving line on right side of buttress left of Predator.

Up to sloping ledge on front of buttress. Up wall.

From 3m left of Biggles and Sapphire, go up left past loose blocks on ledge. Left to line on left of wall. Left through final bulge.

Well across left is a large, grey buttress (Inca Block). Line 2m right of middle corner (BR).

On next buttress left of 'Up the Spout'. Step left at 3m from corner on right side and climb line.

Line right of SMABTL. Finish left.

Chimney 1m right of Cry Free.

Up to overhand 7m right of 'Beware of Falling Sheep', left, up.

Up broken ground 4m right of Show No Mercy and up V-crack.

Line 3m right of Suffer.

V-corner 10m right of BSAF.

Up left side of the wall below. Step right at overhang.

Corner on right side of prominent, grey buttress with dog-leg crack in its left.

Up left side of face 2m left of Lionheart. Step right. Up.

Line 2m right of Strapadicktome.

Up chimney in the gully on left of the upper one of two clean walls, up and right of Shattered. Step right to next line and climb it. Right round arete, across face to crack. Up.

Corner behind conifer right of BSAF.