Intro
The densest area of boulder routes in the Adelaide region.
Climbers must leave the cliff PRIOR to sundown.
Peregrine falcon nesting seasons adhered to. No climbing above the cave.
Ensure your car displays a CCSA (Climbing Club of South Australia) sticker at all times when parked.
Keep noise to a minimum. ACCESS IS SENSITIVE. ABIDE BY THE RULES. REFER TO ADELAIDE HILLS CLIMBING GUIDE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR CONTACT THE CCSA.
Access to the crag is prohibited on Total Fire Ban days
General Location
The Pad is located on The Old Norton Summit Road, about 1km down hill from The Summit (the climbing area not the actual summit!). To get there drive east out of the city and head up Magill Road. Continue straight onto Old Norton Summit Road for 2.5km. About 100m after passing house number 225 (lot number 59), there is a tiny pullout for parking on the left side of the road.
There is only space for one or two cars to park, so be courteous of others. There are a few extra parking spaces further up the hill near the next house's driveway. The track up to The Pad is located on the other side of the road (south), opposite the Stobey pole about 50m downhill of the parking pullout. Cross the guardrail and you will see the track heading across the creek and up the hill. It take about 10 minutes of uphill slog to reach the cliff.
The location marked on the map has the point of the triangle at the beginning of the trail on the Old Norton Summit Road. The base of the triangle is at the cave itself.
Noise levels
This is a public area so please be considerate of others by keeping noise, music and swearing to a minimum. Think about taking a rubbish bag with you to help keep the place clean.
Imports/exports (rubbish/mats/tape)
Normal rules apply, take everything with you, this includes finger tape and cigarette butts. Take only foam mats to leave at the pad, no coil mattresses. Help keep rubbish to a minimum by removing any badly damaged mats before they create an unsightly mess.
Track maintenance
Track maintenance is the responsibility of any climber that chooses to frequent the Pad. The track becomes virtually impossible to use in periods of rain (see below) and in its current state will only get worse (hard to imagine). Voluntary work by CCSA members and other climbers that visit this site is welcomed.
On first acquaintance with this place you could be forgiven for thinking that the 40+ problems listed in this guide must be an error, for the place known as The Bachelor Pad doesn’t exactly look like a bouldering ‘mecca’. Shorter than the length of Sissy Crag (NSW), not as high as Lindfield, The Fear Factory or Akuna Bay (NSW), and less inspiring than Trackside or Anderson’s (Vic) – it is nevertheless home to the hardest problems in South Australia.
Not only that, but it is also less than 20 minutes drive from the city, 3 minutes drive from a pub, and stays dry in the rain. What more could you want? Difficulty ranges from V0-V13, with just under half of the problems sub-V6, and all the rest being mainly in the V6-V10 bracket. Topping the scale are the problems of Austria’s Klem Loskot (Madball sit start – V13) and ex-local boy Sharik Walker (Tao and Butchers – both V12).
Some content has been provided under license from: © Australian Climbing Association Queensland (Creative Commons, Attribution, Share-Alike 2.5 AU)
First time here?
theCrag.com is a free guide for rock climbing areas all over the world, collaboratively edited by keen rock climbers, boulderers and other nice folks.You can log all your routes, connect and chat with other climbers and much more...» go exploring, » learn more or » ask us a questionV0+ | ★ Chinese Nuggets | ||
V9 | ★★★ Madball | ||
V10 | ★★★ Full Chocolate Aftertaste | ||
V12 | ★★★ Tao |
Paul Badenoch on My Degeneration 15 - IMG_3713.JPG
Phil Davis on ★★ Chocolate Aftertaste (high traverse) V4 - Using the 'pussy pinch' which has since been shattered by Doctor Dan the Strong Man
John Hudson at The Bachelor Pad - John Hudson working 'Madball' (V8) at Bachelor Pad
Derek Bredl on ★ The Fish V3