Smiling Rock is situated on the western slope of Hospital Hill and can be seen from most parts of the Gudgenby Valley and surrounding mountains. The area was visited by Lincoln Hall and Damien Jones and other prowling climbers over the years (as have most specks of granite in the ACT), but no serious development was undertaken until 1989. It consists of a main wall sixty metres in height, split by a roof of up to three metres, running for half its hundred metre length. To the south the main wall degenerates into a series of bluffs; only the second of these is worthwhile.
The rock is Shannons Flat monzogranite (adamelite) which has intruded quartz arenite, siltstones and shales of the Adaminaby Beds and which form the many scree slopes on the steep slopes of Hospital Hill. The crag has a delightful setting with superb views across to Gudgenby, Yankee Hat, Kelly and Namadgi, reasonable access and potential for new routes.
©If you have benefited from climbing access and infrastructure in the ACT, please consider joining the Canberra Climbing Association (CCA). The CCA spends considerable behind-the-scenes time and effort managing access for the climbing community to ACT climbing areas.
Membership is inexpensive and provides a great way to keep up-to-date with access issues, codes of conduct and general goings on in the ACT climbing community. Membership also provides discounts for local outdoor retail and climbing gyms.
For CCA details visit: http://www.canberraclimbing.org.au/
Smiling Rock is about a sixty seven kilometre drive from Canberra, which takes about an hour. From Canberra, head south from Tharwa along the Naas Road past Glendale to Gudgenby, where the road turns to dirt. Continue on the dirt for about 200 metres to where the road forks. Take the right fork (signposted as the Old Boboyan Road) and follow this past two gates and two creek crossings to the (locked) gate on the edge of the pine forest (circa 2000, being logged and replaced with native vegetation). Park here; it is usually necessary to walk the three kilometres from this point. The Old Boboyan Road is negotiable by most vehicles, although after rain the second of the two creek crossings can be awkward.
The Cliff is visible to the southeast on the drive in. Cross the fence, turn left and follow the track past a hut to another pine forest. Follow the track south to the end of the pine forest and head upwards to the cliff, crossing Hospital Creek. The whole walk in takes about an hour.
©Some content has been provided under license from: © ANU Moutaineering Club (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike)
Did you know that you can create an account to record, track and share your climbing ascents? Thousands of climbers are already doing this.
Get a detailed insight with a timeline showing
Login to see the timeline!