Nodi in Wollongong

Coastal mountain range sandstone climbing nestled in a wilderness area. Mostly single pitch with some longer multi-pitch adventures with spectacular exposure. Grades from beginners to expert.

Single pitch sandstone climbing above the sea-side town of Stanwell Park.

A super convenient single-pitch sandstone crag overlooking the beautiful Stanwell Park. This is the family friendly sector of the cliff, with a good selection of sport routes (8-15m high) and the occasional dirty trad crack. Routes are closely spaced with a nice flat cliff base for belaying. This whole crag was renovated with shiny stainless steel ringbolts and lower-offs in the late 2000s.

The arete at the bottom of the walk down gully. Starts with short diagonal handcrack then traverse right to arête.

On main wall at mouth of walk down gully, directly opposite 'Crakarett'. Starts at the sandy right facing flake.

5m R of CP at corner crack formed by right side of large block. Layback up corner then finish up short wall past RB. Belay off trees.

Top-rope only. 3m right or DWW at end of second block. Up the wall past left end of small roof.

Top-rope only. 3m right of Top-rope Route 2. Up the wall through right end of small roof.

Start 9m R of DwW at right facing flake. Use holds on lower flake to obtain horizontal crack (cam) then traverse right to RB then up and left past two more RBs to lower-off at top. A super big stick-click could avoid the trad.

2m R of LF. Crack line weakness with two high ringbolts. Finger and hand-sized cams required in lower half.

1m right of KTR. Trad protected wall climbing with cams in horizontals. No bolts!

Well bolted sport route up clean grey streak behind tree. Finish right to shared lower-off.

Starts at landmark detached right facing flake. Climb flake and mantle on to ledge, clip high RB then up orange streak past bolts to top.

As per Jugs, but chicken out left at move to RB and then to lower off.

Nice start which turns into desperate crimping the higher you go. Start up face just right of monster flake then take right tending line of RBs. Shared Lower off with NN. Starts slightly right of AtS

Link-up of Jugs into Naiden?

2m right of Jugs at right end of orange patch at base of cliff. Easy start on sandy holds to solid crimping on good rock. Save some juice for the top. This appears to be a bolted version of the old top-rope problem End of an Era.

Junk trad on crap rock. Some sort of corner to ramp. Forget it! Start 6m of NN

Up easy ramp to RB, then up and back slightly to the right.

Pop up to break directly below 1st RB. Then up on some smallish holds to finish on shared lower off with RBAON. Starts just right of BTS.

Climb starts right next to tree. This climb is excellent and it easy for the grade.

Climb 1.5 meters next to large gum tree.

Line of bolts left of TDGO. Narrow belay ledge so stick clip first bolt! Start on small pockets next to TDGO.

One of the best routes here. Starts 20m right of In Lieu of the Gym. Awesome start moves on good little pockets, then tend right through horizontal breaks.

Top-rope only. 5m right of The Dance Goes On. Pull onto small ledge. Up wall, avoiding clumps of orchids, left at top to avoid damaging many small native orchids at top.

Top-rope only. 2m left of red gum. At cliff-base near waterfall. Wall past small tree to flake at red gum. Up flake.

The following routes are left-over top-rope routes from the 90s that may or may not now be recent bolted and named routes.

Top-rope only. 6m right of Interdependence. 1m left of gum. Wall right of low, short corner. Sustained, with good moves in shallow scoop at top.

Top-rope only. 2m right of Unnamed 1. Flake to first horizontal, then to short, little corner at top.

Top-rope only. 4m right of Unnamed 2. Blunt arete. Up easily to one good move on wall at top.

This is the southern section of wall, and situated right below the brick-work remains of the old lookout on far side of chain fence. The routes are a little taller and a lot more exposed than the routes at Hargraves sector with a traddy feel. There are some random white numbers written at the base of some routes - these are not the right grades!

Filthy, contrived and retro-bolts an established route. What a winner! Climb North Crack for one RB then put your blinkers on and step right onto the face right of the crack using shallow diagonal seam crack in the middle. This route needs a good brushing - or maybe just a good chopping.

Good trad route that got partially retro-bolted. The undercut fused crack on right side of wall, with a U bolt and old rusty carrot to belay off. Up crack (placing trad and ignoring retrobolt on right wall) to right side of cave. Finish up wide crack protected by fist sized cams. Belay off tree way back on other side of chimney gully.

One of the best splitter cracks in the region. Starts 2m left of North Crack - belay off single U bolt to the left of the crack. Great handcrack to small cave, take a breather then continue up perfect splitter above to monster belay tree right on top. If you are a sport-climbing wuss you can actually climb this entire route clipping the bolts on the route to the left.

Very contrived but actually really fun. Sadly the bolts would be better positioned further to the left - as that is where you climb, and they wouldn't be within clipping distance of the trad crack. Anyway. Start up the Sunday the 13th crack for a move, then traverse left onto face and up to cave. Swing through undercut and climb featured wall above climbing mostly to the left of the bolts. Top-out to mega tree belay.

2m left of Sunday the 13th. Little ramp to cave. Wall above cave. Looks very badly protected - was this actually only a top-rope route?

Top-rope only. 3m left of All Hands On Deck. Climb to notch in roof cave. Finger crack above.

The next climb is 25m left of Up Periscope but is reached by scrambling down from the southern end of the cliff.

Start is reached by scrambling down from wide ledge at south end of cliff. Traverse across pocketed wall and finish up wide flake crack.

The next route is on the lower cliffline, directly below the route Bliss. A good path weaves down to it from the southern end. Why is there a good path? Because as of March 2015 a homeless man is living in a cave at the base of this route!

Some of the best rock at this cliff and a quality route. Starts at far left end of lower cliff. Step on to small ledge, up through edge of cave.

Many of the Wollongong crags are located in the Illawarra Escarpment State Conservation Area (IESCA). This region has had a chequered history in recent times, with large swathes of popular crags having to be closed after it was missed that a new NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Plan of Management (PoM - 2018) had incidentally banned climbing along most of the escarpment. After a lobbying effort and a stroke of coincidental good luck an amended plan of management has been published (2023), modifying the plan to allow rock-climbing “… on the west- and south-facing cliffs of Mount Keira and on cliffs north of Bulli Pass."

Access comes with caveats and all climbers should be aware that that “… new bolts or anchors may only be installed with NPWS consent, and park infrastructure such as safety railing may not be used as anchor points as they have not been designed for this purpose. NPWS will not install, assess or guarantee bolts or other fixed protection points. Participants in these activities are solely responsible for their own safety.”

Given the pressures many rock-climbing areas have been under around Australia and the plethora of access issues that have followed it is imperative that climbers respect and heed the access requirements. Access granted can easily be access taken, noting from the PoM: “Locations where rock climbing and abseiling are allowed may be reviewed and altered to address safety issues, risks to visitors or impacts on cultural values or environmental values. Temporary closures of rock climbing and abseiling locations may be applied to limit impacts. Permanent closure of sites may also be necessary. NPWS will consult with representatives of the local climbing community before implementing any permanent closures.”

Please refer to the ‘Ethic” section for more notes on how to be a good steward for the climbing community.

By far the most popular area at Stanwell Tops, and in the Illawarra second only to Mount Keira. The area saw an explosion of popularity and route development from 2018 when the cliff face was explored and appreciated. A number of walls are reasonably high, up to 25m, and there is an excellent choice of grades for intermediates in the range of 17-24.

Historical top rope climbs that were once documented in the old RockGUIDE: Mt Geryon and The Acropolis and New Climbs.

Top-rope only. 100m right of Bugs. Start at left end of ledge. Up line of ironstone and right at top. This has probably become Gino Project 1 .

Top-rope only. 3m right of Send Down the Clowns at low cave. Good start to small ledge. Left into honeycomb roof. Continue as far as you dare and gain wall. Short wall to corner. Up.

Top-rope only. 5m right of Rocks Don't Floss. Wall. Crux is at top. This has probably become Apres Ski

A couple of metres left of Hanko, hands to fists crack, marginal gear to get through the sandy bulge. Rap off tree sapling or potentially top out.

Technical with good rests. Start just left of The Greatest and Best rock climb etc. Up seam, right and over bulge by bolt.

Line of bolts left of Chain-saw. Crimps, jugs, toe-jams... Got them all!!

Start at the left side of the small cave. wanders a bit. 1st and 3rd RB tough!

Hardish start (18) as for C-S past 3 bolts. Then continue to move right on EZer ground (15/6) past another 4 RB to DRB anchor. Some great climbing up high amongst the trees and beautiful views of Stanwell Park Beach. Needs a clean and a rebolt.

Flake in the cave, reach to jug out over the lip left, heel hook then crimp, mantle, grovel, whatever works to get up...

Start on arete. Tricky start past 2nd RB then great climbing on left wall, move to arete towards the top. Finish back on left at hidden lower offs. A sweet climb...

Start 1m right of Handful. Up slabby wall to lower offs.

1m left of Syko. Stick clip 1st RB.

The corner crack.

The access track comes down here. Head right (facing out) to 'Chain-saw' or head left to the other climbs.

On ledge above start of Syko. Crack, then chimney.

11m right of Shoulders. Arete.

2m right of Carpeted Green. Wall and crack.

Short corner to roof. Left to wide crack, then scramble. Needs lower-off bolts.

Short Climb on the ramp at the end of orange rope. Bolts on block above Topout. Rad !!

Half way down the access trail, continue East beyond the ramp at the end of the orange rope to the next wall.

Wall to the right of Snakes And Ladders. Hardish move in the middle, jugs to anchors just over the lip of the roof.

The Masters Edge of Stonehaven. Gritstone like arete with fabulous tenuous arete swinging. Finishes at the anchors just over the lip of the roof.

Little corner right of More Sandy Than Kevin. Harder than it looks. Finishes up to the left on the common anchors just over the lip of the roof.

Wall right of Kevin

Start on the wall 3 meters left of the crack of Daniel. After the difficult section bridge and jam the crack for a couple of moves before heading left to the anchors.

A homage to the original Stanwell Tops crusher. Layback the bottom corner into the crack and jam your way to glory. The crack takes as many small to medium cams as you can plug. Fixed anchors at top of crack. A very new route so give it a brush.

Crack trad line 1 metre to the left of Pole Dance. Carefully up offwidth to crack and good pro. Cruise up to finger crack in corner and finish at the anchors for PoleDance. Takes big cams down low and small to med cams + wires all the way to the top. Give it a brush if you get on it

Just left of Soul Searching. Classic face climb that keeps you on your toes. For the full 21 tick stay out of the big cracks out left and right.

Crack trad line 1 metre to the right of Pole Dance. Start just to the right of PoleDance, clip first 3 bolts of PD to gain crack. Solid jams and good stances up through rooflet then finish as for PD. Takes bigger cams all the way, Still needs bushing, especially down low. Try to resist the temptation to clip those bolts. Was named after the huge Eucalypt in the car park

A well bolted 18m warmup with fun moves and good holds most of the way,easiest to step left into the crack for a move; crag warmup.

UP SS or HOC, up arete for 2 bolts, then right up HOC for the easy finish.

Start right of 'Soul Searching'. Take care clipping the second bolt, then up to the vertical seam (crux).

Hardly any more difficult than the original left side finish. Do the crux of 'High On Crack' then move right. Follow the three bolts up to finish on the same anchors as High On Crack.

Amazingly contrived compression climbing. As long as you have your left hand on the crimps in the seam you are doing the route. Tricky start common to all three climbs in this area, Head straight up to the bolt in the wall just right of the seam. This bolt is a little hard to clip. Start compression moves here between the big holds on the offset feature on the right and the little crimps on the left. Four compression moves brings you to the exit and the jugs to the top.

The obvious offset flake just left of the arete (Brazilian Butt Lift). Shares the same desperate start and many of the same holds as the climbs either side. It's the obvious line so it's not contrived, great climbing so who cares.

This is the left side of the arete climbed by the hot dog routes. Five meters right of High on Crack at the common start. Up and right heading over to the arete. Follow the arete up sometimes using holds on the left side and sometimes on the right, to clip the common anchors with the line to the left.

Direct start to Hotdog Water.

The line of tight squeeze directly up from Hotdog Power. A nice bit of continuous intensity climbing up the flake until a no hands rest spoils it all. Top is easier than it first appears. Start at Hotdog Power and continue straight up the line of bolts. For a much better start do the easier less knee destroying Hotdog Water start and traverse in for the same grade.

Start up 'Milk Was a Bad Choice' and shank left at first bolt, slowly making your way out to the aerate, and up.

Line on bolts up the centre. Shares the first bolt with Hotdog Water.

Line of bolts right of Milk Was A Bad Choice. Try it in the summer heat for the full effect. Moderate crux mid way up the wall then a camping ledge to rest before the thin finish.

Fifth line of bolts right from the arete of Hotdog Water. Thin wall climbing with a number of cruxy sequences. For the feel of the first ascent and a struggle at the grade climb the last two bolts on their left side rather than the pikers variant which uses the holds unearthed for the climb Womb Raider.

Line of bolts to the right of Chiffre Apres Chiffre. Common start & first bolt with Chiffre Apres Chiffre. Head to the right a little and up to the ledge squashed into the corner at the top. Watch out for the gum tree.

Start as for Shutdown Funk but follow the left line of bolts. Then up the left side of the arete above. Can be used as an alternate start to Shutdown Funk to eliminate the need to carry a rack of wigglies. If you are finding it hard for the grade then either; (1) Get stronger or (2) Grow taller.

Sweet mixed line up the corner starting at crack with some nut placements, then bolts on the overhanging headwall. Headwall has great rock and a couple of funky moves.

Wall just left of The Shield, up slab and through 2 cool roofs.

Juggiest route at Stonehaven? now extended an extra 2 bolts at the same grade. Up steep grey wall about 15m R of Shutdown Funk. Up to roof, right and up. Over ledge and up to high anchor out right.

Up flake just right of The Shield, right through roof and up arete to ledge. Left to climb right of the last bolt of The Shield.

Hanging arete left of hanging corner. Everything is hanging on this one.

Same start area as GFY but a little to the left. Up generally solid rock to hanging corner. There has been a number of rockfalls on this route, dislodging vital foot holds. Grade may be harder.

A little contrived but offers some really good climbing if you embrace the game for the movement and not the tick. Hanging arete right of hanging corner, its all just hanging in there. Start as for GFY, the 2nd bolt is just to keep your rope heading in the right direction. Head up to undercling and layaway at roof. Climb onto the arete and head up to the obvious jug. Use the left crack for a resting hold if you must, but stick to the arete. At the jug swap sides to the right and do the crux of GFY heading to the lower offs of this route. Needs a road map. Most people will pull off the climb and stand in the left corner for a rest but they will miss the fun.

Juggy Choss for a couple of bolts, then awesomeness to the top on great rock. Embrace the techo arête.

Straight forward start to thin wall on slimpers. Shared 1st bolt with TT, then move leftwards.

Big reaches to big holds. Funky pockets.

Sustained and much better finish to 'The Day Before The Day After Tomorrow'. At triangle hold keep going straight up and left a little. Clean as, and all ticked up. Get on it !!

Line of bolts 3 meters right of TT. When you get the triangle hold to chest height, head right to corner and up the line of shrubs. Alternatively from the triangle hold keep going up to the next break before going right into the corner. Two short hard sections with jugs leading to and from each.