Guides

Warning and disclaimer

Rock climbing is a hazardous sport with the potential for fatal accidents. The information in this guide is to give people an idea of what is available. Care has been taken to provide as accurate information as possible. The editors take no responsibility for any inaccurate information or problems that may occur from the use of these guides. A lot of the climbs still have the original, decades-old mild steel bolts, they should be treated with caution. All reliance on fixed gear should be minimised.

Where to find route descriptions?

The VCC publish route descriptions in their guidebooks, both hardcopy and online. You can find updates to hardcopy guides and free pdf guides on this page. You can buy hard-copy guides here.

Routes in the updates, listing and database are made available on this site on an “as received” basis without any verification by the VCC. Thus, listed routes may have inaccurate details such as grade/length/location etc, or may be entirely fictional. If you have any information that clarifies or questions existing route descriptions, please send it in to the New Routes.

Climbs submitted since June 2006 have been entered into a database and is available at guides.vicclimb.org.au. We plan to have this database available to climbers to enter new climbs and comments directly as well as provide full search facilities. Then again, we have been promising this for a long time.

Guidebooks

Guidebooks published by the VCC are available for members to purchase directly from the VCC at a significant discount on RRP.

You can browse the online catalog here.

Free guidebooks and updates

PDF guides available for download:

Mt Pilot [download]
Curiosity Crag [download]
Red Rocks [download]
Mount Beckworth Bouldering [download]

Guidebook updates available for download:

2003 Grampians Update [download]
South Eastern Grampians Update Part 1 [download]
South Eastern Grampians Update Part 2 [download]
The Black Guide update [download]
Mt Difficult Range Update [download]
2003 Arapiles Update [download]

Buffalo guidebook updates

Current Guidebook Update: All of the topos and information previously available here, plus more gained from Chockstone, The ACA, The Crag, Argus and direct submissions all in a single, indexed document (v1.0.4, May 2013): [download] (Comments and corrections to: buffaloguide@vicclimb.org.au)
Buffalo for First Timers (BUFFTi) Guide: Steve Toal’s intro to Mount Buffalo [download]
Previous Guidebook Update: Some additional beta, new routes, and recommended routes [download] 81k
OLD Guidebook Addendum: Some additional beta, new routes, and recommended routes. [download] 107k

Submitting new routes

If you have done any new routes or have information that clarifies or questions existing route descriptions – then please email the New Routes, (or post it to: Victorian Climbing Club, GPO Box 1725, MELBOURNE VIC 3001), so that we can include them on this site, in the next issue of Argus and in the next edition of the relevant Guidebook. New Route submissions preferably should include the following information:

Location – relative to existing published routes (if possible), distinctive cliff features, and/or grid reference(s) (including the map used).
Route Name – obviously important!!
Length – including individual pitch lengths for multipitch routes.
Star rating – 3 stars if classic, 2 stars if very good, 1 star if worthwhile, or no stars.
Grade – taking into account technical difficulty, sustainedness, and/or boldness. Include the grade of each pitch for multipitch routes.
Route description – sufficient for repeat ascentionists to follow the route, and should also include essential/unusual gear requirements, without giving excessive detail (“beta”).
Topos or Photos – If you have a line drawing or photograph of the route, please also send that in to help other people finding the route.
First ascent details – climber name(s) and ascent date(s).

New routes Mount Arapiles

The new routes listed in this PDF are those which have been submitted, and which are not in the existing published guidebooks (Mentz & Tempest 1999, Shepherd 2nd ed. 1998), and are not in the October 2003 online guide . These routes are made available on this site on an “as received” basis without any verification by the VCC. Thus, listed routes may have inaccurate details such as grade/length/location etc, or may be entirely fictional. If you have any information that clarifies or questions existing route descriptions, please send it in to the New Routes.