Fresh twist in controversial closure of Mount Warning/Wollumbin summit hiking trail

A decision on whether to reopen or permanently close the hiking trail to the famous Wollumbin/Mount Warning summit has now been pushed back to November.

The fate of the iconic Mount Warning hangs in the balance as speculation intensifies it will become “the next Uluru” by banning climbers.

A decision on whether to reopen or permanently close the hiking trail to the famous summit just south of the Gold Coast – the first place in Australia to catch the sunrise, was to have been made in May, then July and has now been pushed back to November.

The walking trail was closed to visitors in March last year under the guise that it was impossible to ensure social distancing on the summit.

But the closure has now extended to more than 15 months as a detailed assessment is carried out on both safety and cultural grounds.

New fears for future of Wollumbin/Mount Warning

Local indigenous groups call the mountain, also known as Wollumbin, a sacred place and there are some who want climbers banned altogether.

In a statement, a spokesman for the National Parks and Wildlife Service said no decision had yet been made and the discussion was a complex issue.

“The closure of the track has been extended to the end of November due to public safety risks associated with the summit walking track, and to further consult with the Aboriginal community and other key stakeholders about the future management of the site,” the statement said.

Wollumbin National Park, also known as Mount Warning, has been off limits to hikers since March 2020.

A safety assessment conducted last year noted issues including concerns over two fatalities on the trail, but neither death (a lightning strike and a heart attack) could be directly linked to the state of the trail, which featured a chain-link final section until that was dismantled late last year.

It is almost two years since climbers were banned from scaling Uluru in the Red Centre and fans of Mount Warning fear Wollumbin is headed for the same fate.

Petition launched to reopen the Wollumbin, Mt Warning summit walk

Climbing authority Marc Hendrickx has been lobbying the NSW government for more than six months to reopen the track and said the latest delay did not bode well for the future of the trail. I find it outrageous,” he said.

“We were supposed to find out a decision in May, then it was July, now it’s not going to be until November.

“They (parks) have had more than enough time to repair any safety issues and get the track reopened, but it doesn’t look like they want to do that.

“They can do what they did with Uluru, but it’s still not going to stop people climbing it.

“People will just do it illegally.”

He said the rural hamlets surrounding the mountain include dozens of businesses which depend on the tourist trade of mountain day-trippers to survive.

There have also been calls for an entry fee system to help finance repairs on the trail, but so far there have been no moves to endorse such a plan.

Calls for entry fees to save Mt Warning Wollumbin summit trail

Originally published as Fresh twist in controversial closure of Mount Warning/Wollumbin summit hiking trail