Popular climbing in Grampians National Park to shut sites over cultural concerns

Rock climbing at eight popular spots in the Grampians National Park is being banned. The crackdown paves the way for more climbing routes to be declared off limits across Victoria. Here’s why.

Rock climbing at several key spots in the Grampians National Park will soon be banned over concerns about damage to cultural sites.

Parks Victoria has warned local climbing and bouldering clubs eight areas at the popular park will be closed.

Climbers who ignore the bans face fines.

Aboriginal Victoria, responsible for cultural heritage management, reportedly accused Parks Victoria of not doing enough to protect indigenous sites at the national park.

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Parks Victoria chief operating officer Simon Talbot told 3AW this morning: “We’ve identified eight sites where we know we’ve got cultural heritage, in particular rock art.

“And rock climbing’s literally taken off over the last five or six years so those sites are now getting damaged and we’ve had some evidence of rock bolting occurring.

“So we’ve had to say ‘look guys those sites are off limits now, you can’t climb there’.

“But the vast majority of sites you can still climb.”

In rock climbing, a bolt is a permanent anchor fixed into a hole drilled in the rock as a form of protection.

Egith sites across the Grampians National Park will be closed to the public. Picture: Supplied

Climbing and bouldering website Vertical Life told members “eight areas in the western Grampians are going to be closed to climbers”.

“While we were not given specifics, we can be fairly certain that the areas will primarily be in the Victoria Range and will encompass many of the best crags in the Grampians,” a statement from the group says.

Rumours about the climbing bans surfaced in November. Vertical Life says they had come as a “huge shock” to climbers.

“The anger and confusion on social media is testament to this shock,” the group says.

“The whole incident might have been poorly handled and communicated by Parks Victoria, but for those who have been following access issues in the Grampians the threat of this has been rumbling away for some time.”

Parks Victoria confirmed plans to set up a stakeholder group to develop a climbing policy for the rest of the state.

Mr Talbot said they were committed to protecting the Grampians and would work with local climbing groups to find alternative spots.

“Our main priority is protecting the natural and cultural values of this precious landscape that is the Grampians National Park,” he said.

“We are working to support climbers and other park users to find alternate locations in the Grampians to climb.

“We’ll also work with local businesses and licenced tour operators over the coming months to clearly identify where climbing can continue.”

Parks Victoria said 29 additional areas had been set aside as ‘Special Protection Areas’.

They also admitted the Grampians Management plan was outdated.

The Grampians National Park is known by traditional owners as Gariwerd. Other protected areas such as Black Range, Mount Arapiles-Tooan, Red Rock and Mount Talbot contain the majority of surviving Aboriginal rock art sites in southeast Australia.

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