Climbers told to sling their hook after Grampians rock art discovery

Official blasts failure to detect Indigenous rock art that has forced another climbing closure in Victoria’s Grampians.

Rock climber Kerrin Gale scales a wall in Victoria’s Grampians National Park. Picture: Simon Carter

A once key climbing area in the Grampians National Park has been closed after a rock art panel and Aboriginal artefacts were discovered at the site, despite it being listed as open to public access in the management plan that dictates land use.

Having cleared the “Mountain Lion’’ location in the Victoria Range open for bouldering and climbing, Parks Victoria has now revealed cultural heritage has been found at the site. But climbers have slammed the failure to detect the heritage, arguing the relatively small number of areas reopened under the management plan process could now face the same threat as Mountain Lion.

The Parks Victoria announcement this week has alarmed climbers who have been fighting for nearly five years to be able to use areas that for decades had produced some of the best climbing in the world.

Australian Climbing Association Victoria president Mike Tomkins said the temporary bans at many sites at the Grampians and nearby Mt Arapiles had been followed for the past five years.

“For years, most climbers have respected ‘temporary’ climbing bans at Mt Arapiles and the Grampians,’’ he said. “However, it is becoming clear that Parks Victoria and ambitious land councils are misusing the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act to exclude everyone from our parks wherever stone-age rock chips are found.

“This does not happen anywhere else in the world.’’

Parks Victoria said that the discovery of the cultural heritage in the Victoria Range, 340km west of Melbourne, was a great result.

“A rock art panel and Aboriginal artefacts have been rediscovered in the Victoria Range of the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park at a climbing area known as Mountain Lion,” he said.

“This is exciting news that again highlights the Aboriginal cultural story of Gariwerd that flows through this landscape.

“Pending a full cultural heritage assessment commencing in the first half of 2024, we are asking people to stay away from Mountain Lion to reduce the risk of harm to the site. Cultural heritage rediscoveries are protected by legislation, and Parks Victoria is responsible for protecting them. We expect the assessment to be completed in 2024 as part of our ongoing surveys of potential climbing sites across the park.”

The area was named as a bouldering site in the 2021 management plan. Bouldering is a popular pastime for climbers which often involves doing routes – often complex – on smaller rocks. It has suffered significantly as a pursuit in the Grampians after the first of the closures nearly five years ago.

Climbers are also still waiting to see what will happen at nearby Mt Arapiles, also known as Dyurrite, with the results of cultural assessments still yet to be published.

Arapiles is considered one of the world’s best locations for climbing because of the nature of the formations that are based on high quality quartzite rock. There are more than 3000 routes but some are closed pending the results of heritage surveys.

Parks Victoria had reopened some routes in the Grampians but most of the quality climbing was still closed, Mr Tomkins said.