Sewer Wall
This is one of Canberra’s oldest and newest sports crags, with legend being that it was first climbed by Tony Wood and Mike Todd in 1976. The main wall – Sewer Wall – was bolted by Mike Peck and co in 1991 and then largely ignored until late 2013 when Chris Bennetts-Cash got hooked on the idea of some quality climbing so close to town.
Located about 10 minutes drive from Belconnen and either a 15-20min walk or 5min 4WD, climbs vary in height from 8-55m and difficulty from single digits to mid-20s, although the original (& harder) lines have not yet been rebolted as of March 2014 and are probably NOT SAFE.
The original wall is in shade most of the day but through summer, Septic Sector and the Cave Routes are in full sun in the afternoon. The water is a great way to cool off; the crag is upstream from the water treatment plant so you’re safe and it’s usually a nice temperature throughout the warmer months than in winter. It gets dark very quickly once the sun touches the Brindabellas in the West, and the start of the track back can be difficult to find, so a torch is a good idea. The ramp down to Sewer Wall gets very slippery very quickly in the rain.
Take your camera – not just for the climbs but for the awesome scenery and abundance of turtles, lizards and, yes, piranha carp.
Chris Bennets-Cash and co. compiled the following climbing guide in March 2014: Sewer Wall: Cave Routes, Septic Sector (PDF 2.8KB).
Development continued through 2014 so there may be more climbs than those listed in the above guide, which was current as of March 2014.
New routes at the Sewer Wall
Routes established since (and including) 2014 and contributed from the community via thecrag.com, are:
Red Rocks Gorge and Kambah Rocks
These are a few of the more visited river crags that are in the ACT, and are the most accessible. All offer pleasant and interesting climbing on good rock and none of them are granite slabs.
Red Rocks Gorge and Kambah Rocks climbing guide (PDF 2.4KB)
Red Rocks Gorge
This crag is 10 minutes up-stream from Kambah Rocks and is a very impressive red wall. Access can be made from Kambah Rocks by following the track up-stream, or you can park near Tuggeranong Dam (shopping center end of dam bridge). Walk down the dirt road that follows above Tuggeranong Creek, cross over the creek on a foot bridge to your right, turn left and follow the walking track through some paddocks (shortcuts can be made) untill you see the red wall on the opposite bank of the river.
If it’s been raining or the river level is up it could be hard to get across without swimming. The climbing here is excellent although routes can be a little dirty due to its infrequent visitors. There are still new routes to do at Red Rocks and there is some really pleasant bouldering. The wall gets the morning sun and afternoon shade. The swimming is good.
NB: Climbing is banned at Red Rocks from 1 August to 31 December due to the nesting of Peregrine Falcons (see also the explanatory note on “Access to ACT climbing areas” for further details).
| 1. Unknown, 17/18 2. In The End Zone, 24 (T.Barten, A.Bull ’91) 3. Bosch Imperialist, 20 (M.Peck,K.Luck, J.Stone ’91) 4. Tahini, 20 (M.Peck, J.Stone, K.Luck ’91) 5. The Long Goodbye, 21 (M.Peck, B.Bunt ’92) | 6. Red Sorghum, 17 (M.Peck, B.Bunt, ’92) 7. Instant Inches, 20 (A.Bull, T.Barten ’91) 8. Carp Attack, 22 (M.Peck, C.Patrick ’92) 9. Mills and Boon, 23 (P.Mills, J.Fantini ’92) | 10. Beautiful and Bald Like Barten, 23 (T.Barten, A.Bull ’91) 11. Project (C.Warner) 12. Wide World Of Sports, 23 (M.Peck, S.Carter ’91) 13. chossy corner crack, 14 |
Kambah Rocks
Great on a summer’s day, the crag gets good shade and is right next to the river. The routes are about 13m at their highest and top-roping is very popular here. Bring some bolt brackets for some of the belays. To get there, drive out to Kambah Pool (a recreational area on the river) and walk up-stream for 20 minutes on the Murrumbidgee Discovery Trail walking track towards Pine Island. The crag is down towards the right and faces upstream about 1km before Red Rocks Gorge.
| 1. Close Suspects, 22 2. Downward Bound, 20 3. Romance in the Cow Paddocks, 20 4. Right hand Variant, 24 5. Prosthetics, 18 6. Blurred Vision, 20 7. The Hanging Garden, 15 | 8. Robot Monster, 20 9. Dead Fish Crack, 20 10. Standing Room Only, 21 11. Scrofula, 22 12. Closed Circuit, 20 13. Charlotte Sometimes, 19 14. Robbins Memorial Route, 19 | 15.Extremely Anal, 22 16. Uncut Pork, 24 17. Missionary Positions, 23 18. The Bummer, 14 19. Vandalism Behavior, 17 20. Silent Running, 18 21 Heat and Dust, 18 |
New routes at Red Rocks Gorge and Kambah Rocks
Routes established since the publication of the ACT Granite 1997 guide and contributed from the community via thecrag.com, are:
Red Rocks Gorge (routes since 1997)
NB: Climbing is banned at Red Rocks from 1 August to 31 December due to the nesting of Peregrine Falcons.
Kambah Rocks (routes since 1997)
White Rocks (Wickerslack Crag)
A small but popular and easily accessible crag that’s close to town, has good rock, easy gear placement, and several moderately graded climbs. It’s a wonderful crag for learning the basics of trad climbing, and very popular with Scouts, school groups, families and adventure seekers.
White Rocks Climbing Guide (PDF 5MB)
Update on hangers and ring bolts at the top of Cave Crack route (January 2021)
As the bolt with the hanger above Cave Crack was never intended as an anchor for rigging a top rope on the Cave Crack, it has been removed and replaced by two bolts: one bolt is beside the anchor bolts on Abseil Ledge and the other bolt is on the other side of the block (the track side) near the wide crack.
The bolt with the hanger was used for a safety line so that climbers could access Abseil Ledge. The new arrangement allows the safety line to be clipped to a new bolt on Abseil Ledge, by lying on the top of the crag and reaching over to clip the bolt. The other end of the safety line is clipped to a new bolt near the wide crack on the track side of the crag. You need about 6m of rope for the safety line.
Routes contributed from the community via thecrag.com, are listed below.
Please note that the beehive on Bee Line remains very active, so climbing this route is not advisable…