Open Spaces

03/09/2026

It's March 1983. Chris Baxter (editor of Wild and Rock magazines), Dave Moss (co-owner of the Mountain Designs chain of outdoor equipment stores), Glenn Tempest, Russ Clune (visiting US rope gun) and Miles Martin (UK) at Pine Valley Hut in Tasmania. We were on our way to climb new routes on the Acropolis North Face and check out the 450m-high East Face of Mt Geryon. The following night we set up camp at Roland Pauligk's legendary rock shelter directly under the East Face of Geryon itself. My most memorable day of the trip was soloing a 450m new route on the East Face of Geryon (just left of Pericles) and then down-climbing the Foresight Original Route (climbed in 1951) on the West Face. Eight hours round trip. Pine Valley Hut was built in 1942 and pulled down in 1986. Great place, great times, great friends.

25/08/2026

It's October 1977 and Chris Baxter (founder of Wild magazine), is making the first ascent of Fox on a Hot Thin Roof, on Tiger Wall at Mt Arapiles. The first ascent party (Chris, Dave Gairns and Peter Watson) aided their way across this superb cracked ceiling and then swam their way up the buckety choss above to glory. In those days Chris and his cohorts wryly titled themselves as the 'foxes', and all the younger climbers around them as the 'ferrets'. Which is why the name, Fox on a Hot Thin Roof, is one of the best route names at Arapiles. Ironically, Just 18 months later, Kim Carrigan (one of the ferrets) freed the roof at grade 27. Photo: Baxter collection.

12/08/2026

It's December 1977. I'm making my way up to the final tricky moves on the (then) aid route Iron Cross on Castle Crag at Arapiles. This was my third ground-up attempt on the route. Each time ended the same way. I fell off on the very last move and plummeted so far that I broke multiple RP wired nuts below me. My climbing partner, Kevin Lindorff is probably hugging the rock as he is fully expecting me to come crashing down to level with the belay. The falls were not substantial by today's standards, but in those days we weren't falling on bolts - we were breaking wires. About two months later Chris Peisker rappelled the route, hammered in a piton on the run-out top moves and then quickly led it. C'est la vie. My father took this photo from the road using a Pentax 35mm camera and Sigma 135mm telephoto lens with Kodachrome 64 transparency film. It was Dad's first and last visit to Arapiles.
Glenn Tempest on Iron Cross (24), photo by Brian Tempest.

08/08/2026

The date is the 23 April 1977. Chris Baxter, Andrew Thomson and Nic Taylor (left to right) at Barneys Creek campsite in the Grampians, Victoria. Notice the white pants. That's a result of Henry Barber having visited a few years earlier - his wardrobe influence was still being felt. Nic Taylor had, the year earlier (Jan 1976), managed to climb Australia's first grade 24 rock climb - Country Road at Mt Buffalo. The hardest climb in Australia. Nic was the best climber in the country at the time and sharpened the spear for a whole new generation of young climbers. As one pundit at the time commented, 'Nic was the David Cassidy of Australian rockclimbing, and even though he couldn't play guitar, he was still a bigger rock star). Photo Baxter collection.

11/04/2026

When he visited England in 1911, George Rose, the famous Australian photographer, was there primarily to capture images of the coronation of King George the V. During that visit it is likely that he obtained a copy of one of the very popular photographic books by the acclaimed photographers and rock climbers, George and Ashley Abraham. Their major work, Rock-climbing in North Wales (1906) is considered as one of the most important rock climbing titles ever published and was a huge commercial success in England at the time. George Rose returned to Australia and photographed almost identical images capturing rock climbers in action in what is today called the Grampians National Park in Victoria.

This image was taken in 1909 in the Grand Canyon, near to Halls Gap. It is actually one half of a stereoscopic image. As far as I am aware, it has never been published before. I want to thank Ron Blum (the curator of the George Rose collection in Melbourne) and the Arapiles Climbing Museum, which now holds a copy of the photograph and is available for public viewing.

Note that route that these guys are climbing has never been recorded and is adjacent to established rock climbs. If anyone gets the time or the inclination, it would be really interesting to repeat the route and see what grade it is.

22/03/2026

This 28-page PDF guide describes a selection of the better multi-pitch climbs on Central Buttress and the Grey and Green Walls, located within the Stapylton Amphitheatre in the Northern Grampians. It also includes all of the single pitches (sport and trad) on the Drifting Slab and Petite Fleur Face, both of which are embedded on the Grey and Green Walls. For the really adventurous, I’ve included a topo to The Seventh Pillar on Taipan Wall, perhaps Victoria’s most exciting multi-pitch climb outside of Mt Buffalo.

For clarity, this guide has been designed to show just one multi-pitch route per A5 page. To further improve the experience, some of these multi-pitch routes have been re-jigged to create better, more sustained and more logical undertakings. Each A5 + A5 spread can be printed on a single landscape A4 page and carried to the crag. Alternatively, these A5 + A5 spreads can be viewed on your phone, tablet or desktop. Carrying a phone to view topos is now common practice on longer multi-pitches.

Many of the routes described in this guide rely on safety anchors for either protection, belays or rappel descents. The $5 cost of this PDF guide will go directly towards maintaining existing safety anchors and installing new anchors when necessary.

Stapylton Amphitheatre Guide Central ButtressGrey and Green Walls This 28-page PDF guide describes a selection of the better multi-pitch climbs on Central Buttress and the Grey and Green Walls, located within the Stapylton Amphitheatre in the Northern Grampians. It also includes all of the single pi...

17/12/2024

01/12/2024

The V.C.C. Rock Climbing Guide to Mt. Arapiles Volume 1

The first Arapiles climbing guide was released by the Victorian Climbing Club (VCC), and was edited by Michael Stone and Ian Speedie. This was Australia's first stitch-bound, hardback, climbing guide and was based on a previous stapled 'temporary' guide by father and son team, Bob and Steve Craddock. The first edition of this guide was released in 1965 and had 145 pages. The guide was so successful that a second edition was released not long afterwards, with the addition of an appendix, which ran to 152 pages. For collectors, these two editions of the guide are arguably the most sought after of all Victorian rock climbing guidebooks. Both editions are notable for their distinctive green covers. The first edition does not have the words 'Volume 1' on the cover or on the spine. I've seen very poor quality copies of the first and second editions selling for around $50 - $120. I have seen a near mint copy of the first edition sell on E-bay, about 12 years ago, for $800. I bought this second edition copy in 1974 from Reg Marron and Nic Reeves who were then working at Bushgear (managed by Loch Wilson) in Hardware Lane, Melbourne. I remember that it was the last copy Bushgear had in stock and it cost me $3.50.