The You Yangs is a popular state park between Melbourne and Geelong. Hordes of cars drive past it on the Geelong Road (Princes Highway) each day. Lots of picnickers and sightseers use the park and it’s surprising to see how many people are there on a sunny weekday morning.
In a state that is blessed with three other major climbing destinations, the main appeal of the You Yangs is its proximity to Melbourne. Geology being what it is, small granite tors with rough rock and sometimes minimal bolting means it is often seen a poor choice compared to Werribee Gorge or Camel’s Hump.
The Youies, as they’re affectionately known, were first climbed on in the late 1960s. Alan and Geoff Gledhill, living in Geelong at the time, considered this ‘local’ crag good practice for the bigger routes at Mt Buffalo. Along with John McMahon and Peter Lindorff they established a handful of routes at places such as Big Rock and Figleaf.
Today the park has over 700 documented routes, all covered in a forthcoming guidebook being published by the Victorian Climbing Club as part of its new initiative to publish guidebooks to all the Victorian regional crags. By the time you read this, the book should be available in climbing stores and gyms.
Left: Martin Jackson leading Crinkle Cut, Flinders Peak Slabs. Right: Mike Law on the FFA of Eve
Cliffs are small and widely scattered, so finding them isn’t always easy. Fortunately the new guidebook includes GPS locations and QR codes for car parking locations and crags, taking a lot of the guesswork out of it.
One of my enduring memories of the You Yangs was driving back to Melbourne one cold winter’s day after a visit with the late Craig Nottle, thrashing our fingertips on small crystalline holds. Once in the relative warmth of the car, my fingers thawed out and were pretty painful.
Fifty years of history means many of the renowned climbers of yesteryear have left their mark. The 1980s saw visits from Mike Law, putting up the test piece Pain and Frequency (originally graded 23, now considered 28), and Kim Carrigan, who laboured at attempts to free Orpheus In The Underworld before breaking off a crucial hold and abandoning it. In earlier years Russ Crow was very active in the area, and compiled a guidebook that, while never published, gave later publishers a great head start. Old timers such as Geoff Butcher and Graeme Hoxley continue to find minor pinnacles to put up obscure new routes.
Flinders Peak Slabs: 7: **Walk On Hot Coals 19m (20) 8: **Psychedelic Termination 21m (20) 9: Harvest Moon 18m (17) 10: CFA 20m (14) 11: *Crinkle Cut 18m (15) 12: *Burn Off 20m (14) 13: *Spontaneous Combustion 21m (17) 14: Mirror Of Stone 18m (22) 15: *Mirror of Stone DF 18m (22) 16: **Tewkesbury 23m (16) 17: Mystery Route 25m (16) 18: Burnt Offering 31m (16)
More importantly, of late there has been some recognition of the importance of proper and safe bolting principles, and Safer Cliffs Victoria has funded a significant number of replacement bolts. So the time is ripe for the Youies to get a resurgence of interest and visits.
Perhaps start with a visit to Flinders Slabs to dial in your footwork. These slabs face the approach road and look far more impressive from a distance. An easy 15 minute walk around the East Walk trail leads to a short diversion down to the cliff. Try Tewksbury (16) or Crinkle Cut (15) for an intro to mid-grade slabbing. Most of the routes here are similar in nature, so perhaps graduate up the grade scale as you gain confidence and work out the friction. While some recent retrobolting has made routes safer, many of the routes can be top-roped if that’s your preference.
For some steeper and more interesting climbs, head around to Gravel Pit Tor. There’s a number of interesting crack and face routes here such as the short but pumpy Blue Morry Crack (19). A local classic is Silver Knight (16) which sounds easy but was originally aided, and has thrown off a few capable leaders. The right-hand side of the cliff has a number of classic routes that tackle the initial steep slab (on bolts) then give you some crack climbing practice in the top half. Try Asylum For The Insane (17) or Blue Skies from Grey (16). For something harder have a go at A Question of Ethics (20), which now has a fourth bolt in the start.
Gravel Pit Tor: 1: Not (Quite) The Eiger 13m (18) 2: *Opossum 13m (16) 3: *Magnetic Attraction 14m (19) 4: **A Question Of Ethics 15m 20 5: **Mean Streak 19m (20) 6: **Chuck Solids 20m (24) 7: ***Edging Bets 20m (26+)
Big Rock is the largest cliff in the park. There’s a number of good slab routes but unfortunately with very spaced carrot bolts which would deter many leaders. Instead, get on the more modern From The Ritz to the Rubble (16), it still has only four bolts in 25m but is not so death-defying.
Another good area is The Lookout, with an easy eight-minute walk-in. You reach the top of the cliff, and four sets of bolted anchors on top make it a great venue for some top-roping setups.
The You Yangs is managed by Parks Victoria. At the moment there are no specific access problems. In past years climbing at The Lookout was banned, but due to efforts by Tracey Skinner and CliffCare, access was reopened back in 2013. There were also weekend restrictions at Big Rock at one stage but these are also now past history. Do your bit to avoid creating any access problems by climbing responsibly.
BIO: Steve Toal has been climbing things since the late 1970s. He is author of five climbing guidebooks, the current president of the Victorian Climbing Club, a past board member of Crag Stewards Victoria, and a current member of the board of Climbing Victoria. He divides his time between Melbourne and the Grampians/Gariwerd and other far-flung places that have rocks.
