Climbing news, events, guides and advice, from new walls and competitions to how to start climbing.
The Blue Mountains hold about 7,300 routes, many of them bolted sport climbs on sandstone around Blackheath, Mount Victoria and Katoomba. Here's where to start, when to go, the access rules, guidebooks and courses, and the gyms on the way.
Joe Rushton
What a casual entry gets you, what shoe and harness hire cost, why you sign a waiver and do an induction, how belay and lead checks work, what weekly direct-debit memberships involve, and the age, chalk and etiquette rules at Australian climbing gyms in 2026.
Joe Rushton
Since August 2024 Adelaide has gained three bouldering gyms: Urban Climb in a former Hindley Street cinema, a new Beyond Bouldering gym in Thebarton and Laneway Boulders in Stepney, and Adelaide's Bouldering Club has moved to Urban Climb. Here's what opened when, and what each offers.
Joe Rushton
Melbourne's free outdoor bouldering walls, from Burnley's volunteer-built walls under the Monash Freeway to council walls in Brunswick, Footscray, Southbank, Chadstone, Point Cook and Cranbourne South, and a campus wall in Frankston: where each one is, what it's like and how to use it well.
Joe Rushton
Kangaroo Point Cliffs is a free, floodlit crag on the Brisbane River, a short walk from the CBD. Here's what the climbing is like, how the old quarry came to be, the council's rules on anchors and groups, and how to move safely from the gym to the rock.
Joe Rushton
The Rock Adventure Centre in Newtown, Geelong's indoor climbing centre since 2001, closes for good on Saturday 7 November 2026. Here's what is ending and where the city's climbers can go next, from Industry Boulders in Grovedale to the granite of the You Yangs.
Joe Rushton
Urban Climb Blackburn hosts the 2026 Australian Speed Climbing National Championships on 7 November, and Gravity Worx the Victorian State Speed Titles on 21 November. Here's what speed climbing is, who races, and how to enter or watch.
Joe Rushton
Ipswich, Gympie and Campbelltown got their first bouldering gyms in 2026, Rocky Climb opened in Rockhampton and Geelong's Industry Boulders expanded. Three Melbourne gyms are on the way, and two long-running gyms close in November.
Joe Rushton
Portside Boulders in Osborne Park hosted the first National Boulder Cup on 25–27 September 2026, with the WA Open Boulder Titles run inside it. Olivia Hawryluk and Maxim Pare won the open finals, and WA's lead titles follow at Oasis Climbing on 7–8 November.
Joe Rushton
9 Degrees is closing its Lane Cove bouldering gym on Friday 13 November 2026, after eight years, because its landlord is taking the space back. Passes and memberships carry over to its gyms in Chatswood, Parramatta, Waterloo and Alexandria.
Joe Rushton
The Canberra Climbers' Association is marking 60 years since the first recorded climb at Booroomba Rocks with a members' trad meet on 21 and 22 November 2026, two months after the crag's access road reopened following a closure that began in May.
Joe Rushton
Sport Climbing Queensland's youth bouldering championships come to GRIPswich Bouldering in Ipswich on 31 October and 1 November 2026, with state titles and qualification for the Australian Youth Boulder Nationals at stake.
Joe Rushton
