Are you travelling around the world and you are stuck at Brisbane international airport or are you just heading to

the capital of Queensland directly? Well that is good, mate. Even better if you have some free time left for adventures, since you reached the right website. As a Brisbane visitor you are probably a little bored after you did all the stuff like surfing at those beautiful pacific beaches, diving, watching koala in wild or even shopping with your girlfriend (or boyfriend). The real climber in the middle of the Brisbane will probably be looking around the close neighbourhood for some rock climbing or bouldering facilities. Unfortunately, you are out of luck! There is not a single decent rock or bigger stone within a radius of about 60 km. But no worries mate, in Brisbane city centre there is something special called Kangaroo Point – a real paradise for city climbers…

Kangaroo Point Cliffs. View from Kangaroo Point TAFE lookout.

Kangaroo Point Cliffs are located on the right hand side of the Brisbane River on the flat Lower River Terrace in the suburb of Kangaroo Point. The cliffs are roughly twenty meters in height and approximately 400 m is suitable for rock climbing. There are probably over 250 routes graded from 3 to 26. Generally, the rock has a quarried texture and is often a little sandy. The rock is volcanic tuff and since every single square meter is utilised, the routes are of widely varying quality. The majority of routes are bolted face climbs, but the rock offers numerous other features like edging, overhangs, pocket pulling and a few crack routes. It is very user-friendly crags around, with huge concrete bollards at the top of the cliff face for setting up anchors. 

Characteristic look at Kangaroo Point Cliffs. Brisbane’s outdoor climbing gym.

The whole region is very popular and hence busy. The locals, especially the young people, use Kangaroo Point as Brisbane’s outdoor climbing gym. Therefore, if you are a real climber, you should steel yourself with a lot of patience. The first sight is probably quite elusive. Top roping is extremely popular here and you will probably be worried about what can be used as climbing shoes. No comments about this. The top roping is so popular, that I cannot honestly remember if I have seen real climbing (to lead the route).  Well, there are probably other customs and rules there down under….

Bouldering at Kangaroo Point Cliffs is quite popular.

As already mentioned, the whole area is used as a free civic outdoor gym. The surrounding park around the river is widely used for jogging, running, cycling, in-line skating and other sport activities. Moreover, there are a lot of free barbeques just waiting for you. Such that a typical schema is that one part of the group is climbing while the rest are either watching climbers or barbecuing. Frankly speaking, the Real Ozzy BBQ is not bad at all, yum-yum. On the other hand, since the BBQ is so popular here, it is more difficult to find a free BBQ than a free route on the climbing wall. The wall is fully spotlighted, which is very convenient for night climbing. So you can basically enjoy night climbing until about 2-3 am. That is cool.

Various structure and the quality of the rock (volcanic tuff).

Winter offers undoubtedly the best climbing conditions. The average day temperature is about 20°C. I visited Brisbane in the middle of winter (August) and the temperature was about 28°C. Very convenient. On a sunny summer’s day, the rock is simply too hot to climb on, therefore climbing is practically impossible. Well, do not forget that Ozzies call Queensland the “Sunshine State” or “skin cancer capital of the world” therefore almost every summer day is a sunny day. Do not forget the sun cream. The best time to climb is early in the morning or from late afternoon into the evening. Night-lights are very convenient indeed.

Night lights allow you to climb into the early hours of the morning.

Besides rock climbing, there are several bouldering problems graded from V0 to V5. The perfectly flat grass around the cliff awaits your bouldering falls. Very soft falls, really ideal for bouldering. The routes vary in length from a couple of steps up to The Big Traverse, which is approximately 200m long, very exhausting if done all the way without rest. Drink, food and even a sleeping bag is recommended on this epic. Some of the recommended bouldering problems are selected below…

The guidebook is very hard to get hold of. Even local climbers often make their own copies from the old ones. The recent guidebooks can be found in Height Dynamics, or in any of the Valley climbing stores. More about guidebooks see below. I personally browsed and held one of them in my own hands, which is something little special even for locals ....

Night view of Kangaroo Point Cliffs.

Guidebook:
The most current guidebook are:
Kangaroo Point Climbing Guide by Darrin Carter (2003)
Kangaroo Point Climbing Guide by Neil Monteih (1997)

How to get there:
The simplest access to the area is to park the car on the River Terrace and walk down the stairs below the Kangaroo Point TAFE lookout (5 min). By car, the cliffs are easily accessible from Leopard Street. Just turn right into Ellis Street and you will come to Lower River Terrace (see map). At the very end of the street there is a car park, next to the cliff. The car park is usually full and there is no other possibility to park your car outside the car park.

Map of Brisbane city centre. Arrow is pointing at Kangaroo Point Cliffs.

Some recommended routes:
By Ignorance: grade 13
Halva: grade 16
Bum Full Of Fists: grade 17
Chubba Chips Mods: grade 19
Squawk: grade 20
Idiot Wind : grade 21
Fowl Deeds In The Chookhouse: grade 22
Piles: grade 22
Chip-A-Holdaway: grade 22/23
Cucumber Castle: grade 23
Brisbane Bitter: grade 24

Comparative table of relative grades for rock climbing.

Some recommended bouldering problems:
Rankins Rape: length 4m, grade V0
Fantastic: length 5m, grade V0
The Bulge: length 2m, grade V0 - V4
The Dish: length 2m, grade V0 - V4
Hanger Wall Arete Area: length 2m, grade V0 - V5
The Big Traverse: length cca 200m, grade V1
Chip-a-Holdaway Start: length 2m, grade V1
Chubba Chips Mods Start: length 3m, grade V1
Around the World: length 10m, grade V1
Drill Hole: length 2m, grade V1
Idiot Wind High Traverse: length 3m, grade V2
Exterminator: length 6m, grade V2
Pocket Puller: length 4m, grade V5
Bufo Marinus Traverse: length 4m, grade V5

Comparative table of relative grades for rock bouldering.

P.S.: Some more pictures can be found at http://sjanda.com.