grampians access crisis

David Jones, Milupa (28), Wall of Fools, Summer Day Valley, The Grampians, Victoria, Australia.

Wow. Can’t believe this is my first email newsletter this year! Crazy times.

For the last 15 months we’ve been working flat out on guidebooks. We sent the mammoth Blue Mountains Climbing to the printers in January and the new The Red to the printers just last week. Yay, can finally start to get my life back again!

Blue Mountains Guidebook is a massive 448 page tome. It covers over 3400 routes and considering how involved many of the route descriptions are, it would certainly be one of the most information packed guidebooks in the world. I won’t go on, you might have it already. It has been available since March and has received a terrific response. Many thanks indeed to everyone for their help and support with this, it was a fantastic community effort with many brilliant contributors. Check it out –> here.

The Red has been a very different project, it is a fully comprehensive sport climbing guidebook to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, USA. Despite being on the other side of the world, it was hard to say no to this project, the author, Brendan Leader, is just so damn talented and was so keen. The book is 320 pages and covers 2400+ routes. Instead of having to purchase three different books to the area, this new book covers it all in one! Full info coming soon. It will be available in October if not before.

Grampians access crisis.

The thing that has been consuming my thoughts every spare minute though, is the rock climbing access crisis in the Grampians, Victoria. It’s no exaggeration to call it a crisis, it’s just that a lot of climbers, and a lot of the ‘industry”, don’t yet seem to realise how damn serious the situation is — and how easy it would be for the bans to extend to Arapiles and elsewhere. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then, in a nutshell, Parks Victoria have banned rock climbing across a large portion of the Grampians. The bans cover 45% of the routes listed in the guidebook, about 93% of the routes over grade 28, and 70% of the bouldering. Disturbingly, some of the safest climbing in Victoria is now banned. I believe that it is actually a scandalous situation where Parks Victoria have got so many facts wrong, acted in reaction to various forces (internal and external; way too complicated to get into here), repeatedly failed to understand what rock climbing actually is, grossly over-estimated it’s impact and growth, made some incredibly counter-productive decisions, radically underestimated the size and effect of the bans, then having decided to go down this road have engaged in an utterly dishonest smear campaign against rock climbers in an effort to justify the bans. They have mislead the public, which is clearly not acceptable for anyone let alone the public service. Despite the lip service they (and their political masters) refuse to listen and engage with climbers in a meaningful way. Parks Victoria seem to be forgetting that it is public land that they are managing.

If you haven’t already, please take to the time to read my article Park Victoria’s Dirty War on Rock Climbers. It’s 5000 words long, so pour a drink and prepare to weep. I wrote that three months ago, it’s still all valid and will give you good background. We’ve learnt a lot since then though, including the fact these bans were planned (sort of) long ahead of time, and the intention to mislead and blindside the Victorian Climbing Club was long there. It must have been disheartening for those in the VCC who thought their personal relationships with certain Parks staff might have counted for something. In a normal situation, they might have been right, but this is far from a normal situation and the forces are too strong.

To catch up on events and everything that has been revealed in recent months, I thoroughly recommend you take the time to read the articles on the savegrampiansclimbing.org site. These guys have done a heroic job of documenting, informing and commenting on this crisis. Massive thanks to these volunteers for stepping up at a time when, meanwhile, “Australia’s Climbing Media”, Vertical Life Magazine, have been asleep. It’s no surprise that many climbers don’t seem to understand how serious the situation is, nor know how they can help.

The really big good thing that has happened in recent months has been the formation of the Australian Climbing Association Victoria (ACAV) in response to the bans. The association has now been officially formalised, already has well over 1100 members and is growing fast. It already has some coin in the bank for the access legal “fighting fund”. The ACAV is working to positively engage with Parks Victoria and other government entities involved in this issue, but it will also not be shy to hold them to account to ensure all laws have been adhered to. As by far the largest climbing organisation in Victoria, and one that is solely focused on climbing access, the ACAV is the only group that can truly say that it represents climbers on this issue. It’s also important to note that its constitution enables them to take legal action through the courts if required. This is very different to a club which, as far as access is concerned, can really only meaningfully handle track work and education, not take serious legal action if required.

As climbers, our gripe is with Parks Victoria, and clearly NOT with the Traditional Owners. Engaging and working with Traditional Owners, listening and learning what we don’t know, learning what they want is an all-important issue. You can be assured that the ACAV are working seriously and genuinely on those things as well. But what you will not get from the ACAV is constant updates about the progress of any such talks. Some Traditional Owners have stated that they will not work with the VCC because of the way relationships have been misrepresented and politicised in the past. Climbers might also want to consider if, setting up their own little “reconciliation groups” that don’t actually represent anyone but themselves, is actually constructive, or just a personal feel good exercise. Just a thought, I’m not going to say anymore on it except that with 1100+ members you can be sure the ACAV is serious about this and will be accountable for how it handles everything.

So what can you do? I’ve heard this question a lot because you know, everyone can do something to help. I suggest:

Join the ACAV. A mere $15. The more members the better and the harder for the government to ignore. Hesitant or not sure what the ACAV is about? Just click on their homepage “About Us” tab and scroll through the History, FAQ’s and Documents. Anyone can join, you don’t have to live in Victoria.
Donate to the ACAV. If you have some spare coin that’d be great. Funds will be able to be brought in from the ACAV interstate sister entities, but if/when legal action takes place this will be used at a fast rate.
If you have skills, contact the ACAV and volunteer to help. They have lawyers on the team working pro-bono but more — and more contacts — would be great. There is so much to do, many skill sets are required.
If you are a member of other groups, then lobby your committee to affiliate with and fully support the ACAV. If they are not supportive then question why.

Thanks for reading thus far. I’d like to make it clear that I speak for myself, I don’t represent the ACAV, but I’ve been following this closely and I fully support their work. This is a massively important issue. The future of Victorian climbing is at stake. My photos here are a reminder of what future generations have lost, unless we can get these counter-productive bans overturned.

In other news…

Rock climbing superstars Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson are touring Australian at the moment. Sydney, Perth and Brisbane to go. Details here, don’t miss it.
The Radiata Plateau in the Blue Mountains is up for sale. A popular place for bush walkers, dog walkers and climbers, it would be a terrible loss if this remained private land and was closed to the public. It’s home to three of the four hardest rock climbs in the country, but there are actually six cliffs out there that offer something for everyone. We need this to become public land, if not a National Park then a State Recreation Reserve or similar, please take a few minutes to write a letter, info is here.
And… finally, there’s a move to commercialise the Katoomba airfield. More letter writing… info here.

Phew.

Thanks. More soon!

~ Simon