We speak to Tasmania’s John Middendorf, a long-time climber, climbing-gear designer and owner of D4, a portaledge manufacturer, about his activism in the old-growth forests of takayna/Tarkine, both in supporting the protests by helping out with gear and doing tree-sits himself. Can you tell us what is happening in takayna/Tarkine and in the Sumac Forest specifically, and why it is so important to protect the area? Currently 52 logging coupes – thousands of hectares of forest – are scheduled to be logged in…

Parks Victoria (PV) rangers once again seem to be overreaching their powers when it comes to interacting with climbers Just under two weeks ago, on the Melbourne Cup weekend, a friend of VL’s was heading into Ruined Castle in the southern Grampians/Gariwerd. In a group with four other climbers, they had parked their car at the corner of the Glenelg River Rd and the Waterworks Track and were making their way into the crag when they were stopped by two…

Canberra climber, Daniel Fisher, has just freed an old route called Vertigo (32) at Tower Rocks on Orroral Ridge, in doing so, he has produced one of Oz’s hardest trad routes. We spoke to him to find out more. Can you tell us about Vertigo? Vertigo is a hard (M4) aid route out in Canberra’s south, in Namadgi National Park. I got shown the line about eight years ago. A friend dragged me out and made me get on it,…

In the aftermath of the widespread climbing bans in the Grampians/Gariwerd, a new group dubbed the Gariwerd Wimmera Reconciliation Network (GWRN) has formed with the express intent of starting the process of reconciliation with Traditional Owners (TOs).  According the GWRN’s first press release, it was ‘formed in response to concerns about the relations between Traditional Owners and recreational users of Gariwerd (Grampians National Park) and Djurite (Arapiles-Tooan State Park).’ Claire Evans, a climber, Grampians/Gariwerd resident and spokesperson for the Network,…

NSW climber Michael Tonon recently climbed a new hard line at Blackwall on the Central Coast that he’s dubbed Fourier’s Proof (V14). We had a chat to him about the ascent. Tell us a bit about the new line, what’s it like? Fourier’s Proof makes about 17 moves through a roof, the last of which is a dyno off some bad holds to a jug with your feet tucked way in under the roof. From this jug you get a…

Did the Australian Climbing Association Victoria (ACAV) succeed in taking control of the Victorian Climbing Club (VCC) at last night’s AGM? Yes, and no. Last night at the VCC held its AGM upstairs at a pub in Fairfield. The number of attendees was comparatively very high, with people packing out the room and choking the doorway. There were around 75 attendees in person, 15 or so dialled in from Natimuk, five were on the line from Sydney and a few…