Booroomba Rocks

Booroomba Rocks is Canberra's granite escarpment, a set of clean slabs and walls in Namadgi National Park south of the capital. Its high, quiet setting in eucalypt forest has made it the principal serious climbing venue of the Australian Capital Territory.

The rock is solid granite, offering friction slabs, cracks and steeper face climbing across the North and South Buttresses. Both trad and sport lines are found here, with delicate slab climbing and well-protected crack systems the specialities; grades span easy multi-pitch outings to hard technical test-pieces, and the longer routes give a genuine mountain feel despite the modest approach. The granite rewards precise footwork and calm movement on its smoother faces.

The climbing season stretches from spring to autumn, roughly September to May, with the high, cool location keeping summer bearable; winter can bring cold, damp and even snow to the escarpment.

Access is by a forest walk from a car park in Namadgi, descending to the base of the buttresses through regenerating bushland that was swept by major fires in recent decades. The reserve setting brings kangaroos, birdlife and wide views over the ranges.

Sitting at around 1,300 metres in the Brindabella foothills, Booroomba has been Canberra climbers' home cliff for generations, its multi-pitch slabs offering an accessible taste of alpine-style movement close to the city. For climbers in and around the capital, it is the local classic, a place to build slab confidence and trad skills on quality granite within an easy drive, wrapped in the peace of a protected mountain landscape.