Rock climbing around Brisbane in Queensland
There are 11 major crags within a few hours’ drive of Brisbane that offer some great and varied rock climbing. Nearly all the crags offer different rock types and angles, with both bolted and traditionally protected routes available.
| No | Crag Name | Total No of Routes | Style of climbing | Single or Multi pitch | Which Guidebook |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kangaroo Point | 206 | Sport & Trad | Single | South East Queensland |
| 2 | Mount Tibrogargan | 193 | Sport & Trad | Both | South East Queensland |
| 3 | Mount Ngungun | 165 | Sport & Trad | Single | South East Queensland |
| 4 | Mount Beerwah | 143 | Mainly Trad | Both | South East Queensland |
| 5 | Mount Coolum | 87 | Sport | Single | South East Queensland |
| 6 | Mount Ninderry | 96 | Sport | Single | South East Queensland |
| 7 | Serpent | 37 | Mainly Sport | Single | South East Queensland |
| 8 | Tinbeerwah | 44 | Sport | Both | South East Queensland |
| 9 | Brooyar | 203 | Mainly Sport | Single | South East Queensland |
| 10 | Pages Pinnacle | 84 | Sport | Single | South East Queensland |
| 11 | Frog Buttress | 378 | Mainly Trad | Single | Frog Buttress |
Map of the rock climbing areas around Brisbane in Queensland
Kangaroo Point Cliffs are the ultimate urban crag, which is located in the heart of Brisbane city by the river. This crag offers single pitch routes across a wide range of grades, with a good mixture of both sport and traditional routes available. The crag is extensive with over 200 routes, which includes a girdle traverse that is 375m long.
In contrast, Mount Tibrogargan is a large mountain crag with multi-pitch routes up to 245m long. Most of these routes are trad routes with many of them around 100m long.
The main sport climbing crags in Queensland are Mount Coolum, Tinbeerwah, Serpent, Mount Ninderry, Pages Pinnacle and Brooyar. The sandstone crag of Brooyer is the most exptensive sport crag with over 200 routes.
Frog Buttress is one of Australia’s best single pitch trad climbing areas. The cliff is around 500m wide and is made up of densely packed rhyolite columns up to 50m long. The style of climbing found at Frog Buttress is on high quality natural lines up cracks and corners that provide plenty of protection with wires, cams and hexes. Frog Buttress is located in the Mt French section of the Moogerah Peaks National Park. The crag is situated about 10km west of the country town of Boohah, which in turn is around 85km southwest of Brisbane.
Queensland is known as the Sunshine State due to its sunny and warm conditions for the majority of the year. Therefore, the best time of the year to rock climb in Queensland is in the winter from May through to August. Outside of this time shady areas can be found at Mount Tibrogargan and Mount Coolum to escape the sun.
There is a separate climbing guidebook for Frog Buttress, simply called “Frog Buttress Climbs”. The South East Queensland Climbing guidebook covers all the other crags detailed on the map above. Buy these guidebooks from our shop.