Will's Rock Climbing Page > Crags > Gariwerd (The Grampians) > Wudjub Guyan (Hollow Mountain) > Summit Areas
Last updated: May '07

Wudjub Guyan (Hollow Mountain)

The Word: Some stonking classics, if you go looking.
The Classic(s): Golden Showers (* 20), Hollow Mountain Cave (bouldering)
The Hidden Gem: Filton's Folly is meant to be good despite being an offwidth!
Sun/shade: Generally the routes face north and get plenty of sun, however there's a small number of routes which face east or west giving some shade options.
Wet weather options: Hollow Mountain Cave for the power mutants, and maybe the lower half of routes on Red Wall (it wouldn't be red if the lichen could grow on it!).
Best Season(s): Year round, except for hot summer days.
Rock type: Grampians sandstone, varying quite dramatically from lovely solid stuff to complete choss. As always, be very suspicious of grey bollards.
Style of Climbs: Mostly mixed and trad.
Grades: 11-24, while the bouldering goes up to V16!

The Details: Sees more tourists than climbers, no doubt due to the fact that the walk in goes past Summerday Valley! Nevertheless the positions are much nicer up here with great views North and West out over the Wimmera, and naturally it's much easier to get routes to yourself up here.

Access: 15-25min walk. Drive to the Hollow Mountain carpark at the far northern end of the Grampians, next to Mt Zero. 3hrs from Melbourne, 30mins from Horsham, 10mins from Stapylton campground. Follow the signposted trail to Hollow Mountain, which deposits you at the base of the incredible overhanging Sandinista Wall. Follow the monstrous painted arrows L along the base for about 30m then sharply back R up a scrambly chasm which breaches the cliffline. Once on top, Echoes Block is about 100m walk up the rock platforms, with Red Wall obvious just behind it. Hollow Mountain Cave and Summit are further right from here.

A view of Wudjub Guyan (Hollow Mountain) from the summit of Mt Zero. The increasingly famous Hollow Mountain Cave is marked up on the mountain itself, with various other crags and bouldering areas also indicated (see my other pages for those areas).
All looks pretty insignificant with Taipan looming in the background!

Echoes Block

Guidebook(s): North Grampians, Andrews, p171-173, North Grampians Update, Andrews, p24-25, Grampians Selected Climbs, Mentz/Tempest, p82-83
Available Grades: 17-24
Descent(s): Usually a walk down into the chasm between Echoes Block and Red Wall. Easy to suss before you start climbing.

A view of Echoes Block on the left (the obvious left arete being Golden Showers), and Red Wall on the right. The descent off the Echoes Block routes is a fairly easy scramble down into the chasm in the middle (from where you get great views across the amphitheatre to Taipan).
Looks much better than it is...

* Golden Showers and Group Sex 21m 20 (OS)
A novel route! Take the wall L of the arete of Echoes Block, which is not exactly a pushover, and needs med cams, to the cave. Crawl inside and make the bizarre lying down clip of the bolt out on the face. Crawl back round and hand traverse on the outside around the arete and then into steep jugging up the R side of the arete past 2 more carrots on rather crispy holds. Belay well back off a slung rib of rock.

* I Surrender 25m 22 (TR)
One person thought it was a soft touch ... OTOH it's a Lindorff route. I know what I think!! A nice arete, about 25m L of GSaGS. The leader will probably want to start by stemming up the tree left of the arete, however the thin face R of the arete goes very elegantly if you're on second (or don't mind soloing above a crap landing!). A good stance lets you clip the bolt and scratch your head about how to do the crux. I had it figured as a layback problem on the right side, but this is desperate - I fell off before even getting anywhere! Instead it's desperate body language up the L side, followed by several metres of really nice climbing with lovely little wire slots, then an easy finish.

Red Wall

This wall is as obvious as dogs balls and really catches a climber's eye, whether you're all the way down at the carpark or standing right at the base. But, judging by the massive lack of action it sees, the routes really must be pretty average or really badly protected (or maybe both).

Red Wall
Nothing a good gridbolting wouldn't fix...and I'm only half kidding!

Hollow Mountain Cave

A view back into the Hollow Mountain Cave. Note the tourists wandering through it from the porthole down the bottom end - little do they know that they're scraping their heads along the world's first V16, the amazing 25m+ Wheel of Life. You can probably tell from the chalk that there's a bunch of shorter problems at the lip, and there's more inside too - a few dozen all up.
But it's still just pebble pinching...

Loopey's

A good looking little bouldering area about 100m further up the trail beyond the Hollow Mountain Cave, almost as far as the summit of Wudjub Guyan (Hollow Mountain), with fantastic views over Stapylton Amphitheatre.

Loopey's with a strong visitor snagging the jug on Bitch Slap (V7).
Strong boy

More Internet Sites on Hollow Mountain Climbing

Victorian Climbing Club (VCC) go here to check for new routes, and/or upcoming trips to this area.
Bureau of Meteorology Navigate to "Wimmera" - Horsham's weather is the closest.
Australian Maps Enter "Reservoir" as the road and "Laharum" as the suburb (and Victoria as the state).
Chockstone The best site on Victorian climbing, though only has a few pics of Hollow Mountain....
Onsight Photography Shots 16 and 18-22 are of Hollow Mountain.
Neil's Haulbag The 5th to 7th shots are of I Surrender on Echoes Block.
Parks Victoria Park information, downloadable maps, etc.
Parks Victoria Education Resource Kit A fascinating explanation of Grampians climate, geology, wildlife, vegetation, soils, history, park management, and visitor impacts.
TheCrag.com As always. Record your Hollow Mountain ticks here, and see what everyone else is climbing.

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