Spring Mountain, Bouldering

BLDV

Map

9 10 11 12 13 8 7 2 1 5 4 6

1 Voltage Boulders 2 Fury Road 4 Shelbyville 5 Trash-pile boulders 6 K-town 7 Sandcastle Ridge 8 The pillars 9 The Demilitarised Zone 10 The miniature railway 11 Serpents Head Rock 12 The ledge 13 Boulderland

Directions in Google Maps

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Seasonality

Summary

Lots of potential for development and FAs on sandstone boulders

Description

Brittle when wet

There are many isolated fields of sandstone boulders scattered throughout the forest, similar to White Rock and Toohey's.

There is is probably more potential here than White Rock and Toohey's put together but the long walk-ins have made development slow and sporadic.

The rock quality varies from crumbly sand castles to font-like. The best rock tends to be on top of the ridges deep in the forest. The bad rock is generally down in the valleys.

Access issues

Tolerated

The forest is Ipswich and Logan council reserve and has free access.

The areas deep in the forest are remote and have limited mobile reception. There is a maze of fire and logging trails throughout the forest and it is very easy to get lost. Always carry a GPS.

If you get hurt, lost or bitten by a snake rescue will be difficult and help will take a long time to arrive.

Similarly to White Rock, a rare plant, the Ruffled Plectranthus (Plectranthus habrophyllus), can be found growing on top of rocks here. Please don't disturb these. Check it out here: http://www.qldclimb.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/White-Rock-Rare-Plant-Notice-4Sep13.pdf

Approach

Parking locations vary depending on the area being visited. Refer to the page for the area you wish to visit for specific information regarding the approach. However in general:

Sandcastle Ridge and The Pillars are best approached from The Paperbark Flats picnic area in White Rock
The Dragon Spine, Serpents Head and Balancing Rock are best approached from Springfield
The Eastern areas are best approached from the Eastern edge of the park.

Ethic

As for any bouldering area - don't chip. As this a new area, lots of cleaning will be required and loose flakes are inevitable - take care!

Please don't climb after heavy rain, the sandstone will be brittle and break.

History

History timeline chart

This full history of climbing in Spring Mountain is uncertain at this point.

The following is a selection of what is currently known.

According the Glen Eaton, he and others explored and established climbs in the northern areas such as Balancing Rock, The Pillars and Sandcastle Ridge circa 2007/08. They knew the areas by different names such as "Bouderland" (balancing rock) and "The Elephants Graveyard" (Sandcastle Ridge).

Benji Bartholomew began developing the eastern areas such as the Voltage boulders in 2015 (although it is noted that the area would have been known to walkers and probably other climbers for many years before that). Matt Pelekanos also established climbs in the eastern areas around this time.

In 2021 first Aidan John, Jack Mullaly and other made separate visits to the northern areas and began establishing climbs.