The Victorian Climbing Club (VCC) is hosting an online session to provide an update on the current landscape of climbing access across Victoria. The session is also open to members of the Western Victorian Climbing Club (WVCC) and Climbing Victoria. 

Agenda

The VCC, along with the other member organisations of Climbing Victoria, are working to maintain and expand access at Arapiles/Dyuritte and Grampians/Gariwerd. We currently have several key initiatives underway and want to:

• Inform the climbing community on the latest developments.
• Present our proposed strategic approach.
• Gather feedback from you, the climbers and club members.

Speakers

The session will be led by Steve Toal (VCC President) and Mike Rockell (Climbing Victoria Chair).

Details

When: Monday, 27 April at 8.00 pm. Bookings are not required

Where: Join online using Google Meet link https://meet.google.com/feo-dczh-jgk

Submit Your Questions: Questions can be tabled in advance by emailing them to secretary@vicclimb.org.au. 

 

The VCC Committee

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Update #7 (April 2026) - Update on Victorian Climbing Access

This update was issued to VCC members on 23 April 2026 and provides background for this online session on the access at Arapiles/Dyuritte.

Background

The VCC, along with other member organisations of Climbing Victoria (CV), has been actively engaging with stakeholders concerning potential access restrictions at Arapiles/Dyuritte. A significant set of activities are in train at the moment that will govern the processes around determining the access required to preserve cultural heritage. The planned online session will inform our members, and is intended to gauge community feedback and concerns.

Current State

In 2024, Parks Victoria (PV) announced a proposed new management plan that reshaped Arapiles/Dyurrite as a ‘cultural landscape’, and proposed bans of up to 62% of known climbing routes. This plan lacked input from the local community and the broader climber community.

The plan has been put on hold indefinitely as a result of public dissent. Subsequently, a group known as the Dyuritte Community Working Group (DCWG) was formed under PV direction to provide a consultative body. This group consists of representatives from Climbing Victoria, Arapiles District Community Group, Horsham Rural City Council, the Barengi Gadjin Land Council, a licensed tour operator and Parks Victoria. This process is hugely different from the previous situation where there was zero consultation with the community. There is now substantial community input and this input is being properly considered.

Guidance framework established

There have been several meetings. Out of these meetings, a process has been proposed to look for ways to maximise the amount of climbing, while still ensuring appropriate protection, which is a legal requirement of cultural heritage (CH) at Arapiles/Dyurrite. CV has been actively shaping this process to ensure it meets requirements of risk management principles, proportionality and objectivity. A key part of the process is to determine a guidance framework (GF) that will provide a blueprint to be used when reviewing CH and the possible impacts of climbing.

The GF is being finalised and we hope to have a final version available in the next two weeks. This, along with a description of the end to end process between now and the finalisation of a revised amendment to the Arapiles/Dyurrite Management Plan will be explained at the on-line session next Monday.

Next steps 

The process from that point is for climbing representatives who are knowledgeable about the climbs and areas of Arapiles/Dyurrite to attend closed-door sessions with BGLC to review the CH discovered at Arapiles/Dyurrite. The planned GF will be used to determine if any restrictions to climbing are justified, and what measures might be used to protect CH.

Your feedback

CV wants the broader climbing community to appreciate it is seeking the best outcome for climbing at Arapiles/Dyurrite by directly engaging and influencing the process. We seek input from VCC members and the wider climbing community as to whether they believe the planned approach is valid, and provide feedback as to how we should proceed.

Steve Toal
President 
Victorian Climbing Club

Abbreviations used in this document:
BGLC - Barengi Gadjin Land Council
CH - cultural heritage
CV - Climbing Victoria
DCWG - Dyuritte Community Working Group
DF - decision framework
GF - guidance framework
PV - Parks Victoria
VCC - Victorian Climbing Club