Chessell Adventures - Rock climbing adventure

Highlights

A great opportunity to learn basic to intermediate or advanced rock climbing skills.

Each course is totally tailored to the individuals and is conducted with one guide to two participants. If you would like to experience real multi-pitch rock climbing for the first time, want to brush up on skills or have a practice with jumars on fixed line before a Himalayan giant then we can show you the right way to do it. If you just want to have a got at rock climbing we can help with that too.

We provide your climbing equipment and a qualified and experienced local guide (and breakfasts and lunches on multi-day trips).

Trip Summary

These climbing trips are run on demand by our panel of qualified and personable rock climbing guides. The trip will be tailored to suit your needs and might be designed to help prepare you for your next expedition onto the crags or into the mountains. They are often two day trips.

We generally start with a safety briefing and technique check that will include helmet, harness, knots, belaying and making yourself safe.

Inexperienced participants might like to come and try some one pitch climbing, progressing to, say, a straightforward 4-pitch long route on the second day.

People heading into the mountains might need to concentrate more seriously on rope skills, such as moving safely on fixed lines and abseiling. Our curriculum for this works really well to give people confidence in the mountains and to maximise their safety.

More experienced climbers or those with more audacious mountaineering goals may want to learn and practice moving up and down steep terrain on fixed ropes, abseiling, switching between these, and using different tools and techniques.

People wanting to further their climbing skills may want to learn in more detail about building safe anchors, setting up top ropes, leading, placing protection in the rock, optimal belaying techniques, aid climbing or rescue (and I'm sure you can think of more!)

A four day trip is also an option - tell us your dates and we'll find you a guide! Why Chessell Adventures?

Chessell Adventures’s rock climbing instructors are accredited through the South Australian Rock Climbing Education Association (SAREA) – in fact most are Board members or assessors! They have mountaineering and/or rescue experience to inform their instruction and rock guiding and have benefited from Chessell Adventures-specific training. They are competent safe climbers who really enjoy being out there teaching in the cliff environment. And they are such good people that we choose to spend our own personal weekends away with them.

Chessell Adventures is based in Adelaide, very conveniently for arguably Australia's best rock climbing venues, Mount Arapiles in Western Victoria and Moonarie in South Australia's Flinders Ranges.

Mount Arapiles

Mount Arapiles is near Horsham in western Victoria and has a range of terrain to suit all climbers: slabs, corners, exposed aretes, steep walls, chimneys, face climbing, cracks, roofs in sub-horizontal sandstone and quartzite. Arapiles has it all, with some 3,500 established routes only a few minutes walk from the camp ground, and routes to suit complete beginners and experienced climbers. Climbing is possible all year round, but the winter months of June-July-August are not always so great. Summer is usually good: although it is sometimes hot, there are many climbs in the shade too.

Moonarie

Moonarie is a special place in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, some 450km North of Adelaide. We rate it as Australia's best crag and one of world class. it is generally warmer and drier than Arapiles so the decision of whether to go North to 'The Moon' or East to 'Araps' can be weather dependent. That said, it is well above the plain and so generally gets good breezes even when the weather is really hot. A bush camp is possible some 40 minutes from the base of the cliff so there is a good opportunity to warm up each morning with the walk up onto the side of the huge Wilpena Pound. The main cliff is on the rim of the pound, and topping out feels more like climbing a mountain than a cliff. Climbs here tend to be multi-pitch, of 2-5 pitches in length on sub-horizontal sandstone and quartzite with lots of variety, mostly at grade 15 or above. There are many naturally protected routes and some are bolted too!

Morialta Gorge

Morialta is Adelaide's own backyard crag, about 10km east of the CBD. It has a good range of single pitch climbs on clean hard meta-sandstone, ranging from easy to very challenging, and the permanent anchors at the top increase the convenience for climbing several climbs or abseils in an area. The ambience is amazing, with the pool of Third Falls visible through the leafy eucalyptus and grass trees and rolling forested hills on the North side of the gorge. The sub-areas face in different directions meaning you can usually find a sunny spot or a shady one, and there are a range of routes: bolted climbs, 'natural lead' climbs and top rope climbs. There is some lovely climbing to be done here, for people wanting a first experience or more intense instruction, and you can't beat its convenience from Adelaide.

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Australasia - Rock climbing adventure

Trip Notes

(Friday evening)	(Travel to Arapiles)
Saturday	Breakfast then safety briefing, introductory climb Enjoy lunch under the trees and a rest Single or two pitch climb and abseil instruction We usually have dinner "out" in Horsham or Natimuk
Sunday	Breakfast, multi-pitch climb or fixed rope techniques Lunch under the trees and pack up camp Single pitch or multi-pitch climb, finishing around 5 pm Return home, having dinner on the wa