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Family Friendly Bouldering in Grampians

Oli_C

16-Nov-2011
9:45:00 PM

Hi All,

I'm going on my first trip to the Grampians this weekend...with the kids & parents!! Kids are quite young (2 & 3.5) but was kinda hoping to introduce them to a bit more rock than they're used to.

Are there any flat, bouldery areas that would give me a few problems to work on and at the same time allow the kids to play too?

Any suggestions would be good, perhaps traverses with good landing zones?

Oli

nmonteith

16-Nov-2011
9:59:35 PM

Andersens at Stapylton is perfect. Flat, easy 10 minute walk and lots of fun little caves to explore for the kids. Heaps of obvious problems.

Oli_C

16-Nov-2011
10:08:24 PM

Excellent! That sounds ideal. Thank you.

kieranl

16-Nov-2011
10:12:27 PM

On 16/11/2011 nmonteith wrote:
>Andersens at Stapylton is perfect. Flat, easy 10 minute walk
It's flat except for the uphill bit.
I'm guessing 15-20 minutes with little kids.

nmonteith

16-Nov-2011
10:14:06 PM

Guidebook here:
http://www.climb.org.au/index.php?page_id=10&action=area&area_id=201

Maxo

16-Nov-2011
10:23:28 PM

Ground control caves would also be worth checking out.

bl@ke

16-Nov-2011
10:55:30 PM

And Between the Sheeps

nmonteith

16-Nov-2011
11:34:19 PM

Ignore sandbaggers above /\

BoulderBaby

17-Nov-2011
12:19:06 AM

I think arapiles boulders are more child friendly than grampians boulders.

Tastybigmac

17-Nov-2011
12:39:17 AM

Just don't give them any blackboard chalk to draw on the boulders with. The climbing chalk is bad enough without blue and pink drawings all over the place. Anderson's was pretty ugly that day.

cogsy

17-Nov-2011
9:01:15 AM

My wife and I took our 18 month and 3.5 year old for a trip about a month ago....
We found Anderson's was great. The walk wasn't too bad. Our older boy walked (with lots of stopping to look at lizards, plants, rocks, etc), and our younger girl was in the baby carrier on our back. It took 15 mins at most. Loads of great boulders and lots for our older boy to do... little metre-high boulders that he scrambled up and gave various names to..."the rhinocerous boulder", etc.

The other really great place is the campsite boulders. Very easy access and great bouldering. The only problem there was our little girl, who would run off onto the road, which she worked out was a guaranteed way to get our attention.

We even took our kids up to Hollow Mtn Cave for a day, which they loved. It was reasonably safe, but we had to be a little more careful than at Andersons.

We are planning a trip back before Easter next year.... Maybe we can get a few families together to keep the kids amused!

Oli_C

17-Nov-2011
10:14:58 AM

>We are planning a trip back before Easter next year.... Maybe we can get
>a few families together to keep the kids amused!

A climbing Creche! I like it.

Thanks for the suggestions. We only have 3 days to get everything else in too so think we'll probably keep to just Anderson's this time. When I asked the question I had France's Font in mind as I recall that being a fantastic place for families (just needs water) so Anderson's fits the bill.

bl@ke

17-Nov-2011
12:34:26 PM

I agree that Arapiles boulders are more child friendly than the Gramps.

There are 13 messages in this topic.