Flinders cave is a modern discovery indeed. The cave hosts a great deal of obscenely steep, hard routes. Nicknamed “27 Heaven”- the climbing is upside down ceiling thuggery- which translates to be very physical and relentless. 'The Secret Cave' or ‘Flinders Cave’ is sixty metres high, but from twenty to fifty metres overhanging with the main wall being about twenty metres height at 60°- 80°. As Cameron Fairburn writes- “We had found the steepest terrain in QLD, or I should say rediscovered. We found a line of old 8mm hardware down the right wall of the cave that belonged to Frey Yule. We think he checked out the cave about five years previously but then moved interstate. The cave is SSW facing, so no sun all year round and only a 40min drive from 'Brisbane'. Unfortunately, there is also the 2.5km, 40min uphill walk in as well. The rock is solid volcanic trachyte with formations uncommon in Queensland; it's a mixture of fused blocks, huecos, crystallised slopers and hard crimps - the holds can be quite sharp. Some of the easier routes like 'The Nightmare of Milky Joe' (23) and 'Never Ask the Moon' (22) are super-fun cut-loose jug fests. Early in the piece, Glen established 'Wet Jigsaw Puzzle' (25) a short pump fest that climbs out of the steepest part of the wall. To add to this he climbed 'King of the Mods' (27), adding to a huge range of 27’s to come. Then the numbers rolled, I freed my project after my food was spiked 'Like a Man on Pepperoni' (27), possibly the steepest climb in 'Queensland'. That was until Glen equipped his, an 80° blank arête project, 'A Space Odyssey' 25m 30 or 5.13c”. 'The Secret Cave' consists of two developed areas: the steep main wall and a right hand wall which, although not as steep as the main wall, offers some challenging climbing. 'Terminus of Desire' (25) climbs from under the large overhang. This route will be used to access the steeper upper wall which has the potential for a couple of super hard routes. With all this new development Ross returned to develop what he hoped would be a nice easy sub-20 warm up. He ended up establishing 'Finger Tips and Mountain Tops' (23), an intricate crimp-fest climbing above the lip of this right-hand buttress. Ross then established 'Song and Dance Man' (27) a steep juggy start into a hard crimper sequence. Glen the power monkey campused his way to glory on Backstroke of the West (27) while another buddy of ours Antoine Moussette battled scorpion-eating spiders on one of the best 5.12c’s or 26’s in Qld “The French Connection' . There is still so much more to do. Hard unclimbed projects, the undeveloped upper wall and the central cave section as well as some creative batman starts. 'The Secret Cave' has proved to be a valuable asset to 'Queensland' climbing, not only in the unique steep terrain, but also in the addition of ever increasing harder sport climbs in 'Queensland'. When to go: All day, any day. Providing you can handle the heat on the walk-in.

Snow Canyon State Park is in the area of the city of Saint George, perhaps an hour from the heart of Zion National Park. This large state park boasts a little of everything, from short sport clip-ups to mixed multi-pitch routes or even long, infrequently traveled adventure climbs. I have only sampled the area, but am writing it up here to get the ball rolling. The crags are sandstone, some reminiscent of the good stuff at Red Rock, NV, some resembling the softer formations of Zion National Park, and some fit for climbing by only the truest of desert rats. No matter if you are chasing sun or shade, or wanting crimpers, slopers, pockets, or an occasional crack there are climbs of various flavors facing in any given direction at any given time of day, depending on which crag you are at. The Island In The Sky area sports the Aftershock Wall, Circus Wall, The Doghouse, and other walls with good sport and mixed climbs. The West Canyon area has adventure routes and much adventure potential for those looking for touble and in possession of an emergency bolt kit. The nearby town of Saint George has plenty of services and hotels as well as nearby 'improved camping' at Snow Canyon State Park ($14 in addition to $5 daily entry fee) or free camping just outside town on BLM land. The following guidebooks contain more details on the area and the park: Rock Climbs of Southwest Utah & The Arizona Strip, Second Edition; Rock Climbing Utah; and an article in Climbing magazine #225 (article by Tim Kemple).

Located in the talus field past the Dances with Wolves cave. From Wild Folowrers: Hike up towards Dances with Wolves and take a LH fork in the trail. Hope across some boulders to get to the cave. From the Sundance and Dances with Wolves cave: Approach by going through (or around) the SD/DWW cave and walk 10m towards a large boulder with a cairn. The Kletterhaus cave is in front of the boulder.

Neighbor to the incredible City of Rocks. This state park welcomes sport climbers and boulderers and is a great area to beat the crowds of the City. Some approaches are long but there is a lot of good rock here!

Was once a quite and secluded area from the main populace where you could find quiet and not many climbers ... ... Chippewa Creek Gorge was formed by glacier movements thousands of years ago. These glaciers exposed outcrops of Shale, Berea Sandstone, and Euclid Bluestone. In the late 1800s the Berea Sandstone and the Euclid Bluestone were quarried for use as building materials. This ended in the early 20th century due to a decreased demand for natural stone for construction. Brecksville Reservation was declared a public park soon after. In the late 1990s the first information about climbing in the park was posted to another rock climbing website. Problems were put up and documented by that generation of climbers, but not everything was posted back then, and the website ended up becoming defunct. Legal access to the park for climbing was problematic. There was a high risk of getting your gear confiscated by park rangers. Around this time, Jeffery Bonatti created a series of hand drawn “Ruff Guides” for the park, but they weren’t highly accessible. Due to this lack of organized information, each subsequent generation of climbers claimed FAs and gave names to lines that have likely been claimed and named multiple times before throughout the years. To add to this, the moss and lichen covers boulders that don’t see much traffic and makes it look like they’ve never been touched. The creek changes the sand bars and covers or reveals footholds and washes away evidence of being climbed. Currently, the park is more accessible and more developed for climbing than recent history. There is a trail being made by the park system going from the main Gorge Rim trail down to the creek where Pinch Arete and Keyhole are. Due to the volume of climbers that have been recreating in the park, it no longer feels sketchy to walk in with pads for a session due to power of the masses. On any pleasant day you can fully expect to see other people climbing. Work is being done to organize the lines into a definitive list with proper photos, names, locations, and grades. On the topic of conditions, many problems have had holds broken off in recent years due to being climbed when the rock is still wet. The boulders in the creek itself are much more tolerant to this due to many years of water erosion, but the rock higher up on the cliff line isn’t used to this kind of stress and breaks surprisingly easy. Surprising like, wow I’m falling but the hold is still in my hands, surprising. It usually takes a solid three days of dryness and wind to get back into shape after a good, longer in the spring and winter. The main parking area for climbing access is the Pavilion area at the East end of Chippewa Creek Drive. It isn’t the first lot by the waterfall, it is ~1000ft down the road, where there are four parking areas grouped together with a swing set and a pavilion. If you walk straight North from the swing set you'll find the chained entrance to the climbing trail with a sign that states “Stay on the designated trail.” Stay on designated trails. Check out climbchippewa.com for more assistance and this WIP map of problems/info/location ----> https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1n3KipMBR1zOSon5n8RcScCqQkjStPMV7&ll=41.31983427452158%2C-81.6170396062424&z=17

Qld’s hardest crag- coolum cave hosts the majority of hard climbs in the state. The climbing is powerful, pumpy, full body and core intensive. The rock is absolutely stunning bullet hard Volcanic rock with many horns and Stalactites throughout the cave. Bring your kneebar pads and best steep shoes for heel hooks. There's not many other crags in south east Queensland where you can climb in the shade in summer. Because of this, local climbers have been almost forced to climb here, regardless of ability. And given there's not any easy routes at the cliff, Mt Coolum is transforming the local climbing populace into steep-thugging, kneebar-wielding, sloper-crushing mutants! Projects of yesteryear are today's warm-up's and today's projects are, well, futuristic! Unlike many other crags of this type, the local scene is friendly, welcoming and encouraging. Come and join us for a dangle!

Passchendaele is a granite oasis of medium to tall perfect blocs. It is located 15minutes outside Stanthorpe, close to the town of Amiens, in the “Passchendaele State Forest”. Sectors are scattered all around the lush forests, with some of the most impressive and hard bouldering in the state. Opportunities are absolutely endless with over 360 new problems developed but with a scope of 1000’s. The climbing tends to be very fingery, powerful and rewards patience. Being the “capital of cool” out in the granite belt, weather tends to be mountainous, meaning very cold mornings and some of the countries best temperatures for hard climbing. Get amongst the future of Australian bouldering on some of the states best granite.

Located near the heart of Oneonta, Palisades is a state park with a nice little cliffline running just below its parking lot. There's a good range of climbing difficulty, ranging from easy 5.4 up to roofy 5.12. Because everything can be easily toproped, it's a perfect place for a beginner's first outdoor climbing experience. And if you're just getting started on trad, Palisades is an excellent training ground; routes like Buckets (5.5) offer easy leading and plentiful protection. Be aware, though, that the grades tend to be sandbagged; Elephant Crack (5.6) and Box Lunch (5.7) are not for the novice leader. There's no sport climbing at Palisades. Two-bolt anchors are at the top of most routes to set up a top-rope. All climbers must register at the park office and buy a $5 climbing permit (this is good for two weeks). From the parking lot, head for the cliff top near a picnic pavillion and scramble down a fourth-class gully/chimney to the base of the cliff. The Dixie Cragger's Atlas is a good resource for routes at Palisades. NOTE: All "subareas" are part of the same cliff line.

Echo Cave is a great place to avoid the crowds of Atlantis. The climbing ranges from steep and juggy to vertical pocket pulling. The Cave is surprisingly deep and cool.

Just 2 Climbs in here, both starting from inside the cave, and working out and up in different directions. The V6 is juggy to start, difficult to exit the cave, then slabby to the top. The V10 is powerful big moves to the lip, then slanted jugs up an arete. Both are 20+ moves.

Sandstone Cave called Forno de Orca (Orc Oven) near Nazaré's lighthouse. When you go down the stairs to the North of the lighthouse you will see a sandstone cave called Forno de Orca (translation: Orc Oven). There are problems on the inside and outside walls of the cave.

The large hill formation that dominates the skyline at the northern end of Skaha Bluffs has exposed rock on three of its four sides, but unfortunately lacks much in the way of quality climbing. Currently, the best reason to visit this area are to try the steep sport route 'Antaeus' (5.12d), check out the decent 5.11s on Lone Pine Wall or tunnel through the hill's slot-like caves, a rite-of-passage for all Skaha climbers despite being a non-climbing activity. Jericho Wall, the location of 'Antaeus,' is currently seeing new development, which may make this sector more of a destination in the near future. Conditions: The three aspects of Cave Hill have very different conditions: West-facing Jericho Wall gets afternoon sun, south facing Cave Hill Slab bakes for most of the day and east-facing Lone Pine Wall gest morning sun. None of these sectors has a forest at the base so shade is minimal.

A clean vertical cliff with a short, deep cave in the centre. Excellent, technical face climbing from 5.9 to 5.13.

An incredible, huge cave with a stunning roof and face above.

13. Huge Cave: The huge super steep cave has many problems and many possibilities though the rock is brittle there is quality climbing to be found.

Small boulder with easy approach and fun climbs in the right mini cave start. The left side cave could perhaps also have easy climbing but nothing known by name publically. Lots of potential for more climbing nearby, with a small cave uphill to the left, and some possible boulders and highball cliffs as well directly uphill. Go scope them out!

A unique formation on the eastern edge of the park, characterized by a round base narrowing to a curved tower. Located in a tranquil setting with a creek, meadows and marshy cottonwood grove. Sport and mixed routes from 5.6 to 5.12d, one to two pitches in length.

Some of the best bouldering in the Bay, featuring sandstone huecos and slopers. Other problems on Sendage are listed under "Castle Rock State Park" (e.g. Nature Nazi Arete)

Some of the best climbing in the Bay, featuring sandstone huecos and slopers. Other problems on Sendage are listed under "Castle Rock" (e.g. Hueco Wall)

Osage State Park in Bartlesville Oklahoma