I recently found a bouldering area at Mt Hobbs near Buckland and have just written up the first few problems.

The bouldering area is formed by the dolerite columns of Mt Hobbs falling down the southern side providing slabs, vertical and overhanging faces on the one outcrop, literally something for everyone. The boulders range in size from low balls to massive highballs that will require special trousers, with everything in between.


The potential looks enormous but it’s hard to know without trying a range of the available boulders, so get a brush and a shovel/spade to clean the toupee of ferns off the top out holds and put your name to something!

The boulders are featured on almost all faces and the dolerite texture is like coarse sandstone. The landings are generally, surprisingly good.

A typical block steep front vertical to overhanging sides and featured.

And a slab to show the diversity of problems!

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9 Comments

  1. Jon Nermut

    Mt Hobbs bouldering . Must fix those maps.

     

    You missed a picture of the worthwhile looking one! 

    1. Dave Humphries AUTHOR

      There is more worthwhile than that, that was just easy pickings:)

  2. Mike Hitchcock

    This looks amazing! Great find guys.

    Can't wait to get back to Tassie and start cleaning them up!

    Thank you for sharing (smile)

  3. Jon Nermut

    Also for anyone looking for some nice summer FAs and don't mind the 2.5 hr drive from Hobart, Aaron Scott sent me this photo of some very big and nice looking boulders that are currently high and dry on the edge of Lake Gordon, past Adamsfied, with a logging road to within 50m:

    image.png

    Photo Aaron Scott, from the top of Stepped Hills

    Here:

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lake+Gordon/@-42.6527626,146.2500096,399m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0xaa6fa6391aac7697:0x2a03c94e1bbb3460!8m2!3d-42.7078369!4d146.1787404

     

  4. dave james

    must be heaps of stuff in the sawback range too. has anyone been out there?

    easy mtb ride then short walk.

    1. Jon Nermut

      There are definitely boulders along that track, quite near it. Never heard of anyone actually climbing there though. Time to take the ebike down there:

       

      There's also some unclimbed (presumably) buttresses and ten zillion boulders at Clear Hill itself, not that far from the road. I guess its a horror show uphill scrub bash though:

       

      I love arm chair exploring.

      1. dave james

        thats what ebikes were made for! maybe with recent attention on stepped hills the whole area is due for revival...

  5. Aaron Scott

    I've rode my bike along the Saw Back Range track - its pretty horrible from memory. A few straight sections are rideable and then you get hit with large muddy rutted sections requiring lots of pushing.

    Maybe it gets better after a long dry summer?

    Clear Hill has a good track to the summit, its a great short-ish walk. Once your up, there are all sorts of weird and wonderful rocky features.

    There is a tape / cairn that goes steeply up the side of a cutting in the road, somewhere before the high point in the road.

    This sort of thing is dotted all over the top of clear hill. 

     

  6. Patrick Kirkby

    Might be worth talking to Adam Bogus. I think he put up a new route on Clear Hill last summer or the summer before, maybe around grade 24? couldn't find it on Thesarvo. He has prob been scrub-bashing up there a bit