Mount Arapiles

Mount Arapiles, called Dyurrite by the Wotjobaluk people, rises around a hundred and forty metres above flat farmland, a block of hard quartzite sandstone whose faces hold something in the order of three thousand climbing routes at every grade, from beginner slabs to some of the hardest lines in the country. Climbers have come since the 1960s, and the village of Natimuk nearby has been reshaped by them, with a climbing shop, cafés and an unusually strong arts scene for a town of five hundred. Walkers can reach the summit by road or track for views over the Wimmera and toward the Grampians. Access to some areas has been restricted to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage.

History

The Djurid Baluk clan of the Wotjobaluk lived around the mountain, Djurid, for thousands of years, making stone tools from its hard sandstone and sheltering in its gullies and caves, and a survey of 1992 found 42 Aboriginal sites, quarries, scarred trees and rock art among them; after Europeans settled from the mid-1840s, disease, clashes and the loss of the mountain's resources broke the clan up, and by the early 1870s the last of them had been moved to missions. Major Thomas Mitchell made the first recorded ascent on 23 July 1836 and named it after the Arapiles hills near Salamanca in Spain (Wikipedia, Mount Arapiles).

What's there

• The climbing walls - thousands of routes on hard sandstone faces.
• The summit view - the Wimmera plain and Grampians from the top.
• The Pines campground - the long-standing climbers camp below the cliffs.
• Natimuk - the small town shaped by decades of climbing visitors.

When to go

March to May and September to November for climbing; summer is too hot on the rock and winter often wet. Autumn is the classic season. Some climbing areas are closed to protect cultural heritage, and closures have expanded in recent years.

What to expect

Cultural heritage closures have removed access to a number of well-known routes, which is a live and sometimes contentious issue among climbers. Facilities are basic, with a campground and no shop on site. Snakes are common in warm months.

Nearby

Natimuk village is at the foot; the Grampians lie southeast.

Key facts