The Colosseum
Introduction
The Colosseum is a very steep north facing crag about 30 minutes walk from the car. The rock is excellent, with some of the best steep sandstone in Tasmania.
Access
From the carpark walk down the old fire trail for about 50m, and then follow a red taped track off left (marked with cairn) through the bracken then down the spur line. The spur ends at the top of a small cliff (Riverside) just above the river. Keep going past Riverside Crag down to the river. Take the 'Blue Tape Track' straight up the hillside opposite, arriving at the right end of 'Eldorado' at the base of the route 'Midas' Touch'. To continue to 'The Colosseum', it is an easy flat walk (about 5 minutes) along the base of the sandstone band past 'Plebeians Wall'. It takes 20-30 mins walk from the car, depending on your speed.
There is also an alternative 'Red Taped Track' which heads north up the valley. It takes longer, but is less steep. To take this turn left at the riverbed instead of heading up the hill, and follow the tapes.
Superunknown Buttress
A buttress chock full of vertical to slightly overhanging face climbs for those operating in the low 20's. North facing, and sheltered from the wind, a perfect spot on a sunny winters day. Its located at the far left of the Colosseum, about 200m from the big roof of Crossing the Rubicon and 50m past Terrastomp Buttress.
Start on the stepped ledge. Clip the first bolt on Cleganebowl then head for the arete.
Dave Humphries July 2017
Get hype. The smaller buttress to the left of the wall provides good steep climbing.
Jon Nermut, Aug 2017.
Interesting technical climbing. Climb the wall, using the arête to finish.
Dave Humphries Jul 2017.
A great sequence of moves characterise this direct finish. Possibly an easy tick for the grade for the thin wall specialists. Start as for DDD, moving right into hanging corner at overlap. Straight up thin wall above.
Owen Gervasoni, April 2018
A sustained journey starting as for DDD to the captive quickdraw, then climbing diagonally right above the lip of the cave and finishing at the MOM loweroff. Clip the captive quickdraw on DDD when lowering of to safely clean the draws of the route.
Owen Gervasoni, April 2018
Excellent varied climbing on the wall right of the central cave.
Owen Gervasoni, Mar 2018
Terrastomp Buttress
Head around left from the main amphitheatre, past the scramble up to the top, to the next bit of good rock.
The clean corner featuring an offwidth and a finger crack. Surmount the ledge, continue up the crack system (with minimal thrutching) then traverse off right to the Terradactyl DBB.
B. Armstrong, J. Gauldi, June 2018
The nice looking slab to the left of Terrastomp is let down by having one hard thin move and a bit of a scrappy start.
Jon Nermut, Dave Humphries, May 2018.
The lovely short arête. The first route at Sand River.
Dave Humphries, Jon Nermut, Apr 2017.
The short, steep, juggy wall to the right of Terrastomp, with a harder move right at the top.
Dave Humphries, Aug 2017.
The Cave Sector
The left hand side of the Colosseum is capped by an enormous roof.
A very short and intense route finishing at the big horizontal break, at the far left side of the Colosseum.
Garry Phillips May 2017
Gear protectable crack in the middle of the cave sector. Hardest moves are at the start, followed by sustained climbing. Be careful exiting, there is minimal gear and a abundance of lichen.
Sammi Dos & Fraser Labine-Romain 24/09/2017
The first bolted line right of Hydra. The climbing starts from the ledge, stick clip the first or carefully climb to it. Not the best climbing but on amazing rock.
R. Sklenica, 2019.
Starts 3m left of Unnamed 401. Through the roof and the pleasant wall above.
Garry Phillips 2018
Cave sector middle
Diagonal slanting line finishing at the same anchors as Alpha 9.
G. Phillips, 2018.
Steep climbing out the Left hand side of the roof.
Up the wall to the base of the roof then follow the huge flake system out left to finish on the same anchors as unnamed 401.
Garry Phillips, Apr 2018.
Starts as for Alpha 9 but at the roof take the right hand line.
G Phillips 2018
The original vision was for a short warmup. It ended up a bit more strenuous. Devious mantle to get established (take care the rope doesnt get stuck if you stick clip). Move up and right steeply on cool featured holds through the rooflet. The holds under the roof are much more solid than Dan's claim that Julius Caeser drank a gatoraid before crossing the Rubicon, thus making gatorade acceptable in the Coliseum naming theme.
Dan Johnson 26 December 2018
Open Project
Next line left of A bridge to Far
Cave Sector Right Side
This steep little number climbs out of the cave about 6m left of the start of Crossing The Rubicon. Powerful start to an awkward rest. Then a technical traverse to the lip. Has fixed quickdraws to make cleaning straightforward.
Owen Gervasoni, June 2018
A highly entertaining climb with terrific positions. Start at far right hand side of the cave. Bouldery start up the corner (stick clipping the second bolt is the way to go) then traverse out left along the very lip of the roof. Follow the thin crack past the slab and the final overhang.
Stu Scott and Tony McKenny, May 2017
The Orange Sector
Around the middle of the Colosseum, on either side of where the creek flows down, is a sector of beautiful orange rock.
Orange Sector - Left Side
Starts 5m left of Caligula. Steep and powerful climbing.
G Phillips 3/18
Starts directly under the waterfall. Up the wall above to a vague shake in the corner/scoop. Traverse 8 meters left along the break via some super cool moves.
Garry Phillips 24/8/17
An excellent climb starting in the steep alcove just right of Caligula. Up this to the ledge then blast up the steep face past some small holds to a pumpy traverse right on slopers. Finish up the last section of Hercules.
G Phillips May 2019
Next line right of three daggers. Finishes up Hercules.
Ryan Sklenica 2022
Orange Sector - Right Side
A Colosseum Classic. Through the small roof to the break. Then the wall above trending left to finish.
G Phillips May 2017
The direct finish to Hercules. A vicious thin boulder sequence leads to the victory jugs.
Garry Phillips 2017
On the most orange of rock in the main amphitheatre.
Garry Phillips, Apr 2017.
From the small corner system half way up Alea Jacta est, traverse right along the break and up. More sustained but less cruxy than the Alea Jacta est.
G. Phillips, May 2017
Starts through the right hand end of the overhang, then takes the corner/seam above, finishing at the Alea Jacta est RHF anchors. There is a harder start to the left, which is an open project.
Dave Humphries, Aug 2018.
Arete/wall left of the steep crack feature that divides the Orange from the Black.
Dave Humphries, Jon Nermut, Sep 2017
The Black Sector
The right hand side of the main Colosseum area is a mainly black wall with a white face covered with pockets to start.
This sector is north facing, but due to its steepness, the routes and belay areas are in shade all day during summer.
Black Sector LHS
Bouldery Moves into existing line. More powerful but not as classic.
G Phillips April 2019
Bouldery Moves into existing line. More powerful but not as pumpy.
G Phillips September 2019
Climbs the crux of Fed to the Lions before breaking out left and following the break to finish up the left hand side of the steep head wall.
Classic power endurance climbing.
G Phillips 2017
Climbs the crux of Fed to the Lions before breaking out left and finishing up the head wall above.
G Phillips 2017
The steep pocketed white wall to DBB under main overhang.
O Gervasoni, May 2017
From the DBB on Lions, power up the 45 degree overhanging wall above. Suffers badly from sand in it's top half.
O Gervasoni, May 2017
Very popular. A classic introduction to pumpy and steep sandstone climbing.
O Gervasoni, June 2017
Black Sector RHS
The bulge to the left of Et tu, Brute. The first ascentionist dyno'd directly up the bulging arête. People now tend to use holds off to the left and come back right, this is considered a variation of the original line which makes a decent 24/25.
Garry Phillips June 2017
Campus start leads to some pretty awesome moves above. If you see a "cheater stone" in place, please kick it over, it ruins all the fun of the jump start!
Garry Phillips, May 2017
Clips the first bolt of TMMTE then heads left and up.
G Phillips 31/12/17
The overhanging arete at the right end of the Black Sector.
Owen Gervasoni, July 2018
Climb the the right side of the TMME arete to the ledge, then the headwall above. It climbs better than it looks.
Dave Humphries, Jon Nermut July 2018
Circus Wall
To the right of TMME is a short but steep wall, directly below the Upper Tier.
Very thin technical climbing on the bulging wall just left of Wild Boar. Stick clip the first bolt.
David Stephenson, November 2018.
Surprisingly varied and steep climbing on the short featured wall.
T. McKenny, B. Bull, June 2018.
A ticklish start and a steep, very ticklish finish. Fun.
T. McKenny and B. Bull, Nov. 2018.
Circus Wall Upper Tier
The higher orange buttress, accessed up the fern covered scree between the Colosseum and Plebeian's wall.
Circus Wall Upper Tier
Continuously interesting climbing with a technical steep crux. Use a screw gate on the 5th bolt. Nice rock.
Stu Scott and Bob Bull, June 2018
Interesting climbing and terrific positions on the right hand arete.
Bully and Stu, July 2018
Plebeian's Wall
To the south of the Colosseum, about 50m or so right of the Circus Wall over a bracken covered scree, is the Plebeian's Wall, featuring steep, clean rock with some excellent routes. A taped line through the bracken on the left of the Wall leads up to the cliff top.
The area has been developed by a commune of Plebs aka Stu Scott, Tony McKenny, Bob Bull, Dave Stephenson, Ivan Riley, Neale Smith, Ben Maddison and others who have all shared in the onerous tasks of cleaning, equipping and belaying the routes to date, and who have in most cases added a signature route of their own as well.
The left hand end of the wall has climbs 20 to 25m high while further right the cliff is broken by a ledge at half height. A smaller wall, Minions Wall, continues further right again
The first route takes a line on the left side of the steep prow, to the left of an orange face.
Plebian's Wall
The bulging wall to the left of Working Class Heroes, starting on the slab underneath. Very entertaining.
D. Stephenson and S. Scott, July 2018.
Varied climbing ending with an exciting steep finish on large jugs over the roof. Can be climbed on the right after the second bolt without using the wobbly rocks if you don't trust them. They have resisted a concerted effort to remove them with bars, hammers and much brute force.
Tony McKenny and the Plebs , June 2017.
Terrific climbing. Starts a couple of metres right of WCH and takes a direct line up the steep glassy wall, finishing leftward via the under-cling.
Alternative finish: instead of completing the under-cling left, bridge up through the overhang directly, clipping the bolt off right (not visible from below). From a large jug out left on the lip, weave a way up and back right to finish at the rap station. Quite exciting but maybe not as good as the original.
Tony McKenny and the Plebs, June, 2107. Alt. finish; Tony McKenny, July 2017.
A steep Arapiles-quality wall leads to hard moves over the bulges. Exciting climbing on excellent rock. Magic.
Stu Scott and the Plebs, July 2017.
Classy. Takes a line on the wall to the right of Spartacus. Up pleasant slab (Upwardly Mobile) and the right facing corner, traverse right on the orange wall under the roof. Turn roof off layback and on to steep delicate terrain to finish.
Stu and Plebs
This is actually the first half of The Patrician. Rap off (U bolts) from ledge.
Stu Scott and the Plebs, Aug 2017.
Thoughtful wall climbing to the ledge, then blast on up the superb red wall and finesse the steep ground on subtle holds.
Stu Scott and the Plebs, July 2017.
A steep little wall to start then climb the massive left facing flake crack. Rap station below start of Plebs Rustikus, Access climb for upper climbs, or as a simple beginners climb.
Ivan Riley and the Plebs.
Plebian Wall RHS
The next climbs start from a ledge at half height, accessed by by the Via Appia (Grade 11), or by abseiling in. Obey the road rules and keep to the left and DO NOT go near the two massive flakes or the dirty gully on the right (especially nasty dragons).
Climbs up and over the right pointing overhang. Beware of a loose block when moving up the corner to the overhang.
Ivan and the Plebs
The steep orange water washed wall - complex and cool.
Dave Stephenson and Plebs
The next line right on overhanging orange wall. Start from u-bolt anchor. Nice moves on hard water washed stone.
Neale Smith and the Plebs
Minions Wall
To the right of the start of Via Appia is an obvious break in the cliff line, capped by the dangerously loose flakes and a particularly dirty gully. Further right again is a short, steep wall of excellent sandstone.
Climbs the grey streaked wall, and directly up shallow corners, finishing on right at the very top. A good warm up.
The Buckoboys (aka Tony, Stu and Bob Bull), Aug 2017.
Climb the short bulging wall: for the best of the technical climbing, keep to the nose of the buttress, avoiding the temptations of the Minion's crack line to the right. Belay as for Buckoboys. Fun stuff.
Tony McKenny and The Plebs
Technical climbing on small holds up the water washed groove, a metre right of Hoi Polloi.
Neale Smith and the Plebs, July, 2017.
Battle of the Bulge
The smooth wall with a bulge on the next little buttress right of Minions. Nice technical moves on good rock.
David Stephenson, July 2018