Sheffield
The Badgers Ranges (Far South)
The Badgers Ranges is about a 20 minute drive south from Devonport and 2 to 3 minutes north from Sheffield itself. If you are coming from Launceston it is quicker to turn off the highway at Elizabeth town and drive to Sheffield that way. When you arrive at Sheffield turn north into High Street and onto Nook Rd, continue north for about 3 km and then right onto a gravel Rd. After about 250 metres you will arrive at a parking area on the right. Walk up hill following obvious vehicle track through disused gravel pits for about 200 metres. Look out for orange tape on your right which signals the start of the old Kimberly's lookout track, follow track uphill until pink tape and cairn are reached on your right and simply follow the pink tags. The first boulder you will arrive at is Slab Boulder. The area was developed by the author of this guide Gary Burgess. It should take about 15 minutes to walk from the car park to the boulders (you can see the area from the vehicle track).
The boulders are conglomerate and the holds can be quite sharp and loose. The problems have not received a lot of traffic. It has quite a few easy to moderate problems and some harder ones. Generally the landings are ok but there are some with very bad landings. Also some problems are quite high. If you are visiting this area in warmer weather be aware of snakes as they are surprisingly plentiful in the area. The author/developer of these problems has limited experience with the 'V' grading system so treat them as a rough guide only. No stars are given to avoid controversy. Bouldering/climbing is an inherently dangerous activity. The author of this guide accepts no liability whatsoever including negligence, for any injury or damage caused to climbers/boulderers, third parties or property arising from the use of this guide. The author does not accept responsibility for any errors, inaccuracies, omissions or incorrect information.
Slab Boulder
Not a brilliant problem but treat it with respect as it is higher than it looks.
Face Boulder West
Located directly above Slab Boulder.
Overhanging start to big holds then onto slab.
Slightly harder start.
Ok, easy.
Face Boulder South
Easy.
Interesting sloping holds in top half, nice warm up. No cheating on the start.
Flip Boulder
Directly above and to the right of Face Boulder.
Lay off outside edge.
Watch the top
Up Flip then traverse out along crack. Slightly easier than Flip.
On the South side of Face Boulder.
Orange Face
Overhanging boulder left and up hill from Flip boulder.
Up left side.
Will make you think, bit sharp.
Bit more straight forward than previous problem.
Straight forward enough.
Straight forward traverse?
Trash Heap
Slightly up hill and right of Orange Face.
Straight forward easy problem on good big holds.
The Cube Lower Tier
Just south of Flip boulder.
Difficult.
Up Demon then traverse right using obvious crack for hands.
Possible sit start also.
The Cube Upper Tier
Directly above Cube lower on prominent ledge.
Project
The Cube Right Side
All these problems are quite high.
Start in gap between large flat block on ground and the main wall. Easy to mantle at ledge at half height. Then quite sketchy to the top. Watch out for loose holds. Highball.
Project - Highball
Project - Up the outside edge. Highball
The Twin Boulder Left Side
Just to the right of the Cube Right Side.
Up onto main face and into fused crack where difficulty begins. Highball and crap landing.
The Twin Boulder Right Side
Large boulder with overhanging base. Directly to the right of above.
Hard, thin and sharp. Up to good hold then trend right and up best you can. Possible sit down start.
Hard, overhanging and thin, slightly more to the right than the line suggests. V3 if you cheat by using the prominent block of rock at base!
Old Man Loner
Over behind Twin Boulders.
Up obvious mossy corner, right under roof and up off width. Highball.
The Knob
Few metres south east of Old Man Loner.
Easy line
The Unknown Left Side
The Unknown is about 35 metres south of Flip Boulder and is a substantial bit of rock but has limited potential.
Start at flat mossy area, up broken rock to small leaning pillar swing slightly left after top up steeper ground and into open book corner. Highball.
Easy to right of little roof then up onto slab. Then follow prominent flake. Highball.
The Unknown Right Side
Further to the right of Slant.
Line of least resistance on good holds.
The Nose Boulder Left Side
South west from The Unknown and slightly down hill
Good and not so good holds. Horrible landing even with mat and spotter.
The Nose Boulder Right Side
Project. Very hard problem. Out through little roof on very small holds to key hold on face.
Up obvious weakness and left traverse prominent crack with good holds
Up to big holds then rightwards to flake, then left along it.
Mt Claude
There has been some development of an extensive boulder field on Mt Claude. Hopefully we will get some topos soon.