Chockstone - About This Climbing Site

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About Chockstone
[ Join The Team | Sponsorship | About The Author ]

Images Of Australia

Chockstone is a sponsored, but non-profit, non-commercial website. It provides content primarily relevant to rock climbers in Victoria, Australia. No claim is made about the accuracy or suitability of any information, see the full disclaimer.

Users are encouraged to contribute to this site's crag guide, photo & video gallery, tech tips, interviews, gear, book and movie reviews, dictionary, links list and the popular forum. Simply email material to Chockstone or post to the forum. The forum has become the central focus of this site with hundreds of climbers, most of them locals, logging on each week to discuss all things climbing.

The ultimate aim is for the guide to cover every crag in Victoria no matter how small, at least as an overview. Not with a view to replacing printed & published guides, but as supplemental material, kind of like a comprehensive crags review. The idea being that climbers can browse text, photos and video before investing time into visiting an area new to them. This ambitious undertaking will obviously take many years to be completed. Any support or contributions are naturally very much appreciated.

Above Right: The site's author, "Chockstone" Mike, flailing about in the Grampians. Photo By Neil Monteith.

Join The Chockstone Team

* Post to our forum, which is becoming the place for Victorian climbers to hang out, tee up trips, and discuss all things climbing.
* Add a climbing book or movie review. With over 240 media already, this resource is steadily growing.
* Send in pictures or notes about Victorian climbing areas to help build the guide and gallery, or contribute in other ways, such as nominating an interviewee.

Sponsorship

Chockstone generates a huge amount of expensive out going traffic (in the order of 10 gig a month), and incurs over 200,000 hits a month. The site is on the air due to the generosity of Bendigo IT & GAIA Computing, but badly needs to recoup at least some of the hosting fees, which is where sponsorship from Rock Hardware has been invaluable. If you need IT support, custom software, network administration, consulting, hardware, commercial web sites... give Bendigo IT a try. If you're looking for great, inexpensive climbing gear check out Rock Hardware, and help support Chockstone.

About The Site Author

I've been climbing since 1993, but these days I'm more interested in taking photos than climbing. If you're keen on Nature and Landscape images check out my other site: Chockstone Photography. I've never done a big wall, or scaled a serious peak. Apart from one ice climbing trip, my experiences have been limited to weekend "cragging", with occasional extended trips. I enjoy long multi-pitch traditional routes best, usually in mid to high teens. I don't chase numbers, just have fun. My other interests include photography, hiking, mountain biking, gym, swimming laps, and generally being outdoors.

Hope you find something of value here.
Email Michael Boniwell:
michael.boniwell@gmail.com

Or leave feedback about the site on the forum.

Chockstone \'ch?ck-st?n\ noun

1. A naturally occurring stone found wedged in a crack or fissure between two larger rock surfaces. Frequently used by mountain climbers as a secure point of protection to which ropes are fastened.