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Isn't it time Frog joined the modern world? 24-Aug-2009 At 4:42:15 PM Brother Colin

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I am the ACA Qld rep for Frog. I have had this debate with the rangers.

Walking off up steep loose ground.. the ranger DO NOT WANT THIS TO HAPPEN. It causes too much erosion and created a water run off route which increases the problem. Walk off only if you are AT the cliff top already.

Abseiling off trees...a big no no and this does still happen. I have also seen some people top rope around trees. Stupid, real stupid.

Protected anchors around trees. lesser of an evil. some trees cope with this well ie: ironbarks (the species on frog only grows there so is rare. rangers would like us to stay away) Others trees do not cope well with the cables. eg: bark rubbing off, increased traffic to root area causing erosion thus root exposure and root death thus increased soil loss and rock fall.

Bolt anchors...as tris pointed out, using drills is illegal. In some people opinion a lesser evil as it directs traffic away from trees (if these are placed in a good location) only leaving two holes in the rock. New bolt anchors are being painted. It can be argued that the holes are permanent but so is a dead tree( and this will have carry on effects through soil loss etc).

The rangers (4 of them) that look after Frog also look after 9 other national parks in the region so are very busy. Some of these other parks also have climbable cliffs. the rangers here do understand our point of view but are NOT the policy makers so can only enforce what they are told to enforce.

As for track works....we are working on that too....and improving standards at the campsite. There has been NO climbing person talking directly to the rangers representing climbers as a whole until this year. It will take time.

For the moment climbers are looking after the climbing. Hopefully we can change this to both parties helping each other improve things.

Some anchors were in a great place then a rock fell off leaving the anchor high and of no real use. 'Straight mans fear'. Hopefully we will get around to a solution for this soon. In other places some cables have been replaced with news covers or replaced with bolt anchors if the tree was not concidered safe.

There is no simple solution here because of current policies regarding rock climbing in National Parks in Qld but we have started.