Given that it's where I started climbing, lo those many years ago, I'd love to see climbing allowed there again!
One problem is that there have indeed been a number of accidents there over the years. (A colleague at my first job turned out to be the Paul Gillis who was carted off to hospital after decking out off an aid route.) Worse, groups became a problem in the past. There was an injury (fatality?) with a group student, and climbing was banned. After some time, the ban was relaxed, whereupon another group student promptly had an accident leading to the current climbing ban.
Interestingly, while trying to check out some details of the above accidents, I came across a management plan document which discusses allowing climbing for individuals, but with significant restrictions on groups.
http://www.visitmacedonranges.com/natural-attractions/hanging-rock/downloads-and-documents/management-plan/HRMP1314.pdf
The document appears to be from 2003, which makes me wonder whether it went anywhere. In particular, has anybody confirmed that the ban is still in place? The document specifically suggests NOT encouraging climbing - which could suggest the ban was relaxed without telling anybody!
|