We arrived at a car park at the base of Mt Greville, geared up, followed the hiking track to Waterfall Gorge before descending into the ravine through a cloud of butterflies.
After checking out the crystal clear rock pools nearby we followed the dry riverbed upstream, through narrow sections flanked by high shear rock walls, under tall palms, over dead and decaying trees until we glimpsed our destination high above the canopy.
Towering over the tree tops stood a narrow rock spire, marking the beginning of the 'Wizard's Sector' wall. Veering off the hiking track we scrambled up the bank, through too many spider webs and lantana bushes, until we arrived at the base of the wall.
After trying without much luck to orientate ourselves (the guide wasn't very specific) we decided to jump on the nearest climb for a warm up, accidentally selected the hardest route on the wall, 'The Capitalist' (30m, grade 21). It was a great climb, every move felt technical, hard and committing, but the view from the top was fantastic and well worth the effort.
It was getting late in the day but we decided we couldn't leave without climbing the iconic spire so we set off up 'The Imperial Wizard - Left' (40m, grade 19). The climb started up a ledgey wall, before rearing up to a vertical face with thin ledges and big committing moves. Climbing higher the rock condensed into the rock column visible from below, and it was exhilarating to climb up the exposed face. Reaching the top was incredible, standing on top of the spire high above the gorge, the golden afternoon sun shining over the valley below. Simply amazing.
After Marie had climbed we made our way back down the gorge, stopping at the rock pools for a quick splash of water on the face, and back to the car. We took the scenic route home around Moogerah Dam and returned home to Brisbane.
A fantastic day of climbing in a beautiful location, hard to beat!
More photos here
