Mark Colyvan's profile on The Crag
I started rock climbing in the mid-1970s with a seat-belt-webbing waist tie (i.e. no harness), a handful of pitons and stoppers for protection (this was long before cams came on the scene), braided rope slings, hiking boots, a big heavy Stubai steel D screw-gate carabiner, and a borrowed nylon twist rope. We used a waist belay (i.e. no belay device), over-shoulder abseiling technique and an unspoken “no-fall” climbing policy. We learned what little we knew from Royal Robbins' classic 1971 book, Basic Rockcraft. My first dedicated specialist climbing boots, were a pair of Royal Robbins Yosemites (which were no improvement over my hiking boots but they looked cooler!). I purchased these along with a Joe Brown helmet and, some time later, a Don Whillans harness (which played Russian Roulette with your testicles every time you weighted the rope). Later, my climbing footwear advanced to the far superior EBs and eventually (in the 1980s) to the first "sticky-rubber" shoes, Fires. Initially, climbing was limited to my local crags: Kaputar and the Warrumbungles. Somehow I survived these sketchy beginnings. By 1980, I had decent gear (decent for the time, at least) and I fell in with a very keen group of climbers in Armidale, NSW who taught me a great deal as we pushed ourselves and each other.
I have done over 300 first ascents or first free ascents around Australia. I was listed in an article (“Australia’s Top 50 Climbers of All Time” by Greg Pritchard) in Rock magazine (April–June 1998; No. 34, pp. 26–33) as one of the top 50 Australian climbers. Beyond Australia, I have climbed in England, France, and the USA.
My first ascents and first free ascents can be found at: Kaputar, The New England Tablelands, The Blue Mountains, Evans Crown, The Sydney Sea Cliffs and Sydney suburban crags, Mt Buffalo, The Grampians, Mt Arapiles, Booroomba, Moonarie, Ben Lomond, Freycinet, Cataract Gorge, Flinders Island, various crags in Western Australia (such as Wilyabrup, West Cape Howe, Mountain Quarry, and the Porongurups), and elsewhere. Amongst the more notable of these routes are: The Last Laugh 26, Sweet Dreams 24, and Backlash 24 in Gara Gorge, New England; There Goes the Neighbourhood 25, Live Bait 23, Cheek to Cheek 23, and Edge Effects 23 at Kaputar; Be There or Be Square 23 at Moonarie; the off-width Dildo Direct 23 on Mt Killiecrankie, Flinders Island; Skywalker 23 in Mountain Quarry, Perth (the hardest climb in Western Australia at the time); and The Howling 23 at Evans Crown, Tarana.
I am also responsible for a number of mid-grade classics such as: Six Days on the Toad 20 at Evans Crown, Tarana; Broken English 20, Post Modern 21, and Black Intention 22 in Gara Gorge, New England; Slow Fade 22 and New Romantic 21 at Moonbi, New England; Public Pressure 19 and Last Call for Fame and Glory 18 at Mt York, Blue Mountains; Blondes Have More Fun 22 at Wilyabrup, Margaret River; Trust Me I’m an Idiot 20 on Mt Killiecrankie, Flinders Island; Poltergeist 22 and Clampdown 21 at Kaputar. (See my list of first ascents on The Crag for further details.)
My more notable repeat ascents include onsight ascents of Barbed Wire Canoe 25 at Frog Buttress, Blackboard 24 in the Blue Mountains, Lois Lane 24, Iron Cross 24, and Birdman of Alcatraz 23 at Mt Arapiles, The Great Barrier Roof 23 at Kaputar, and Against the Wind 23 at Moonarie. Other significant ascents include: Wild One 26, Impulse 24, and Worrying Heights 24 at Frog Buttress; Look Sharp 24, Spring Offensive 24, It’ll Never Fly 24, Fault Line 24, Horrorscope 24, and Life in the Fast Lane 24, at Mt Arapiles; and Manic Depressive 25 at Bundaleer in the Grampians. (See my logbook on The Crag for an incomplete list of climbs I’ve done.)
I’ve edited several climbing guide books and written a number of articles for Australian and international climbing magazines. (See here for details.) I’ve also edited several self-published guides to various areas in the New England region of NSW: Moonbi, Ebor, Dome Wall, and The Persian Carpets. Most of the information from these guidebooks is now available on The Crag.
One of the great things about climbing is the amazing sense of community and the weird and wonderful people you meet and climb with. Some of the characters I’ve climbed with are: Graham Nelson, Joe Roggervene, Andrew Penney, Matt Zuiderduin, Phil Segal, Paul Colyvan (“Animal”), Joe Friend, Greg Croft, Ian Brown, Greg Pritchard, Brian Birchall, Jack Lattanzio, Ed Sharpe, Paul Bayne, Austin Legler, Al Stephens, Richard Curtis, Rob Clark, Bob Killip, Mike Peck, Anthony Brennan, Warwick Payten, Kevin Pearl, Malcolm Matheson (“HB”), Tony Dignan, Rob McMahon, Neale Smith, John Fantinni, Giles Bradbury, Geoff Robertson, Geoff Weigand, Mike Law, John Smoothy (“Crunch”), Graeme Hill, Mal Grey, Greg Moore, Tim Ball, Russell Chudleigh, Tim Chapman, Paul Daniels, John Wood, Mike Law-Smith, Rob Staszewski, Warwick Baird, Kim Carrigan, Louise Shepherd, Lincoln Shepherd, Chris Shepherd, Nyrie Dodd, Glenn Robbins, Ian Anger (“Ferret”), Natalie Green, Charlie Creese, Even Bieske, Roger Bourne, Nic Taylor, Phil Parker, and many others.
After many years away from the sport, I returned to climbing a few years ago and, as of 2025, I am still climbing, both outdoors and in the gym. See my profile on The Crag for further details and here for some climbing photos.
To: Mark's Homepage