Oatlands can be found about 1 hours drive north of Hobart up the Midlands Highway, or a bit longer than 1 hour south of Launceston.
Park at the picnic area near Milk Point and walk across the Top Dam to get to the areas.
The Devils Kitchen is the obvious, enormous roof and is clearly visible from the parking area.
To get to the southern areas such as the Yellow Cave and Funky Town it is quicker to park near the bottom dam and walk across it.
Oatlands has been in development since 2001 and is now the best bouldering area in Tasmania. The climbing is on both roofs and faces and is of very high quality. The sandstone is generally quite solid, which is fairly unique for Tasmania. As well as Tasmania's hardest bouldering, Oatlands also has an increasing number of quality moderates.
This is the small cave and wall to the left of the Rumble Cave. It is the furthest left of the caves in the line of cliffs that face the top dam. It has the skeleton of a dead sheep in the right side of the cave. All these problems are sandy and need more cleaning.
1. Fencepost Left V5 (SDS) Start at underclings 1m left of the green fence post. Up to crimps and slopey topout.
2. Fencepost Right V3 (SDS) Start at big jug 1m right of fence post and dyno up to lip and desperate slopey mantle.
4. The Tomb of the Dead Sheep V3 (SDS) Start in the right hand side of the cave just to the left of the dead sheep. Climb out through loose and dirty jugs. Needs more cleaning.
5. Lamb Chops V2 (SDS) Start at a jug in the middle of the little arch. Up and left to slopey top out.
6.1. V3/4 (SDS) Start as for previous problem, crank straight up to the lip (rather than move right) and do the slopey top out.
This is the first sizable cave that you come to when walking from the top dam. It faces north and is warmer than the other areas.
1. Fire in the Hole V7 (SDS) Sitstart on pedestal on left edge of cave and head out right to top out
2. Jake's Problem V8 (Stand) Start on the black rock a few metres in from the lip on the left side of the cave, at a bit of a ridge 2m for the very back. Climb out and into Fire in the Hole.
Project -start from right at the back
Project -start from right at the back
3. V? (SDS) Project - Start as for no. 1, but continue traversing the lip of the cave rightwards to finish up Flounder.
4. Thriller in Manilla V6 (SDS) Left hand start to Rumble in the Jungle. Start off opposing edges in roof.
5. Rumble in the Jungle V5 (Stand) Start off flat hold in back of cave, out through jugs to lip and top out
1. Bongo in the Congo V4 (SDS) Crawl into the back of the cave to the right of the start of Rumble in the Jungle. Climb out through sandy holds in the roof to finish on the starting hold of Rumble in the Jungle. The Rumble linkup goes at V7.
1. Flat Head V5 (SDS) Start as for the Flounder sitstart, and traverse the lip leftwards to finish as for Rumble in the Jungle
2. Flounder V6 (SDS) Sitstart under lip and climb up on slopers 1m left of corner. The stand start off the big sloper is V3.
The Constant Gardener V2 (SDS) A few metres right of the previous problem there is a bit of a cave, with a flat hold at the lip. Straight out through the cave to the flat hold, then up the slab.
V4 (SDS) Climb the line of holds on the right hand side of the cave, 1m right of the previous problem.
This short vertical wall is about 50m to the left of the Devil's Kitchenette and has some OK easy problems.
V2 (SDS) Start about 1.5m left of the fallen block on the far left of the Devil's Kitchenette at a finger slot in under the roof. Move left to lip and up over bulge
1. V3 (SDS) Start about 2m left of The Cheeky Little Devil. Straight up then top out as for Cheeky Little Devil so as to avoid the hollow block
2. The Cheeky Little Devil V5 (SDS) Sitstart from low flake, up and right, then back left and topout
3. Kitchen Bitch V6 (SDS) From low sitstart climb straight out the largest bit of the roof to a hard mantle top out.
4. V2 (SDS) Start about 4m right of Sorted at good hold in roof. Campus up to rail and finish straight up left hand groove.
5. V2 (Stand) Start on the huge flat hold of the start of Antichrist. Go left to more jugs and finish as for Sorted
2. The Antichrist V10 (Stand) Start on the large flat jug and traverse right for about 7m and then out to the lip. FA Sam Edwards
2b. Anti-Problems V7/9 (Stand) The Antichrist can be split into two easier problems, split by the large jug in the centre of the traverse. The first half climbs at about V7, and can also be done at a slightly harder grade in reverse. The second half can be done at about V8/9
3. The Gambler V11/12 (SDS) Start as for Trident, and instead of throwing to the large slope slap to the crimp 1 foot left instead. Finish out left on lip, FA Kim Robinson
4. Trident V10 (SDS) Start in the slot at the back of the cave, climb out to the large slope and jump out right to the lip, FA Kim Robinson
5a. V3 (Stand) Top out from the left hand end of the big ledge. Provides a finish for Trident or Scab Robinson.
6. The Devil's Tongue V8/9 (Stand) Hikers problem. Start from crimps and jump out to lip, feet stand on the sandy stuff. FA Kim Robinson
7. The Punisher V7 (SDS) Start on the back wall below the finish of Antichrist. Climb into Antichrist, do the dyno to the ledge, then top out up the water streak on the right side of the ledge.
5. The Vanishing Point V13 (Stand) Start on the flake at the back of the roof, 1m behind the large jug. Out to lip. Originally given V14 but downgraded after a quick repeat. FA Tyson Atwell
This is the wall above the lip of the cave to the left of the fallen block, and to the right of the finish of Vanishing Point.
4. Marathon V7 (Hang) Start as for 2 then traverse the lip to the right, then head up and right ending to the right of the tree.
3. Darkside V11 (Stand) Start at back of cave, jump out to big slope and traverse left, FA Sam Edwards
4. Darkside Remix V? (Stand) Kim's Project - Start about 3m right of Darkside. Move into the crux of Darkside, then keep traversing out left to the lip of the cave and finish up the wall.
This is the large freestanding block that sits in front of the right hand side of the Devil's Kitchen. It is often overgrown with blackberries, you might need to do some gardening to get to the problems.
7. Short and Sweet V2 (SDS) Start on the two pockets of Cripple, but pull up and left to the big jug and the top
8. Cripple V4 (SDS) Sit start at two pockets on the left edge of the roof. Head out right to the arete and then finish up to the right.
1. V6/7? (SDS) Hard pull off ground from under lip about half way between Cripple and Fallen Angel, then up on slopes.
1. V2 (Highball, Stand) Up the highest part of the wall, watch out for dicey holds, FA Vincent Day, Kim Robinson
4. V1 (SDS) Sit start around to the left, under the chossy cave, and traverse leftwards on quite nice rock, to finish up in the corner.
These angled yellow free standing blocks are about 80m south of the Devil's Kitchen, on the next bit of rock that you come to.
4. V4 (SDS) Start left of arete under roof. Up on good holds about 1m left of arete without using arete after start
6. Snappy Direct V3 (SDS) Start as for Getting Warmer and go up the face to the R of the arete and top out
Head up the corridor to the left of the Warm Up Blocks to find this boulder with a distinctive overhanging prow.
The next boulder problem is on the short arete just opposite Backdoor, on the same chunk of rock as Wedgie (Warm Up Blocks).
6. Spearhead V3 (SDS) Start using RH crimp and left arete. A couple of moves gets you to the top jugs. Avoid tree on topout.
