Home > The Guide > Hornsby and the North > Brown's Road

Brown's Road is a great area, offering a variety of problems on excellent, compact sandstone, with walls up to about 12m in height. The crag is set in lovely surroundings, overlooking the upper Lane Cove river opposite Thornleigh Park. The crag faces west, so is best on summer mornings and winter afternoons.

To get to the crag, drive to the end of Brown's Rd, Wahroonga (just off the Comenarra Parkway near the Sydney Adventist Hospital). A well worn track leads past the left hand end of the white fence and down to the top of the "Ampitheatre" (about 75m from the road). Descent is via the cleft to the right.

The crag reaches its highest at this point, with numerous (old) top rope bolts along the top of the cliff and a number of leadable climbs as well (mainly cracks, but also a few bolted routes). It is highly recommended that you bring along a rope and some top roping gear - most of the walls would be pretty necky soloes (many of the problems get harder with height).

The remainder of the cliff also offers good bouldering and top roping, both left and right of the Ampitheatre. Of particular note is the "Alleyway", a 4m deep trench located about 50m around to the left (facing the cliff) of the Ampitheatre.

Further around to the right are a series of cliffs that have been recently bolted with U bolts. Some of these walls reach up to 15m or so in height and there is one huge overhang opposite the Comenarra Cliffs. Further down the hill is a large boulder with great problems on it.