There's a 'Shady Side' to Cataract Gorge.
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It spans all the way from Welcome Boulder, past Double Dozen Cliff and onto Hot Mess Buttress.
Welcome to the world of rock climbing.
Hidden among Launceston's most famous reserve are more than 850 climbing routes.
Under the watchful eye of Launceston climbing guru Patrick Munnings, we've detoured off the Zig Zag Track to find Saturday Night Buttress, a grade 19 climb on Sunny Side (the southern side of the rivermouth).
After five minutes of bush-bashing not in the least suited to office attire, The Examiner's Duncan Bailey is harnessed up and ready to participate in a 50-year-old tradition.
![Launceston rock climber Patrick Munnings. Picture by Nick Hanson Launceston rock climber Patrick Munnings. Picture by Nick Hanson](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/d6134cce-b7ab-4176-87f4-6e80e6f8c3b4.jpg/r0_0_2048_1365_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"The first recorded [Gorge] climbs were done in the 1970s," Mr Munnings explains.
"At that point it was a place where people could train for climbing harder and more adventurous climbs - a lot of those climbers were going overseas and doing mountaineering in New Zealand, Nepal, the [United] States and Canada.
"This was a place to build the skills you needed to do the more technical side of those adventures, but now it's evolved into people trying really hard climbing and learning to climb."
Australian climbs are graded from 0 (easiest) to 39 (hardest), and named by the first climber to ascend them.
The vast majority of Gorge climbs are graded between 10 and 30, but many come with an added degree of difficulty.
As the 'Heckle Area' climb on the Shady Side suggests, friendly banter is often shared between climbers and passers-by.
"It's one of the joys of climbing in the Gorge really," Mr Munnings says.
"If you're on this side you get people yelling at you 'do a flip'.
"If you're climbing on [the Shady] Side you get so many comments from people walking past it's hilarious, things like - 'oh you know there's stairs?' and 'how do you get your rope up there?'
"It's really fun interacting with the community. It's how I've met a few people who decided they want to get into climbing."
Night time brings on a whole new challenge.
Strollers who regularly traverse the Gorge walking track at evening will recognise the familiar sight of spotlights illuminating the Sunny Side rockface, a sure sign of rock climbers at work.
"Night climbing is amazing, it's a completely different experience because you're just in this little headtorch world," Mr Munnings said.
"When you're climbing you just see this one-metre by one-metre section of rock in front of you and that's your only world.
"Everything else just disappears, you lose perspective of how high you are and you just engage with the movement a lot more.
"It's a really enjoyable experience - as long as you can find your way back out when you've finished climbing."
!['You know there's stairs?': Gorge rock climbing taking off 'You know there's stairs?': Gorge rock climbing taking off](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/ceeb50f9-d48f-4b62-af32-31192cdcc7a7.jpeg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The number of climbers in Tasmania appears to be on the rise.
Mr Munnings has been bringing new climbers to the Gorge for three years in his role with the Tasmanian University Mountaineering Club, while Invermay's new bouldering gym Beta Park has been a boon for the Launceston climbing community.
Many also regularly engage in Crag Care working bees, which set out to care for the Gorge and other climbing locations by planting trees and clearing weeds and rubbish.
And then there's the fact that it's great fun.
Having witnessed Mr Munnings expertly guide a fearless Duncan Bailey up Saturday Night Buttress, it's easy to see why so many are taking it up.
"There's been heaps of new people getting into climbing," Mr Munnings said.
"We love people that are really excited by the idea of climbing and want to get into it."
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