Cataract Gorge walk landslip a 'complex' challenge, council says

Contractors were clearing weeds from the hillside below South Esk Road - about 40 metres above the Cataract Gorge Walk - when they noticed a privately-owned retaining wall had been compromised.

Recent heavy rain is believed to have worsened the situation, leading council to close the popular 1km trail for up to "several months".

Infrastructure general manager Shane Eberhardt said the instability was not just contained to one section of the retaining wall.

"There's some support beams along from [the landslip] that have started to move, and the other end where the [Trevallyn Steps] are there's a big bulge in the wall," he said.

"There's a few places where it's looking like it could fail."

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Fixing the landslip is understood to be the responsibility of the homeowners, however, council is eager to have tourists and locals on the trail as soon as possible.

Engineers have been engaged to check the home's safety.

"We're working closely with the landowners, particularly to make sure they remain safe," Mr Eberhardt said.

"From a council perspective, we've got many engineers and do lots of projects every year and it's a large complex issue for us, so it would be extremely difficult to expect the landowners to manoeuvre their way through what needs to be done."

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Council will spend the next few weeks assessing short-term and long-term fixes.

Major reinforcements are off the cards until the ground is drier, but Mr Eberhardt is optimistic of finding solutions to safely reopen the trail in time for warmer weather.

"It may be things like using motion sensors to provide us with an early alert if things start to move," he said.

"Or it may be when we know we've got wet weather frosty mornings that we just close it."

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