Wanaka Rock Climbing

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Wanaka is a small town population 4000 on the edge of Lake Wanaka, the 4th largest lake in New Zealand, having driven past it the previous day I estimate it to be around 50km long and 5km wide. Behind the lake looking north is the mountain range of which Mount Aspiring is the highest peak. The countryside is reminiscent of Scotland. The craggy hill and mountain sides have been cleared of trees and bush and are now filled with livestock, mostly sheep. Rocks jut from the sides of the mountains. In the last ice age glaciers had scrapped along the edges of these valleys, with the snow-capped peaks visible in the distance it feels colder than it really is.

Anders and I both wanted to go rock climbing, neither had done it before so paid for an introduction to climbing with Wanaka Rock. Jeremy our instructor for the day took us out to an area about 10km’s from Wanaka, the area was filled with rocky outcrops, boulders and ideal places to climb.

We started the day learning knots. The knots would tie our harness to the rope and if we fell would need to be strong enough to hold our complete weight. The knot we used was a double figure of eight knot with a loop through the harness, tied off with a fishermans knot. The style of climbing we learnt was top rope, sports climbing. The difference as far as I can tell from sports climbing and traditional climbing is that with sports climbing, routes with bolts in the rock are used, leading to less accidents, making climbing more accessible.

We spent a very enjoyable day climbing up rock faces, most of the work with climbing should be done by the legs, but at the end of the day nearly every muscle I had was shaking from the effort.

The sport is one I will definitely try again, once the initial outlay on the equipment has been made, a cheap and enjoyable day in stunning natural scenery.

Martin and The Blue Lightning had offered us a lift on to Queenstown the next day, but the lightning had left the poor old beast, a dead battery changed our plans. Anders decided to hitch on to Queenstown to meet with friends - accommodation in Queenstown is virtually non-existent at New Years, and those that book up have done so weeks in advance. I never know where I’ll be from day to day so decided to opt for an easier time of it and stay on the edge of the lovely Lake Wanaka a few days longer. A bit of luck would mean that I would meet with Anders on the 1st of January 2003, but if not I have another friend to visit in Denmark.

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Photos

More Rocks
Imaginatively Named

From the top
Anders is at the bottom holding the ropes.

Comments

[Steph]

EXTREME!!!
You're journal rocks man, you are so hardcore.. live life to the fullest and keep that adrenalin pumpin yeaaaaaaaaaaah!!

[Whitney Bryden]

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Hey your journal was really interesting I would like to rock climb after reading this...Good luck in the future with that