Golden Bay Climbs

A new, definitive guide to the rock climbing areas of Golden Bay by long time activist Simon Middlemass and recent "The Climber" magazine Editor Mark Watson.

Published:1st Edition 2003
Authors: Simon Middlemass and Mark Watson

*BOX (now only 10 left) HAS JUST TURNED UP AND IS AVAILABLE FOR SALE NOW - NEW EDITION NOT DUE UNTIL 2011/2012 SEASON - SO BE IN QUICK FOR THESE FINAL COPIES

Free download of New Routes: Shagadelic Buttress, Pohara (PDF, 870KB)

Free download of New Routes: Update November 2004 (PDF, 161KB)

Sep 05 - Blog of new routes for this area: http://paynesford.blogspot.com/

Setting new standards for rock climbing guidebook design in New Zealand Golden Bay Climbs leads with a clean, fresh, organised approach. This handy (117mm x 165 mm) sized, 128 page guidebook includes over 340 climbs from grades 10 to 30. It contains 47 black and white photos and numerous topos, photo-topos and maps, many of which are completely new. Coverage of the climbs is extensive, with many of the route descriptions and area details revisited. A star system, icons and map and topo page references combine to make this a convenient and user friendly guidebook.

Included also are some historical tales from some leading protagonists, profiles of those who have had a significant input to the area, lots of information about other things to do in Golden Bay, a section on bolting and the Paynes Ford Bolt Fund, and environmental considerations relating to the area.

This publication is distributed by the New Zealand Alpine Club and available through all good outdoor stores.

Golden Bay Climbs Paynes Ford and Pohara Reviews

GOLDEN BAY CLIMBS

A Guide to Paynes Ford,Pohara and other Golden Bay crags

It wasn't that long ago that Paynes Ford was a sleepy little scenic reserve, frequented only by occasional picknickers and hippies.Things have changed. Like many other crags in New Zealand, Paynes Ford has been well and truly discovered, testimonial to the fact that it is now the subject of a dedicated guidebook. The crag offers steep, solid limestone, and includes some of the hardest and gruntiest climbs in the country.

Middlemass and Watson are two of many who have come under the spell of the place. Their introduction starts the casual style evident throughout: "For those of you who haven't been here before we had better warn you now that this is a very dangerous place; a place where time stands still and hippies abound, nude swimming is still accepted and people don't take life to seriously."

The compact 130-page guide features dozens of routes ranging from grade 10 to 30. It offers succinct descriptions of each climb and clear diagrams showing route locations. Introductory chapters give a history of the local crags, and profile some of the area's better-known proponents. There's also advice on Golden Bay's other outdoor attractions: tramping, mountain biking, swimming and caving.Punchy text, comprehensive information excellent photographs and plenty of humour.

-Shaun Barnett, New Zealand Wilderness October 2004

Planet Fearhttp://www.planetfear.com/review_detail.asp?r_id=459

Review by Steve Hodges on 2 August 2004
Golden Bay Climbs
by Simon Middlemass and Mark Watson

Golden Bay is one of the best concentrations of single pitch sport climbing in NZ (there are also a few natural routes). It is also an incredibly beautiful landscape with plenty of other activities on offer, as this guide will tell you. It had been somewhere I had wanted to go for a while, so the chance to go and review the guide seemed like a great plan.

This guide supersedes previous similar versions of the same name from the same author. The difference with this new one being that it is much, much slicker than the previous photocopied efforts. Not meaning to knock them, I'm sure they served their purpose, but they weren't modern guidebook material. This new version is.

It is easy to use with a similar format to the Rockfax guides, using a combination of topos (digital photos and schematics) and short text descriptions of the routes. It also includes its own brand of symbols to summarise the crag (afternoon sun, steep, family friendly etc…) and a natural protection symbol for those routes that require it. The access maps also do their job well, helping you to quickly and easily located walls hidden by thick bush in no time at all. It's also got plenty of really nice black and white photos.

However, it's not perfect. The topos and maps, whilst easy enough to follow, could have been improved by using consistent numbering for the routes shown. On the same page a topo might have a route as number 20 whilst the same route is labelled number 3 on the map. It would also have been nice to have route lengths on all the routes, particularly some of the longer ones.

Like all climbing guides, it was outdated even as it went to print. However, update pages can be downloaded from the following link, as and when they are produced: http://www.geocities.com/~nzclimbing/guides/paynes.html. One new crag has already been covered! [Editor 2010: geocities.com has been discontinued.]

Overall the best climbing guide I have used in NZ. All we need to do now is get the authors to cover the rest of this country with this style of guide.

Wild Magazine, Australia

Subtitled ' A climbing guide to Paynes Ford, Pohara and other Golden Bay crags', this is the first 'proper' guidebook to some of the best cragging in New Zealand's South Island. It has been worth the wait. A trickle of Australian climbers have already sampled the delights of the region. Golden Bay Climbs is likely to convert the trickle to a flood. It is an outstanding little book—one of the best—replete with action photos (b&w; some a trifle murky), photo diagrams, topos and maps. It demonstrates high standards of production and aesthetics. More to the point it has soul You get a sense of what makes the climbing in the region special, and of those characters who have contributed to it. In short Golden Bay Climbs makes you want to go there. I can't wait.

CB Wild Magazine Autumn 2004

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Attachment	Size
ShagWall_Print.pdf	870.26 KB
Update11.04.pdf	160.69 KB