Two Big New Rock Routes Down South
Settled March weather has seen the completion of two new multi-pitch routes in the south-western corner of the South Island. It's great to see teams of younger climbers taking on the labour of establishing routes of this scale—a task requiring hard work, stick-your-neck-out commitment and considerable financial input. For longer reports on the establishment of both opf these routes, keep an eye out for the autumn issue of New Zealand Alpine Journal.
In the Otago Alps, Butterfly Effect is an 11-pitch, 300m route at a grade of 24 on the striking eastern buttress of Mt Chaos. The menacingly-named peak rises up out of the Beans Burn at the northern end of the Humboldt Mountains. Mt Chaos is home to several other long routes and the region is quickly garnering a reputation for the best schist in the country. The route was established by: Mason Gardener, Jacob Kuchler, Reon Morrison, Henry Booker, Tim Pringle. While the route makes use of available natural protection, all belays and rap stations are bolted, along with as many as 11 bolts for protection on individual pitches.
Meanwhile, in the Cleddau Cirque below Fiordland's Mt Moir Massif, another long new route has been equipped over the summer. Tunnel Vision is a nine-pitch, 280m grade 24 equipped by Owyn Aitken, Jack Evans, David Macdonald, Ben Mitchell, Reon Morrison. The first ascent of the route was climbed in late March by Owyn, David and Ben. The route starts nearby the Homer Tunnel portal on the Cleddau side and weaves its way up the huge wall below the Moir massif. A three pitch 'epilogue' was also equipped, allowing climbers to link through to the many other routes on Mt Moir, Moir's Mate and the Mate's Little Brother. Let the monster route link-ups ensue!
The first ascent party have advised that the first four pitches of this route make for an accessible introduction to Darrans multi-pitching, with good protection and a maximum grade of 19.
Routes of this kind, even when natural protection is used, require a lot of hardware for double bolt anchors and rap stations, let along the climbing itself. Tunnel Vision was supported by a grant from the NZAC Bolt Fund. In recent times, this fund has supported the replacement of old hardware and or new routes at other crags such as Pakeho, Castle Downs, Babylon Crags, Adelaide Cirque, Fyfe River Gorge, Bullock Creek, Golden Bay and South Wye. This fund survives via the donations of climbers. To support the hard work of volunteers who establish new routes and replace the hardware on popular routes (the primary purpose of the fund) please consider donating via the gold 'Donate' button at the top of the page.