Port Hills Miscellany
Godley Head
Here's an experience tinged with nostalgia and other stirring emotions. It takes in a tunnel, gun emplacements, exfoliating flakes and scary vertical ash. To get there, drive to the carpark at Godley Head, drop down on the Lyttelton side and follow your nose or the track to the tunnel entrance. Timewarp through this. (NZMS 260 N36 943351). In the centre of the wall are two one pitch climbs ( 15/16, about 10m) to a ledge. Then there is:
| Whiteware Nightmare | A2+ | 45m | Roger Parkyn '89 |  |
This route has the lot in only 25m - nailing, 'heading and hooking plus bolt-clipping. Yahoo! Cheats can free it between bolts. The crack running through the large white slab. Starts from a bolt anchor.
| Vertical Ash | 21 | 45m | John Allen | |
A corner system on the R-hand skyline. Scary V.A. at the top.
Boulder Bay
Boulder Bay, about half an hour's pleasant walk around the coast eastwards from Taylor's Mistake near Sumner, has a crag on a small headland just west of it (NZMS 260 N36 934361). When you've worked your way through the other thousand routes in this book, there are two loose and crumbly specials here for you.
| Achilles | 20 | 20m | Lindsay Main | |
A prominent corner R of a rock mushroom.
| Heel | 21 | 15m | John Allen | |
The R of two obvious corners further R.
Shag Rock
Summary
This convenient sea stack offers views, variety and an audience as you savour its dubious quality. There are four free lines and several aid (potential) lines. Keep an eye on the crumbly/loose bits, the tide, and the birds. NZMS 260 M36 898382.
| NE Face | 12 | 10m | |
The easy ascent/descent route up the NE side.
| SW Corner | 15 | 8m | Phil Stuart-Jones '78 | |
the crack (nice) and choss (grovel) up the SW corner.
| NW Corner | 15 | 8m | Phil Stuart-Jones '78 | |
the slab/corner/bridge up the NW corner.
| N Face | 20 | 10m | Dean Engle '94 | |
the left hand side of the N face. Nice climbing on reasonable pro.
There is also the separate small boulder closer to the road with at least two ways through the prominent overhang. Changing sand levels can make it more interesting.
King Park Quarry
Summary
Our version of Mount Eden Quarry? Comes complete with swing and slide. At present, this little area near the bottom of the Mount Pleasant spur is loose and dangerous. But it's steep, sheltered and not far to carry the excavating tools. You can drive up Quarry Road to the foot of the crag. There is but one route, in the middle of the cliff:
| The Wood Feels Good! | 18 | 10m | Tim Wethey '88 | |
A hard move leads to a L-slanting groove with a small tree.
Mount Vernon
Summary
This undeveloped and rather dubious crag is south of the car park where the Summit Road rejoins the ridge just west of Mount Vernon.
Access
Sidle about 300m south from the car park towards the upper half of the valley curving west up from Rapaki Bay and wander carefully down the bluffy ridge when you reach it. It is possible to approach the crag bottom from the west end via a gully between the ridge you are on and a small hollow outcrop which comes into view to the right. Alternatively, put a long sling around the convenient pine tree at the top of the crag and abseil. You may need two ropes. This tree also serves as a general belay point.The crag is on leased Council land. Watch out for stock. Permission has yet to be sought.
History
This crag was visited twice in the mid '90s and a route was soloed up through the middle. On a third visit in early spring of '96, an abseil inspection revealed the true nature of the rock...
Climbing
The rock is as fine-grained as that at Castle Rock/The Tors with vegetation more similar to the latter. Extensive trundling, gardening and scrubbing would probably be needed to produce anything classic, but Sacred Lambs has a long sequence of nice moves up some of the best rock on the crag.Unfortunately, the rock is highly variable; solid looking slabs have the surface 10-15mm peeling off, the main arete is sandy in texture and the crack is loose, and there are some elegant menhirs perched above (trundling these would be somewhat criminal). And then there's the vege...
There are two main features; the main arete and the west face.
The West Face
A lot of cleaning of the west face would reveal several routes of varied grades and quality with small aretes, grooves and slabs. It might be appropriate to leave some of the larger bushes as these may be the most solid pro available! Pretty much up the middle of this face is:
| Bungle in the Jungle | 7 | 25m | Phil Stuart-Jones '93 | |
The sequence of vegetated ledges and loose rocks through the centre of the west face veering slowly right and ending with a grovel behind a group of small trees in a groove right of the top slabs. Loose.
| Sacred Lambs | 15 | 30m | Phil Stuart-Jones (solo top-rope) '96 | |
The groove left of the main arete. Follow the good rock to the top. Nice sequences with good pro although the rock is still a bit loose. It just seems to keep on coming!
The Main Arete
The prominent feature facing the harbour which looks inviting but which has so far repelled all borders at a point about a third of the way up. Help yourselves...
The Shrubbery
Right of this is an area of low-angled vegetated blocks which may reveal a low-graded scramble or two.