One last set of climbing pics from the tour up on the North Island.
The Wharepapa area is full of secluded areas with fantastic rock and interesting climbs that are usually not more than a [rather peaceful] 20-minute stroll through the forest. We sampled a good amount of these places and never once did we come across other climbers. But if you head down the street just 5 minutes from Bryce’s you’ll come upon a heap of pocketed ignimbrite grid-bolted with hangers just a stone’s throw from the parking area. Seems the Kiwi climbers aren’t any different from the American lot, as most of them come here out of laziness. That said, there are a couple of fantastic lines at Froggatt; some of them the best single-pitch climbs I did in New Zealand.
I did my first ever professional climb on a fantastic route called Terror Incognito (5.10b). Bryce was guiding a client that day and was too lazy to lead the climb so he asked me to do it. You should have seen the look on the client’s face when he found his guide for that climb was some ‘random’ guy hanging out at the cliffside. Try doing that in America. Of course, I only got a couple of beers for it while Bryce got paid $400 for the day.
Danny pushing onto the final headwall of Terror Incognito
Me just past the overhanging layback crux on Mister Daddy Long Legs (5.11a)
Froggatt is full of overhanging routes with huge holds. It’s like a gym. Hanging out at a nice rest on Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter (5.10b).
There was a Navy training course at the camp for a week so I snapped a couple shots of them on a rest day.
Here’s one of them learning the hard way that just because you climbed a route of a certain grade doesn’t mean you’ve mastered them all. Some old school 5.8:
Took him awhile to commit to the slab topout, but he got it.
I put the entire set, plus the ones from Whanganui Bay in my climbing album:
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