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South Island Rock Climbing

Climbing Area Map

Areas in South Island

Canterbury 72 / 70 / 61 / 33 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 9 / 175

Diamond Harbour 0 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3

Marlborough 2 / 6 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 11

Nelson-Tasman 4 / 112 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 116

Otago 50 / 294 / 38 / 15 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 7 / 363

Southland 4 / 20 / 0 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 31

West Coast 5 / 10 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 15

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Use onX Backcountry to explore the terrain in 3D, view recent satellite imagery, and more. Now available in onX Backcountry Mobile apps! For more information see this post.

Elevation:	899 ft	274 m
GPS:	-43.8979, 171.2988 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views:	386,222 total · 1,775/month
Shared By:	Guy H. on Jan 30, 2007 · Updates
Admins:	Muscrat, Mauricio Herrera Cuadra Page Updates (admin only)

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Description

The south island has a wide range of climbing opportunities from bouldering on the east coast, sport cragging in the north and on the west coast, and alpine experiences in the mountain range along the western coast. There are loads of other non-climbing activities to plan around your visits to the spread out crags. Make sure your check out the fly fishing, sea kayaking, and trekking while you are in the country.

Make sure you pickup a copy of "South Island ROCK" by Lindsay Main and Tim Wethey. This was the best reference for the whole island that I found. There are also a number of smaller guide books out there for individual crags.

Getting There

There are many short flights from the the northern island to the major cities in the south.

714 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at South Island

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.

V3 6A 7 ● lung arete Boulder Canterbury > Castle Hill > Quantum Field
V4 6B 12 ● Beautiful Edges Boulder Canterbury > Castle Hill > Spittle Hill
V5 6C 8 ● Acid Test Boulder Nelson-Tasman > Paynes Ford > First Watering Hole
V6+ 7A 6 ● The Unrepeatable Boulder Canterbury > Castle Hill > Quantum Field
V7 7A+ 8 ● Tuppimaster Boulder Canterbury > Castle Hill > Spittle Hill
4th 1 2 I 2 M 1b Mod. Snow 8 ● Northwest Ridge Trad, Snow, Alpine Otago > Mt Aspiring NP > Mt Aspiring
5.4 4a 12 IV 10 VD 3c 6 ● The Grand Traverse of the Remark… Trad, Alpine Otago > … > Lake Alta > Grand Traverse
5.9- 5c 17 VI 16 HVS 4c 20 ● The Mission Sport Otago > … > Wye Creek > Main Wall
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a 25 ● Temples of Stone Sport Nelson-Tasman > Paynes Ford > Track 2
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a 6 ● Shortcut to Exposure Sport 2 pitches Otago > Wanaka > Rdside Area
5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a 18 ● Headbanger's Arete Sport Otago > Wanaka > Main Cliff
5.11a 6c 22 VII+ 22 E3 5c 6 ● Hotline Trad Otago > … > Diamond Lake > Hotline Corner
5.11b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c 15 ● Dream Thing Sport Otago > … > Wye Creek > Main Wall
5.11 6c+ 23 VIII- 23 E4 5c 14 ● 1080 and the Letter G Sport Nelson-Tasman > Paynes Ford > Track 6
5.11 6c+ 23 VIII- 23 E4 5c 11 ● Rawhide Sport Nelson-Tasman > Paynes Ford > Track 1