Wanaka

There are over thirty different climbing walls in the Wanaka area, providing one of the largest concentrations of climbs on New Zealand’s South Island, although each wall is separated enough to require a drive between them or a long hike. Most of the best climbing in Wanaka is found in the Matukituki Valley, which is about 15km from town. The area is primarily set up for sport climbing, but there are also a number of boulder problems, and a small percentage of trad climbs. Some of the primary climbing areas include roadside, main wall, hospital flats, riverside, and diamond.

Rock Type: Schist
Climbs: 800+, spread out throughout the Wanaka area.
Location: Near the town of Wanaka, with most concentrated approximately 15km West of Wanaka. Map

My Experience

This climbing area actually consists of a number of separate areas just outside of the city/town of Wanaka. We got to try routes at three of them –roadside, tombstone, and diamond, and each one was completely different.

Roadside has the easiest approach and is simply an enormous boulder sitting right next to the road. It is large enough to contain at least one 2-pitch climb. Our favorites include:

• Aretenaphobia (21): An exciting, exposed climb located on an arête (shocker!). It was so windy when climbing this that John was literally getting blown off the wall when trying to balance on the edge.
• Short Cut to Exposure (17): An exposed 2-pitch climb that felt harder than its grade. The first pitch finishes with a nerve-wracking and exposed traverse to the belay point, while the second pitch involves some fun moves in a chimney. I highly recommend this climb.

We went to Hospital Flats next, which involved a long (and confusing) hike through private land. We did managed to locate Tombstone Wall, which wasn’t out initial objective, but we decided to go with it. Different sides of the rock had very different climbing, as one side was incredibly sharp rock with diagonal seams, another was smooth and overhung, and another was slab.

On our last day in Wanaka, we went to the Diamond, whose approach involved a 30 minute walk around Diamond Lake before the steep hike upward to the wall. We tackled a few climbs, but the most notable was Naked on the Neve, a two-pitch 20 with all styles of climbing. The first pitch was an intricate and challenging slab climb, while the second involved a slight traverse, pulling a roof, and finishing with a chimney climb.