Rock

Tunnel Vision - Reflections on Ground-Up Development

Three metres of blank rock above. I reached over and detached the drill-bit from the drill, tucking it into my pocket. I'd discovered that it feels easier to commit to a crux without visions of falling and being impaled by the drill. Pulling onto the dirty crimps again reminded me of the weight of the bolt kit. It had been a couple hours of zig-zagging up this 30 metre headwall. Digging out small cam placements, and trying to save on the handful of bolts clipped to my harness

Rock

Owyn Aitken

May 243 min read

Sinbad Gully

In February, Peter Le and I went for a mission into the famed Sinbad Gully. Tucked away near Lawrenny Peaks and across Milford Sound, it doesn’t see much traffic on account of the long approach. Having frothed over Climber magazine articles of the place, it was epic to get finally get in there and have a play! Looking up at the steep wall Getting there (and back): Step one is to get across the sound. If you’ve got some kind of water craft in your possession, whether it be a k

Rock

Isaac Muller-Wild

May 103 min read

A Guide to Climbing in Tasmania

Over the past summer, I spent some time in Fiordland. Over the course of the inevitable rainy days in Homer Hut, the question of where I lived would pop up. I’d mention Tasmania and then proceed to talk their ears off about how good the rock climbing was there until they politely excused themselves once they got sick of my psych. Okay, maybe not quite. But close. What stuck with me from those conversations was the number of strange ideas people had about Tasmania. One person

Rock

Imogen Potts

Apr 255 min read

Learning lessons on the Goretta Pillar – failing is the best inspiration

Decision time. We all knew this moment was coming. Jacob, Pet and I had all been thinking about it as we pushed on, far behind schedule. Now we finally stopped at a belay to make a plan. We had just joined the main line of the Casorotto route on the Goretta Pillar of Fitzroy. Above us soared a tower of golden granite and splitter cracks, glowing in the evening sun. The climbing looked absolutely delightful. The weather was perfect, the views incredible. THIS is what we had co

Expedition

Tanja de Wilde

Mar 277 min read

Butterfly Effect, A new route on Mt Chaos

Back in March of 2025, during our ascent of 'Gods of Chaos', Jacob Kuchler and I stumbled upon what we believe to be some of the highest quality alpine schist in New Zealand. At the time we noted an extraordinary golden buttress down below us which was screaming out to be climbed. A month later, I managed to wrangle Liam Pyott into joining me on the first exploratory look at this new buttress. What stood out was a significant chimney system at about a third height. Separatin

Rock

Mason Gardener

Mar 243 min read

Summer in the Darrans

The Darrans is an epicenter of alpine rock climbing, boasting amazing granite faces in arguably New Zealand’s best backdrop, providing everything for a successful summer. As I (Reon) was descending from Mt Chaos on a trip prior, our inreach pinged with a message from Dan, “Tell Reon, Imogen is in Milford with food and gear to climb tomorrow on Charismatic Wall”, well there goes my rest day… As I arrived at Homer Hut, a quick introduction with Imogen and pack had us heading up

Rock

Reon Morrison

Feb 186 min read

NZAT 2026 Intake Weekend

This year, the NZAT took a different approach to selecting the new intake of mentees. Plan A was for a weekend of climbing in the Darrans, but with a wet forecast looming, the decision was made to shift to Lake Hope in the Remarkables and focus on route development instead. By Thursday afternoon, the five prospective mentees- Owyn, Reon, Isaac, Tim and myself (Imogen) - were excited. We were joined by Dan, Llewellyn, Lionel, Mason and Henry. Our bags were packed with drills,

Rock

Imogen Potts

Feb 105 min read