#13 Whanganui Bay

Simon and I went to do some climbing at Whanganui Bay, on the west side of Lake Taupo. Yet another beautiful bay with crystal clear water and hardly another person around.

The climb was called Tibia. It's a 3-pitch, 50 meter, grade 16 climb, and don't touch the bones.

Hey, Simon, what do they mean by don't touch the bones? (Is this climbing jargon?)
You'll see.
Ok...

Whekenui, the main cliffs.

The rock tower in front is the climb. It is actually free standing from the rest of the cliff, and most of the climb was up the space in between the two walls.

Base of the climb.

Once you start climbing, you move into the crack almost immediately. As I made my way up, I looked over into the crack and saw a human skull. A Maori skeleton. There were tibia bones next to the skull, which must be how the climb got its name. So that's what they mean by don't touch the bones.

My first job was to wear a backpack that contained our shoes for the hike back down. Which was only fair considering Simon was wearing all of the climbing gear. I failed at job number 1. I couldn't fit into the crack with the bag on. Was it that second bowl of cereal I had at breakfast? The front of my body was almost entirely in the crack, but I couldn't get in between the walls because I couldn't turn sideways with the bag on. I was stuck. Plan B. There were boulders wedged in between the walls that made nice resting spots. It was cool standing on these rocks knowing they were suspended in mid-air. I tried to hurl the bag onto one of the rocks above me. No can do. Too high. Time to lower a rope and pulley the bag up.

Here I'm holding myself up with my knees on the front wall with nothing below me. Awesome.

View from the top of the first pitch.

The second pitch was going to be harder. I inferred this from Simon's comments as he went up. The route required you to come out of the crack and climb the open face before re-entering the crack on the other side. The face wasn't an extremely difficult climb, but with a 100+ foot drop behind me it suddenly became very scary. I was supposed to put my right foot in the hold in the center of the rock, then hold myself with my arms and do a foot change to stick my left foot in the hold. HAHAHA. Seriously? Can't I just stretch across to the crack on the other side of the face then go up from there? That seemed much easier. Simon said he didn't think I could reach it. I was on the other side before he finished his sentence. Foot change avoided. But I didn't know how to get myself up from here. Luckily I was given some expert advice from my guide:

I was finally close to the top. Then I remembered my second job: to pull out the holds Simon placed as he went up. I had missed a cam and a nut below me. Meaning I had to go back down and get them. I was less than pleased about this, to say the least. Are you freaking kidding me right now?! Can you lower me down? No. Can I climb down and rest at the bottom first? No. I found myself once again wedged between the walls holding myself up with my knees.


Lake view from the top of the second pitch.


The final stage of the climb looked hard from where I was standing. There was a narrow crack running up the front wall without many holds on either side.
Fortunately, Simon said crack climbing was his favorite thing. Then I realized he was being sarcastic. Should I be worried? The other option was to bridge the walls, as in putting one foot on each wall and going up that way. So wait, which of these is supposed to be easier?

This climb wasn't easy, even for Simon. But I knew he would make it (like he had a choice).


Naturally I assumed he was going to pull me up, because the climb would be too hard for me and he was supposed to meet his mates to go kayaking on the Kaituna falls. Then he told me I was on belay and could start climbing when ready. What?

This was hard. I tried climbing the front wall, then straddling the two walls. I tried my back against the wall, then one foot on each wall. Then with my feet parallel, then a lunge position. You get the picture. It was easier (though more painful) to wedge my foot straight into the crack. Then it would get stuck in there and I couldn't pull it out.

Simon had placed holds on both walls, and he placed them really well. I could barely climb the thing without having to worry about pulling out holds, and I probably couldn't have pulled them out with two feet on the ground. There was one cam that I really couldn't get, and Simon was trying to explain how to use this other tool thing I had to help release it. I didn't get it. So he said look up here and I'll demonstrate. The he dropped one of the things he was holding. Oops.

After I made it up, Simon had to belay down to retrieve the holds I couldn't get out and the nut he dropped. Unfortunately the nut fell through a crack all the way to the bottom, and I somehow broke one of the cams.

While he was down there, my job from the top of the rock was to sit down, not touch anything, and not move. He thought I would fall off the cliff. He literally had me hooked up to a bolt on an 18 inch leash. There wasn't much to do since I wasn't allowed to move, so I took pictures.

Simon took this picture on the way back up again. This it what you see just before you reach the top.

To get back down, we had to jump the opening to get to the other side. It was dark by the time we made it down to the beach. There was a full moon and food in the car and since we hadn't eaten in probably 10 or 11 hours, we had a picnic. We cooled down the beer bottles in the lake and ate crackers and brie on the beach. It was a great day.