Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Topic Date User

Red zone, blue skies, white snow 18-Oct-2012 At 7:06:26 AM cruze

Message

Thanks for the great TR. Glad you enjoyed your trip.

FYI, Mt Pleasant (as with the vast majority of crags in the Port Hills) is currently closed to access (let alone climbing) by the council. The reasons being that a) a good deal of the rock in the Port Hills has been significantly weakened by the earthquakes (you know what caused those cracks in the building in the first photo and killed almost 200 people less than 2 years ago?); and b) the council hasn't had the resources or time to do a full geotechnical assessment of the rock. In fact as you were climbing at Mt Pleasant did you notice the rock scarring, and the boulders below you, including a number of enormous boulders that have rolled right down and crashed through the roof of one of the garages down there? The residents below have actually specifically asked that people show restraint and not climb on the crags above (despite being closed) because they are naturally quite shaken (no pun intended) by the events of the last two years. It has been quiet lately (touch wood) but a week ago we had a 4.3 mag shake. They are quite shallow, and cause significant ground acceleration and if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time then you will be squashed. The rock of the Port Hills can be heavily fractured.

Anyway, unless you noticed closed signs on the gates, it may not have occurred to you being from out of town (country), but I thought I would mention it here so that any others coming over for the summer months might be aware of what's going on.