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Topic Date User

Castle Hill Siege! 26-Jul-2005 At 10:53:36 AM gemmaw

Message

On 22/07/2005 Tel wrote:
>jumping on whatever looks good works fine for... oh, about a day... simply
>due to the amount of problems. Get the spittle guide.

I suppose it depends what you are going there for - to just experience the bouldering there without any preconceived ideas due to grades; to keep track of all your ticks and their grades; or to find specific problems and areas that have been recommended to you. The last 2, you will need a guidebook for.

We were there for a week, and for that length of time I didn't find a guidebook necessary at all. It was my first trip there and I was more interested in the moves of the problems, how they felt, the body positioning, the feel of the holds - in other words, the bouldering itself, not the grades. If you haven't climbed there before, the grades are a useless guide anyway - there are plenty of "easy' problems but if you can't mantle on slopers then they won't be so easy (ie. the climbing is really different to what most people are used to).

As I get to know the place, and hear about other excellent problems that people recommend, then yes, I'd take a guidebook so I can find specific problems and areas. The Spittle Hill Guide looked pretty good, but limiting - some of the the most amazing and memorable problems I did were in the Quantum Field.

The best guidebook I saw for Castle Hill was a ragged copy on climbing in the south island, and was bolted down in 'Bivouac' in Chch, but I think South Is. Deluxe has superseded it.