Albert Terrace is a small crag in suburban Christchurch. It is one of the very few crags that you can bus to and the only one on the flats of Christchurch City itself, which mean it has the easiest and quickest access of any crag on the Port Hills.
All the climbs are under grade 20 (most in the mid teens), so this is a good crag if you are making the transition from the indoor wall to your first outdoors experience,although the rock is quite polished and gets covered in pine needles and dirt from above. You will need a maximum of eight quickdraws (six for the climbs, if leading, and two for the anchor rings at the top). All climbs have double rings at the top and there are two sets of ring bolts at ground level ( left and right side ) for practicing ), which makes it a user-friendly crag, but please, if top roping, do not take the 'European approach' and run your rope straight through the rings as this creates wear and tear. Please use two carabiners.
History
Albert Terrace was first climbed on in 1997 by Ross Cullen and Rob Blackburne and was originally a trad crag. The crag has since been totally retro-bolted.
DRY TOOLING OPTIONS: Please note also that in the first cave opposite the main crag there are three bolted routes put in for dry tooling practice. Grades unknown.
Albert Terrace is in the suburb of St Martins. If travelling down Wilsons Road, go straight ahead at the roundabout junction with Centaurus Rd (a Mobil service station will be on your left), and travel down Albert Terrace itself until the road ends at the last house and just before a gate. The main crag is visible from here, a few hundred metres on the right side of the valley. From the car park it is a 10 minute walk on the lower valley track.
Routes
| Reference | Title | Grade | Length | Pro | Quality | Alert | Operations |
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| TG | TGThe Glimmerman, 17 | 17 | 11m | 4 |
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Nice climb, lots of jugs. You can either finish on the left or right side of the arete. |
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| PPP | PPPPeggy Peggy Phew, 20 | 20 | 11m | 5 |
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The climb deviates a little to the right of the perpendicular from the headwall, sliding around the bulge. Climb straight to the third bold, then go right before finishing. Crux between 2nd and 3rd bolt |
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| Q | QQuacker, 14 | 14 | 11m | 4 |
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Climb obvious natural breaks 3m left of Defenced. The four bolts make this an attractive leader climb. |
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| D | DDefenced, 13 | 13 | 11m | 3 |
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The central gully line. The old wooden post from the remnant fence lies at the bottom of the climb. |
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| K | KKinny, 15 | 15 | 11m | 5 |
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Three metres right of Defenced. Glide up the apron on incut holds to reach a good stance at the top. There’s a nice right handhold for the mantle over the lump to the right of the gully. |
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| I | IItbeckonstan, 15 | 15 | 11m | 4 |
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Two metres right of Kinny, climb up past the left edge of the giant paua shell then slightly left to reach the top stance. Ascend the bulge, place good protection in the gully and exit. |
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| RR | RRRamahana Road, 14 | 14 | 11m | 5 |
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Just right of big cave, nice moves. |
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| 50c | 50c50 Cents Worth, 14 | 14 | 10m | 5 |
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Up and over a small overhang to reach the left edge of a C-shaped crack, then straight up to the top. |
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| In Tim's Backyard, 16 | 16 | 10m | 4 |
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Use juggy holds in and by a crack to reach a ledge before the tackling a final bulge. |
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| In a Rush, 18 | 18 | 8m | 4 |
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Took the anchor off this climb in 2017 as it was in unstable rock - finish to the anchor on the right.
Climb the steep crimpy face directly past the bolts while avoiding use of the crack / corner either side of you. Otherwise a grade easier. |
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| I Bit My Tongue, 17 | 17 | 8m | 3 |
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Climb the steep corner on sharp holds (avoid using the ledge on Leone's at 2/3rds height) and take the final overhang on its left. |
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| Leone, 16 | 16 | 8m | 2 |
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Bridge up the corner (using the first 2 bolts of "I Bit My Tongue") and move right through the bulge to a ledge. The rock is suspect. |
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| KE | KEKopu's Edge, 15 | 15 | 10m | 4 |
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Good incut holds up the left edge of the attractive buff coloured block. |
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| Chinese Ladder, 13 | 13 | 10m | 5 |
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Nice incuts up the centre of the buff coloured block to merge with Kopu’s Edge near the top. |
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| VG | VGVirgo, -4 | -4 | 4m | ||||
Straight up the right hand side of the face of the boulder. Keep off the flake to the left. Good smearing practice for beginners. Located on the path to Albert Tce crag about 20 meters from the crag |
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Images
Albert Terrace cimbing guide added, please download and use, please do not upload to climbing websites or data bases
I did a guide to the crag several years ago, it took about five visits to make any sense of it, I climbed all the routes that were aparant and there were no real gaps. But if you disregard the routes bolted by Justin Hall ie. “I bit my tongue” which is as far as I can workout is “Leonie” and “in a rush” which is “Dirty Washing” it kind of makes sense, my interpretation started with “Small Boys” and ended at “Chinese Ladders”, 22 routes in total on the main face, there are routes on the opposite side and some further up the hill as well as some bouldering
And Port Hills Climbing has 34. But Ross, no one moderates ClimbNZ and information is not being discarded. It relies on someone posting the climbs. The ones listed are known because they are all (retro)bolted, but no one has done the others except you and me, and many people don't have access to the information.
The list of routes above has only 14 climbs, but the diagram at the top of the page has 21 climbs. The article in Climber # 22 on Albert Terrace has information on 33 climbs. Why is information being discarded from climbnz?