Humphries Castle

(15 routes)

The crag was named after the Chief Surveyor, Thomas Humphries, and his son Larwill, by Surveyor O N O’Donahoo in 1885. It is the most accessible of all the crags in this guide; being approximately 50 minutes walk from North Egmont. Given its accessibility, and the ﬁne views from the crag it is surprising that more climbing has not been done here.

Type:

Crag

Altitude:

1593m

Access:

From North Egmont take the summit track, past the Tahurangi trig point. Proceed directly up the ridge known as The Razorback. Humphries Castle is to the right of the track at around 1600m. From Tahurangi Lodge follow the Around the Mountain Circuit west for about 20 minutes; at a junction with an old track turn off and follow this upwards to the upper tier of Humphries Castle.
All climbs commence on the mossy terrace ringing the upper tier. The rock is rather blocky and care should be taken near the top of climbs. The recommended method of descent from the top is by abseiling; while it is possible to walk along the spine of the Castle to the lower end this requires very great care due to loose rocks and slippery grasses.

Map, Topo

Lat/Lon:

-39.285353000000, 174.077082000000

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Reference	Title	Grade	Length	Quality	Bolts	Gone	Natural pro			Link to edit content
6.03	Humphries Traverse	11	50m	0
	Starts from the top end of Humphries Castle at the base of the Nose. Follow the eastern ledge to gain the mossy tussock slopes near mid height of the Castle. Climb the spiny ridge to the high point and abseil off.

Places

Type	Title	Link to edit content
Wall	Humphries Castle West Face (5 routes)
Wall	Humphries Castle East Face (9 routes)

This place appears in

Taranaki Mount Egmont: a guide for climbers

2003

UUID:

0276cc93-b139-43f5-a864-e55a4e12a641