Introduction
Sitting high on the south west ridge of Mt Te Aroha, Buck Rock is an impressive fin of rock 60 – 90m tall and over 500m long. There are a few reports of climbers visiting and climbing at Buck Rock in the 80 and 90’s but the first report ascents was made by Grant Pearson and Co up the western buttress and arete. In 2006 Kevin Barrett and Richard Knott visited Buck Rock and put up the 2 pitch line of “Demo of Bosh”. Kevin then returned with Stephen Barrett and added 3 more routes. Kevin continued to preach “to anyone that would listen” about how good this crag was and the enormous potential for new routes, but he failed to drum up any interest and when he moved down south development stopped. A little slow on the up take I may be, but in late 2009 I return to the crag and along with other local Hamilton climbers started to develop Buck Rock. As it turns out Kevin was right, the climbing is great, the rock quality is great, the outlook is fantastic and the potential for long single or multi pitch climbs is enormous.
Climbing Notes.
You will need up to 12 Quickdraws. A couple of the routes have Trad gear (Cams and wires) but most are sport.
From Te Aroha drive South down Te Aroha Gordon road, about 2 km out of town turn left down Waiorangomai road, 1km on park at the old Waiorangomai settlement and gold mine. From here Buck Rock is a 40min walk up the hill. Take the upper loop track then the Buck rock track, from this junction 20 mins walking get you to within 250m of the base of Buck Rock. From here look for a rough climbers track marked with a cairn and orange and blue tape on your left. A steep climb up the hill past an old mine shaft pops you out at he base of the cliff.
