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  6. Albert Terrace

Albert Terrace

(15 routes)

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 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 Bob 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.

Type: 
Crag
Altitude: 
0m
Aspect: 
East
Walk time: 
5 mins.
Access: 

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 5 minute walk on the lower valley track.

New Zealand map

Map, Topo

Lat/Lon: 
-43.572556000000, 172.658083000000
NZMS260: 
M36 824 372
Topo50: 
BX24 724 755
Reference Title Grade Length Quality Bolts Gone Natural pro Edit link
TG The Glimmerman 17 11m
0
 4bolts
Nice climb, lots of jugs. You can either finish on the left or right side of the arete.
PPP Peggy Peggy Phew 19 11m
1.02
 5bolts
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
Paul Roberts, 1997
Q Quacker 14 11m
0
 4bolts
Climb obvious natural breaks 3m left of Defenced. The four bolts make this an attractive leader climb.
Ross Cullen, 1997
D Defenced 13 11m
0
 3bolts
The central gully line. The old wooden post from the remnant fence lies at the bottom of the climb.
Ross Cullen, 1997
K Kinny 15 11m
0
 5bolts
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.
Ross Cullen, 1997
I Itbeckonstan 15 11m
1.02
 4bolts
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.
Ross Cullen, 1997
RR Ramahana Road 14 11m
0
 5bolts
Just right of big cave, nice moves.
Ross Cullen, 1997
50c 50 Cents Worth 14 10m
0
 5bolts
Up and over a small overhang to reach the left edge of a C-shaped crack, then straight up to the top.
Ross Cullen, 1997
In Tim's Backyard 16 10m
0
 4bolts
Use juggy holds in and by a crack to reach a ledge before the tackling a final bulge.
Ross Cullen,1997
In a Rush 18 8m
0
 4bolts
Climb the steep crimpy face directly past the bolts while avoiding use of the crack / corner either side of you. Otherwise a grade easier.
Justin Hall, 2015
I Bit My Tongue 17 8m
0
 3bolts
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.
Justin Hall, 2014
Leone 16 8m
0
 2bolts wire representing trad
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.
Ross Cullen, 1997
KE Kopu's Edge 15 10m
0
 4bolts
Good incut holds up the left edge of the attractive buff coloured block.
Rob Blackburne, 1997
Chinese Ladder 13 10m
0
 5bolts
Nice incuts up the centre of the buff coloured block to merge with Kopu’s Edge near the top.
Ross Cullen, 1997
VG Virgo -4 4m
0
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
FFA Tony Pedley 2014
Attribution: 
Edited from information written by Ross Cullen and originally hosted on the web by John Davis.

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Comments

Submitted by climber53 on Tue, 11/27/2018 - 21:44

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

Submitted by Lindsay Main on Tue, 11/27/2018 - 18:03

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.

Submitted by cullenr on Tue, 11/27/2018 - 10:25

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?