Location
On the eastern side of Mt Pleasant just south of the summit ridge, and just west of the old World War II concrete gun emplacements. The crag faces west, and runs south from the zig-zags in the track.
Climate
There's good shelter from the north-east, and it's nice and sunny on a winter afternoon. It can be hot in summer. It's exposed to the south, but there's a degree of shelter in a north-wester, though others would be preferred.
Climbing
Climb grades range from 14 to 24, concentrated in grades 19-21, and many are excellent climbs. Most routes are well protected, many with bolts, but three of the oldest routes, on the right end of the cliff, are awaiting re-bolting and the bolts may not be safe.
The rock is the coarse-grained Mt Pleasant trachyte, which gives excellent friction. As with all the Mt Pleasant cliffs, beware of loose flakes, especially as many climbs have had only a few ascents.
History
The initial climbing by Brian Fish and Joe Arts in 1981 of five routes on the south-facing right hand end was an odd quirk in the development of Christchurch climbing. At Lyttelton Rock, Scratching Julius, which was the catalyst for development of that crag, had not yet been done. To reach Crag X more accessible crags were bypassed, and the largest part of the crag was ignored. Little wonder that the crag was mostly left alone for a decade, until Joe Arts started a second phase of development in 1991-92, of which the notable route was the crag's showpiece, Gripping Scales.
Finally, in October 1997 Lindsay Main and Joe Arts set some kind of a record by doing eight new routes during one hot spring day to clean up most of the obvious remaining lines.
Approaches
The fastest approach is to park on the Summit Road at the pine trees and walk south across Greenwood Park, southward along the vehicle track to the gun emplacements. Cross the fence at an old sign and pick up the track that zig-zags downward the gully toward Lyttlelton.
You can also park at the Major Hornbrook Track, as for Lyttelton Rock, and walk along the Bluffs Track. However this is quite long.
Routes
Reference | Title | Grade | Length | Pro | Quality | Operations |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pig In A Poke | 16 | |||||
Fun In The Sun | 14 | |||||
X Foliate | 17 | 20m | ||||
Out Of Control | 14 | |||||
When You're Hot You're Hot | 20 | 2 | ||||
Be My Guest | 18 | |||||
MW | Modern World | 22 | 15m | 5 | ||
GS | Gripping Scales | 20 | 14m | 5 | ||
Defence Lawyer | 17 | 14m | 1 | |||
Black Magic | 20 | 4 | ||||
Something Fishy | 20 | 14m | 3 | |||
Unnamed | 18 | 20m | 2 | |||
Unnamed | 15 | 20m | ||||
TS | The Stylemaster | 21 | 8m | 2 | ||
SH | Sheep On The Hoof | 15 | 8m | |||
Tiny Tim Blows A Fuse | 15 | |||||
OB | Oily Bullah | 15 | 8m | |||
MW | Mysterious Ways | 18 | 4 | |||
Calling the Flock, 25 | 21 | 8m | 2 | |||
The Rubbish Run | 19 | 15m | 4 | |||
MF | No Scrap Metal | 19 | ||||
Mind The Fuchsia | 17 | 2 | ||||
Cash Cow Machine | 20 | 12m | 2 | |||
Salvaged Ego | 16 | 12m | 2 | |||
Repressed Anxieties | 21 | 12m | 2 | |||
Space Junk | 24 | 4 | ||||
Existential Climber | 20 | 12m | 1 | |||
Champagne Breakfast | 19 | |||||
Frogs' Legs | 17 | 4m | ||||
Fish Out Of Water | 21 | 20m |
Grades & Bolt counts aren't being copied from the Pitch info for some reason?
In reply to Grades & Bolt counts aren't by petemoore
There ya go. I think it was because the pitch heights were set to 0
In reply to There ya go. I think it was by tomas
Thanks. I've occasionally seen the same thing elsewhere on ClimbNZ; now I know what to look out for :-)