Paines Ford & Pōhara

Help rebolt Golden Bay's climbs

Most of the routes were bolted in the late '80s and '90s, and the hardware is wearing out. Local volunteers are replacing it, route by route. Your donation pays for the stainless and glue.

Donate

420

routes at the two crags

240

still need new bolts or anchors

$40,000

of hardware to finish the job

Who we are

We're a small group of local climbers who care passionately about keeping the Golden Bay crags safe and looked after. All the work is voluntary.

Some old bolts look fine from the outside

Most routes went up in the late '80s and early '90s, put up by itinerant dirtbag climbers on a shoestring. A bolt cost as much as dinner, battery drills were poor or didn't exist, and nobody understood what happens when mixed metals corrode together. Hardware came from the local hardware store, and many routes went up on hand-placed Terrier bolts with home-made hangers.

We're a trusting bunch: we see a bolt, climb above it and assume it will hold, without knowing its age or what's hidden in the rock. Failures have been rare, but people have hit the ground. What's on the inside can be a different story.

An old anchor with galvanised chain rusting through at the bolt — An old anchor, rusting through at the bolt.

A long rusted tapered bolt beside an old hanger, lying on the ground — From *Bury Me in a Y Shaped Coffin*. An old concrete fastener: a tapered bolt wound into a coil in the hole. The rust was holding them in.

Galvanised chain and two short bolts with rusty threads on a table — From the anchors on *Dancing on a Skewer* (28). Solid-looking 12 mm galv bolts that came out with two turns of a spanner. Two threads were holding them. Old Terrier technology, designed to go through a hanger, not through heavy chain and washers.

Glued-in stainless, route by route

Stainless that lasts

Every old bolt is replaced with a glued-in 316 stainless ringbolt, and every anchor with glued-in threaded rod and double chain.

Worst first

The oldest, most dangerous and busiest routes come first. The goal is every route.

Crag care

Along the way we clear loose rock, re-align lines to match how they're climbed now, and bring forgotten climbs back to life. Some bolts are being added to run-out easier climbs to make them more accessible and safer for beginners.

Part of the aim is to spread climbers beyond the over-climbed classics. Old, scary bolts left many routes dirty and unclimbed for years. Shiny stainless and a good clean-up are making them appealing again, so go and discover some new rock.

A volunteer in a helmet and ear muffs drilling into the rock while hanging on a rope — Drilling for a glue-in bolt

A volunteer in a hi-vis shirt and gumboots drilling on a grey limestone wall — Re-aligning *Feeding the Rat*, Rhinoceros Wall

A quickdraw clipped to a new stainless ringbolt — A new glue-in ringbolt

A new stainless steel anchor on the limestone with a purple rope clipped in — A new stainless anchor set

Work so far

In under four years we've raised and spent about $27,000 on hardware. In the eight months since February 2026, the team has put in around 80 anchor sets and 250 bolts.

It's all voluntary. The team have put thousands of hours into the routes, and a lot more is planned to get the crags safe and welcoming before summer.

2022Nearly every anchor at Cathedral Wall, all of Shotgun Therapy Buttress and most of Seagrass Wall replaced. Stella Blue and Black Marigolds rebolted, and a 15 kg loose block removed.
2023New anchors on Creese Wall. Lower Tenuite, Why Wall and Bo Peep rebolted. New ring bolts on Electricorp, Send a Gorilla and Powerline.
2024More bolts and anchors at Cathedral, Palmer Wafer, Cosmic Wonder Crunch and Why Wall, plus practice anchors.
2025Anchors and bolts across the Globe area, Why Wall and Bo Peep.
2026Rhinoceros Wall finished in May, along with Globe Wall up to Tomorrow Gully and Passion Slab. Over winter, the south end of Paines Ford: Fish Wall, Red Wall, Happy Hour, and lines on Fortress, 1080 Gully and Thugs.

Looking down a limestone wall with ropes hanging over native bush and tree ferns

Ropes hanging down Fish Wall, with green farmland and hills behind — Fish Wall, macraméd with ropes

Supporters

The Tūpiki Trust has approved $21,000 for hardware, and $15,000 has already arrived.

Funding started with the Hangdog Camp bolt fund, which paid for heaps of ringbolts but couldn't stretch to expensive anchor sets. Those are now being added. A Givealittle campaign raised $9,341 from 116 donors, and sponsors including the NZAC, NMIT, Whenua Iti and the Pupu Hydro Society have kept it going. The Tūpiki Trust grant matches everything we'd raised before.

Individual donations still matter: showing we can raise money ourselves helps every future funding application.

More about the Tūpiki Trust