North of Auckland

Photos and Words from Luke Hawken

Often those closest to a fantastic natural resource seem to overlook the opportunities available in their backyards. Ti Point just an hour north of the heart of the City of Sails offers some often underrated basalt cliffs in one of the most spectacular settings you will ever climb in.Now Ti Point may not exactly be a new area, the first routes and developments where begun back in the early 1990's. Activist's included
natural explorer and adventurer Graeme Dingle in conjunction with resident hard people Ton Snelder and Lydia Brady. In recent years a reasonable number of new climbs have been added and old bolts replaced, incredibly by
a still active and enthusiastic Graeme Dingle who is also the driving force behind project K. These days Graeme partners with another talented
sportsperson, former international cricketer Dion Nash for excursions into this amazing locale.

Basalt columns jutting directly out of the Pacific Ocean, hold a great deal of asthetic appeal for most casual daytrippers. Climbers can view a subtle challenge rising with the intrinsic beauty of featured rockface and Ti Point rock yields some of the most enjoyable friction and features
available.

Getting to Ti Point is agreeable in itself constituting a brisk half hour walk along a well maintained Pohutakawa lined walkway looking back towards Omaha Spit and out into the Pacific. A basalt plug Ti Point juts directly out of the sea as a final bastion against erosion and bears the brunt of any easterly swell. It will pay to check the tides (and swells) as several
climbs start several feet below the high tide line.

If location, location, location is the property mantra then wicked assortment of really cool features and climbs on an mix of spotingly bolted
and traditionally protected climbs is Ti Points. Mostly sub twenty there are a number of all time classics including the hardest line north of
Auckland, The Man From Atlantis. Suffering from lack of attention and extremely few attempts TMFA has resided quitely and probably rather smugly since Ton Snelder first established this technical vertical masterpiece. The ageing and frankly a little scary bolts have been replaced by I assume an ever society minded Mr Dingle, but this route repels all attempts to secure a third ascent (second is rumoured to have been Chris Plant during his visit some years ago.)

There are still a number of possibilities for new routes Geoff Wales and I have been trying a line on toprope in preperation for a FA and several
blank faces draw the eye on arrival. Tucked away just before you reach Leigh, Ti point is not the largest area north of Auckland, still if you
cast your eyes south across the bay you may just be able to make out several untouched cliffs that if explored, may just reveal the next best
thing to heaven.

Routes - 40 Grades - 12 to 27 Cliff Heights - 10m to 35m Rock Type - Basalt
Protection - Natural and Fixed (Bolts)
Guide Book: Northern Rock


Jay toproping a new line dubbed "Big Love" 24


Luke on Man From Atlantis 27


Geoff on Man From Atlantis


Jay on "Man from Atlantis" a half millisecond befor that wave broke over him. The only one of the day to do so.