Rock Climbing pathway

The Auckland Section of the New Zealand Alpine Club run limited number of rock climbing courses in the summer. The pathway the club recommends to become an independent outdoor lead climber is to:

  • Climb indoors first. There are three main places you can climb indoors in Auckland using ropes:

  • Get comfortable with climbing indoors. There are introduction classes for each of the locations above held on a regular basis running through how to top rope belay another climber.

  • Take an indoor lead climbing course. Once you are comfortable top roping a few grades above the lowest lead route in the gym, take a lead climbing course. Once completed you will be issued a lead licence to climb at that gym.

  • Take an outdoor sport course. These courses run through the differences in lead climbing outdoors on a single pitch bolted routes which requires you to place quickdraws, safely belay and lower a climber and clean a route of gear after climbing. The Auckland NZAC section run a limited number of these courses in the summer, details here.

Once you have completed the above, you will be set up and ready to climb single pitch sport rock climbing routes. The next steps depend on what you want to achieve in climbing.

  • Trad Climbing - This is a form of climbing where you climb routes without bolts and place your own protection using a range of different methods. The general rock climbers will take, is getting comfortable with leading indoor, then make the move outdoor and then into trad climbing. The Auckland NZAC section run a limited number of trad courses in the summer, details here.

  • Multipitch Sport/Trad Climbing - This climbing moves from climbing a single pitch to many pitches. This requires good knowledge of how to build anchors, different belaying methods and what to do if something goes wrong. There are aspects that are different if climbing multipitch sport or trad routes to consider. These courses are usually ran by the National team and details for these courses can be found here.

raglan rock partnership

The outdoor rock climbing courses run by either the Auckland or National team at NZAC are at specific moments in the year and have limited capacity. If you find yourself outside of these times and want to complete a Sport or Trad climbing course, Raglan Rock run both all year round.

We have an offer for current Auckland NZAC members who will receive 10% off Raglan Rock courses if booking as an individual or 20% off the total booking group booking cost if as a group (2 or more).

The detail for these courses can be found here. To book, email info@raglanrock.com and take your membership card along with you when you attend the course.