Twin Stream has always been on my list of places to go and explore. I knew that, in terms of New Zealand greywacke, it was considered some of the best around, with a number of classic climbs in the guidebook and plenty of lines that looked worth trying.
Eventually, everything lined up, a weather window, a partner and some time off work.
Jess and I flew in one morning and headed straight towards the Southerly Front area. I particularly wanted to try Pulp Friction and see how it felt before committing to anything else on the slab.
We climbed Moon Struck on Half Moon Slab first, a really nice Grade 17. The second pitch is particularly memorable, rather runout, but with secure climbing on incredible rock.
From there, we traversed across to Pulp Friction.
Pulp Friction is a very heady route. Sustained Grade 20 slab climbing with bolts sparingly placed. An outrageous lead by Murray Judge, who bolted this on lead.
The moves are insecure and there are few good rests for your calves. It’s the sort of climbing where you have to commit to the movement rather than constantly looking for somewhere to shake out. It felt harder than the grade suggested, largely because of how sustained it was and how few opportunities there were to properly gather yourself.
The climbing is technical, committing and slightly improbable when you look at the slab from below. It definitely lived up to its reputation and was a great introduction to Twin Stream.
Afterwards, we headed back down to camp for lunch before spending the rest of the afternoon looking for another route.
We ended up climbing a line between Peanut Slab and Wily Spaniard. I couldn’t find any record of the line having been climbed, so for a brief moment we wondered whether we’d stumbled onto a new route.
I wouldn’t make any claim to that, the Twin Stream cliffs have seen plenty of development and it’s entirely possible someone has climbed sections of the line without ever documenting it.
Either way, it was a really good route. The climbing followed a series of flakes before finishing with a beautiful, roughly 20-metre, left-facing corner with easy protection. The route was around three pitches. On the way down, we also managed to score a pretty impressive piece of booty: a complete bail anchor consisting of a brand-new sling and three lockers.. Probably a little over-engineered.. But we’ll take it.
Back at camp, we settled into an easy evening in the basin. It is a great place to camp, as its easy to find somewhere to pitch the tent, straightforward access to water and, importantly, the sun hits early in the morning.
We watched the sun disappear, and the last glows slide off the rocky buttresses. We enjoyed a pretty perfect end to the first day in Twin Stream.
The following morning, we planned to head down Shindig Gully, climb one of the routes down there and then walk out. We descended the gully and climbed Hungry Heart, a really cool Grade 16.
It’s a solid 2 stars, with some unfortunate sections of loose rock marring what is otherwise an enjoyable route. It has a fairly committing crux start before settling into some really enjoyable and well protected climbing higher up.
The descent provided one small dose of faff when our fixed knot got stuck while we were trying to rappel. We ended up having to climb a couple of awkward pitches back up to unfix the rope before we could continue. Once that was sorted, the rest of the descent was straightforward.
We packed up our gear and started the walk out. The track through the bush on the true right is the way to go. It’s overgrown in places, but if you find yourself following what looks like a flagged trapper’s line, you’re probably heading in the right direction. The important thing is not to descend back towards the river.
Following the beta in the guidebook makes the exit relatively straightforward, with only short sections of genuine bush bashing. All up, it took us around three and a half hours to walk out.
Twin Stream was every bit as good as I’d expected. The quality of the rock, the variety of climbing and the remote setting made it a really enjoyable couple of days. There’s a huge amount of climbing packed into those walls, and plenty more lines I’d like to try.
I came away with a massive amount of admiration for the people who developed these crags. Finding, cleaning and establishing routes in a place like Twin Stream is a serious undertaking, and we’re lucky to have that work to benefit from.
As usual, the problem isn’t finding things to climb, it’s finding enough time to climb them.
