Access
Bay of Plenty
Bowentown Heads

Bowentown rusty anchors replaced with council and mana whenua approval

Local climbers, with support from ACAT and the Kimi Worrell Fund, have revamped this seaside crag and developed relationships with the key stakeholders.

What wall? Well you might ask. Bowentown Wall is a small seaside cliff near Waihi Beach. It was bolted over 20 years ago with some galvanised anchors (not the best choice – see below), plus there are some newer stainless sport routes.

A very rusty chain link climbing anchor bolt on grey rock

Badly rusted galvanised hardware at Bowentown Heads.

A shiny new glue-in titanium P-bolt on grey rock

A new titanium glue-in bolt.

Local climber Wade contacted ACAT in late 2023 to inquire about options for replacing the rusted-out anchors on some trad routes. Some of the old chains snapped with a light tug! 

We were able to sort Wade out with a Kimi Worrell Fund grant for some titanium anchors and put him in touch with an experienced developer – thanks Kerry. The result is new anchors that should last decades.

We’re especially stoked about this story for a couple of reasons:

  • We set up the Kimi Worrell Fund in such a way that even climbers with no route development experience could make an application and help to address a safety issue, and that’s exactly what happened in this case. Wade was not a developer but was psyched on this project, and we were able to leverage ACAT’s expertise, connections, and funds to help him make it happen.
  • This was a great example of doing things the right way – Wade sought the permission of the District Council and mana whenua and patiently followed up until this was received. So the crag is no longer ‘under-the-radar’ and that makes future access more secure.

Wade is now working with ACAT on a proposal for further development around the wider Bowentown Heads area and has been engaging with the Council and mana whenua about it.

Gaining permission for new routing in advance would be something of a novelty in NZ and a great example for other public land managers. Stay tuned – and please refrain from putting any new routes up in the area for now.