Celebrating a massive community effort at Pakeho
Every climber knows the feeling: the quiet frustration when you hear a favourite crag is closed. For many of us, Pakeho was that crag. With its classic limestone routes and stunning Waitomo bush setting, it was a special place for climbers of all levels, and its closure in 2022 was a big loss.
Every climber knows the feeling: the quiet frustration when you hear a favourite crag is closed. For many of us, Pakeho was that crag. With its classic limestone routes and stunning Waitomo bush setting, it was a special place for climbers of all levels, and its closure in 2022 was a big loss.
But this sparked a massive effort to bring it back. It wasn’t just one person or one organisation – it was a whole community working together, with a team of many committed climbers and ACAT helping to make it happen. The story of Pakeho’s reopening is a powerful example of what we can achieve when we put in the mahi for the places we love.
Climbers at the Main Wall, Pakeho crag, when it reopened in November 2024. Photo: Jackson White.
Building sustainable relationships
Everything began with the landowners, Stefan, Michelle, Mike, and Sheryl. Their incredible goodwill made reopening Pakeho possible. They told the team what was needed, and we listened.
Over two years, we worked with them to create solutions that ensured their peace of mind while enabling access for climbers (props to Myles Perry for leading this). This is the core of ACAT’s work: finding common ground and building sustainable relationships with landowners to protect our precious climbing spots.
Support and funding for volunteers
With the landowners on board, we needed a champion for the re-bolting work to upgrade the bolts and anchors. That's where Chris Hailey came in. Chris is a force of nature, and he stepped up to lead a huge re-bolting project. He and a team of dedicated volunteers collectively put in over a hundred days of work, replacing all the older galvanised bolts at the crag with shiny new, 316-grade stainless steel hardware.
But even a legend like Chris needs support. ACAT was there to coordinate the funding and resources needed, working with partner organisations like the Tūpiki Trust and Aspiring Safety to secure gear and financial contributions for the re-bolting, plus putting in thousands of dollars from the ACAT-administered Kimi Worrell Fund.
Ongoing collective commitment
The result of all this hard work is a triumph for the community. Today, Pakeho is open, re-equipped and more popular than ever. With support from volunteers, ACAT actively manages the crag to remove hassle from the landowners, and we are stoked that most visiting climbers have heeded our call to invest in the crag’s future with a small donation on each visit.
It's a testament to the power of our collective movement—a movement of climbers, landowners, organisations, and volunteers all working towards a common goal.
Your support matters
This is why your support matters. The Pakeho project cost over $15,000 in materials (just for the re-bolting work – new routing was funded by the developers), plus weeks of paid staff time by our GM. The incredible volunteer effort was possible because ACAT had the infrastructure and expertise to support it. Your monthly or annual donation allows us to continue this critical work. It’s what empowers us to address access issues, maintain crags, and advocate for climbing areas across Aotearoa.
When you support ACAT, you're not just donating to a charitable trust. You’re joining a community-wide effort to keep our climbing areas open and thriving for generations to come. Start a monthly or annual donation today and become part of the solution.