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My wife are looking to go climbing in Chile or New Zealand over Christmas...we're looking for multi-pitch sold rock in the 5.4 to 5.6 range...any suggestions?

~Swifty

Try the following link for NZ:

http://www.alpineclub.org.nz/default.aspx?p=154

Have you considered Arapilies in Australia? All the Kiwi's come over to Australia for their rock climbing holidays

New Zealand is not the place, at least not the south island. The weather is very unstable and it's pretty famous for its poor quality rock. There is some sport climbing which is OK and great bouldering, but otherwise nothing of note for rock climbers. There is supposedly great alpine rock in the Darrans, but the weather there is the worst of any place in New Zealand. I recently climbed the alpine peak Malte Brun, which is supposedly some of the best alpine rock in New Zealand. It was a great route, but it seems that even the worst rock in Chamonix is better than the best rock in NZ...lol.

Definitely, Arapiles in Australia is the place for multi-pitch easy and moderate trad climbing, although it will be pretty hot there around Christmas. You may also want to consider El Portero Chico in Mexico...very long bolted routes of every difficulty. I don't know anything about rock climbing in Chile, but apparently there is some good stuff in Argentina.

Yeah, there's great trad rock climbing not too far into Argentina - Agujas de Frey is tough to beat, but the routes tend to be tougher than those mentionned in the original posting.

How is the ice climbing on the South Island? Am considering a trip in August to get away form all this northern hemisphere rock silliness.

August is the time to go looking for ice in NZ

Waterfall Ice climbing (and more recently bolted mixed climbing) in NZ is alot more work than places like the Canadian Rockies or Ouray. Climbing area's such as Bush Stream, Wye Creek and Twin Stream are all overnight trips. Alot of people actually helicopter into Bush or Twin Stream.

The alpine ice routes are usually in early to peak condition around August. This last season wasn't great, due to the lack of snow and ice formation. The year before however was fantastic - good ice and awesome skiing.

Check out www.mountainz.co.nz or www.verticalresources.org for ideas......

Thanks for the info.
Guess another option is southern Chile or Argentina in August. ANyone know of any good areas for ice routes in either of those countries?