Bouldergaine: the day rogaining met bouldering at Kura Tāwhiti

Most bouldering competitions ask a simple question: how hard can you climb on a set of problems in a fixed time? On 15 March 2014 an event at Kura Tāwhiti / Castle Hill in Canterbury asked a different one. Can you read a map, plan a route through a boulder field, keep moving for hours and still pull hard when you get there? It was called a bouldergaine, and it is generally described as the first of its kind.

This note explains what a bouldergaine is, how the format works, and why the Castle Hill basin was such a natural place to try it. We have written it fresh from published sources. If you want the official story of that day, the Wikipedia article on bouldergaining is the best summary and lists its references.

Two sports in one word

The name joins bouldering and rogaining, and the event borrows its structure from the second.

Rogaining is a long-distance navigation sport that started in Melbourne, Australia, in the 1970s. Teams get a map marked with checkpoints, each worth a different number of points depending on how hard it is to reach. They have a fixed time to collect as many points as they can, travelling on foot with a map and compass. Championship rogaines last 24 hours, but shorter events of a few hours are common. The interesting part is strategy. You can't usually visit every checkpoint, so you have to choose: a tight loop of easy points close to the start, or a long push out to the valuable ones far away.

A bouldergaine keeps that structure and changes the terrain. Instead of open country, the course is a large boulder field mapped in the same way as a rogaine. Instead of just reaching a checkpoint, teams can earn extra points by climbing.

How the format works

According to the Wikipedia summary, a bouldergaine works like this:

• Teams of two set out with a map of the boulder field and a time limit.
• The map shows checkpoints. Each one is worth points just for reaching it.
• Each checkpoint has at least one bonus station that you can only reach by scrambling or climbing.
• Teams choose which checkpoints and bonuses to go for, aiming for the highest total score before time runs out.

That makes it a test of three different skills. You need fitness to keep moving across rough ground. You need navigation and planning to choose a good route. And you need climbing ability, because the bonuses are where the big points are, and they sit on rock.

The team-of-two rule matters more than it looks. In a normal bouldering comp you climb alone and your mates spot you. In a bouldergaine your partner is also your navigator, your second opinion on whether a bonus is worth the time, and the person who says "we need to head back now" while you are still working out a move. Good teams split the jobs: one reads the map, the other watches the clock, and both climb.

Strategy: points, time and skin

The scoring rewards judgement as much as strength. Think about two made-up teams.

Team A is strong on the rock but rushes the planning. They head straight for the hardest bonus problems near the start, spend most of their time trying one of them, and get back with a handful of checkpoints and one big bonus.

Team B is less strong but has a plan. They take a wide loop that picks up a long run of checkpoints, try each bonus once or twice, and move on if it doesn't go quickly. They come back with far more checkpoints and several smaller bonuses.

In a rogaine-style scoring system, Team B can easily win. It is the same lesson rogainers learn: points you can collect efficiently are worth more than points you might collect if everything goes right. There is also a climbing-specific twist. Skin and forearms run out. If you burn them on the first boulder you visit, the rest of the course gets harder.

Why Kura Tāwhiti suited it

You could hardly design a better venue for a first bouldergaine. The limestone tors of Kura Tāwhiti / Castle Hill are spread across a wide basin beside State Highway 73, between the Torlesse and Craigieburn ranges. There are boulders and outcrops in every direction, separated by open tussock, so a map with checkpoints scattered across the field makes sense. The rock offers everything from easy scrambles to hard problems, so bonus stations can be set at very different levels.

It is also a place that asks a lot of its visitors. The Department of Conservation's Kura Tāwhiti page explains that the limestone outcrops are of great cultural significance to Ngāi Tahu, that the area has Tōpuni status, and that wāhi tapu (sacred places) are present. The name Kura Tāwhiti means "the treasure from a distant land", which DOC links to the kūmara once grown in the region. The basin is also home to some of Canterbury's rarest plants, which grow in exactly the places people tend to walk: the bases of rock faces.

Any event that sends a lot of people across that ground has to be planned with care: routes on existing tracks and open spaces, no new marks on the rock, and respect for fenced areas and closures. If you are visiting today, our note on bouldering at Kura Tāwhiti / Castle Hill covers the access track and DOC's code of conduct.

What happened, and what came after

The Wikipedia article records that the first bouldergaine was held on 15 March 2014 at Kura Tāwhiti / Castle Hill, that it was organised by the New Zealand Alpine Club, and that more than 100 people took part. It cites, among other sources, the old competition website that used this address. That site has long gone, and we are not connected with it or with the club. We have not reproduced its report, photos or results.

What lasted is the idea. A bouldergaine is a good format for clubs and groups because it rewards teamwork and planning, not just top-end strength, and because a mixed team can do well. It also gets climbers looking at a whole area rather than queueing at the same few classic problems.

If you want to run one

Anyone thinking about running a similar event should start with the land manager and, where relevant, mana whenua, long before printing a map. Permission, numbers, parking, toilets and where people are allowed to walk will shape the course far more than the climbing does. Keep bonus stations on rock that can take the traffic, keep checkpoints on durable ground, and plan the scoring so teams aren't tempted to cut corners across fragile areas.

For the broader story of competition bouldering in New Zealand, read our overview of national bouldering comps from 2003 to 2016. For how points tables work in ordinary comps, see how bouldering comps are scored.