Town Boulders

There’s another new bouldering spot people have been developing. It’s in a forest somewhere in Honolulu.

And it’s called Nuuanu.

There’s only a few boulder problems to climb at this spot so far. But, it’s super easy to access and according to Justin Ridgely (Volcanic Rock Gym), it has one of the best problems on the island. People are exploring the area too, so new problems could be found at any time.

We cruised out here recently to check out the rock and get a look at this crazy overhanging boulder problem called “Rise of the Night Marchers.”

If you want to climb here you’ll need a lot of pads. I’m pretty sure I offered to help carry some but somehow this happened.

The main boulders are right off the street.

Rocks can be found all around.

The main boulders are downstream from Alapena Pool towards Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary.

As you explore the boulders you’ll notice that some of them have rebar installed on them. This appears not to be for reinforcement but rather to prevent people from defacing ancient petroglyphs on the rock with graffiti.

This rock has very prominent petroglyphs and has a rebar cage built around it. (I poked my camera lens through the cage.)

The problem we came to check out is up here. You have to climb up a few boulders to get to the overhanging one.

Justin begins by building a nest of crash pads. The smaller pads are used to fill in holes so that the larger pads can lay flat on top. And the pads have to be wedged into the rocks so that they won’t come loose and slide down the slope if he were to fall.

Once the pads are in place he begins to chalk up his hands and mark the holds he’ll use on the rock.

And then it’s time to climb.

Notice Justin’s right hand here. There’ not much to hold onto here. What’s keeping him from falling is purely the friction from the rock against his fingers and the compression of his hand on the rock.

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Watch the sequence for “Rise of the Night Marchers”:

Getting here:

• If you’d like more info on climbing here, talk to local rock climbers here in Hawaii. You can often meet climbers at the Waimea boulder and of course at Volcanic Rock Gym.

See also:

• My other posts about rock climbing in Hawaii.