Via Ferrata Aotearoa Inc.

Till's 12-minute documentary "The Wire Climb" about the Via Ferrata Takaka Hill project is now publicly available on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/p57VbxT4dMA

It premiered and featured as a finalist at the NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival in Wanaka in June 2026.

Enjoy watching it!

Description:

The Wire Climb tells the remarkable story behind a unique community-driven climbing experience on New Zealand’s Takaka Hill. What began as an ambitious idea evolved, through determination, ingenuity, and countless hours of manual labour, into a fully-fledged via ferrata carved into rugged limestone cliffs.

Through intimate interviews and striking visuals, the film follows the people who brought the project to life, revealing not only the technical challenges of building a vertical pathway, but also the spirit of adventure and generosity that underpins it. At its heart, The Wire Climb is a story about passion, resilience, and creating access to wild places for others to enjoy.

The Wire Climb The Wire Climb tells the remarkable story behind a unique community...

We are introducing an easy-to-use and simplistic online gear reservation system to reduce the number of phone calls at the Ngarua Caves shop.

A big red button on the gear hire page is hard to miss:
https://viaferrata.org.nz/hire-gear-2/

Please make use of it and report anything that could be improved!

We are proud to announce that Till's new 12 minute documentary "The Wire Climb" is part of the Official Selection of the NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival 2026 in Wanaka. It is yet unpublished and will have its premiere on Sunday 21 June at the festival's "Pure NZ Rua" show.

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"The Wire Climb" tells the remarkable story behind a unique community-driven climbing experience on New Zealand’s Takaka Hill. What began as an ambitious idea evolved, through determination, ingenuity, and countless hours of manual labour, into a fully-fledged via ferrata carved into rugged limestone cliffs.

Through intimate interviews and striking visuals, the film follows the people who brought the project to life, revealing not only the technical challenges of building a vertical pathway, but also the spirit of adventure and generosity that underpins it. At its heart, "The Wire Climb" is a story about passion, resilience, and creating access to wild places for others to enjoy.
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Consider a trip to Wanaka and buy tickets here:
https://mountainfilm.nz/

It's been a while since we posted on Facebook. Had to recover from the pre-xmas building rush. The new Cliff Conqueror route had a great start! First logbook filled, many people challenged :-) It's certainly a step up from the Cliff Traverse - but that was intentional.

Andrew and Till got the feedback that the ladders in Conqueror are a bit scary because they feel wobbly. We decided to stiffen them. Quite a job! We are adding stainless steel bars on both sides and run 16 mm threaded bar through every rung. Just the drilling of the holes took 6 hours! Recently we managed to fit the first two bars to the top ladder. Lower ladder coming soon.

GEAR HIRE NOW NZ$10

From Monday, 12 January 2026, the price for gear hire from the Ngarua Caves shop will increase from NZ$8 to NZ$10.

The hire gear is owned by the Via Ferrata Club, while Ngarua Caves is an independent business that manages the gear hire operations on the Club’s behalf. Of the NZ$10 hire fee, NZ$7 covers the handling and operational costs charged by the Ngarua Caves shop, and NZ$3 is a non-profit wear-and-tear contribution to the Via Ferrata Club to help replace equipment when required. The full amount is payable at the shop when the gear is collected.

The increase in the handling fee from NZ$5 to NZ$7 was necessary due to the growing scale of the operation. With 50 gear sets now available for hire, the workload involved in managing and maintaining the equipment has increased significantly, and the adjustment helps ensure the shop can staff the service reliably.

Find all the details about hire gear here:
https://viaferrata.org.nz/via-ferrata-takaka-hill/hire-gear-submenu/

NEW "CLIFF CONQUEROR" ROUTE NOW OPEN!

We are proud to announce that now - after we hung off the cliff for several months on a daily basis - the new "Cliff Conqueror" Via Ferrata route on Takaka Hill is now open to the public! We made it just in time for the holiday season!

The new route should only be attempted after climbing the "Cliff Traverse" route which is easier and less exposed. Only climbers that felt confident there should proceed to the "Cliff Conqueror" route.

The new route features two twin-wire bridges, two outward-leaning ladders, and the iconic Gearshop Skybench — an unforgettable perch where your feet dangle high above the sheer cliff below.

Check out our website for more details and images:
https://viaferrata.org.nz/

Over the winter season we built a proper stand for more climbing gear at the Ngarua Caves shop. We have now received all the additional Via Ferrata sets (harnesses, lanyards & helmets) and bumped up the number from 14 to 50. So, there is plenty available for the busy season ahead of us! Rental cost is unchanged at NZ$ 8.

Our Via Ferrata project was featured in Seven Sharp on TVNZ 1 prime time last week! A well-made 5-minute piece and a great promotion for what we do.

Here's a replay for all those that missed it:

Via Ferrata Takaka Hill featured in Seven Sharp on TVNZ 1 December 2025: A 5-minute TV feature from the "Seven Sharp" news show introducing the non-profit Via Ferrata Takaka Hill project, its volunteers and the new ...

Our Via Ferrata project is featured in Seven Sharp on TVNZ 1 tonight at 7 pm. Tune in!

It wasn't cheap, it wasn't quick - but here we are: We got the first official road signs up that point to a Via Ferrata in New Zealand!