Rónán K
Anderl Heckmair
Piggly
President '11/'12
Posts: 180
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Routes
Oct 30, 2011 18:37:30 GMT 1
Post by Rónán K on Oct 30, 2011 18:37:30 GMT 1
Finally got back out to do some trad in reaosnable weather on Thursday. Myself and John Bon Jegley went to Spellack. Most everything was seeping and soaking from the deluge last week but we plodded up the slippery gully and found a (reasonably) dry buttress at the top.
White Walls (S) Rónán, John ***
Excellent route. Not sure if the slab att the start is part of it but did it anyway, was tricky in the wet. THe route itself was lovely, well protected and not too difficult but interesting moves. I hadn't climbe din the Mournes in ageeeeeeeees and it showed, took a while to get back into it.
Then John tried to find a route to climb and upon a cursory inspection decided on
Race the Darkness (XS! 4c) John, Rónán a '47m HVS' in the guidebook, in reality its about 70m long and the grade is unkown as it is quite heavily overgrown in sections, although there is some excellent climbing in it. John managed to uncover a few ledges through gratuitous gardening. 4c tech grade, XS seems right for adj. grade, line was also tricky to find. The top of the route did not coincided with the location of our gear, nor did it with the top of white walls where the gear we had left from the previous abseil was... ...cue the discovery of a rusty piton and threading a rope through it to use as a backrope will descending a very narow chimney on the right of the buttress and trying not the slide down the gully. A scramble up some wet steepness brought us back to the gear.
2 hours later we were at the pub crawl!
I love the Mournes. Even when wet it's fun
Yay climbing
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kevin
Jacques Balmat
Posts: 7
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Routes
Oct 30, 2011 23:19:38 GMT 1
Post by kevin on Oct 30, 2011 23:19:38 GMT 1
Good work guys, sounded like an adventure!
Got out to lower cover with Richard Dougan today. Had a blast on
Brewers Corner E1 5c
The alternate finish to Brewer's Gloom. Lovely, all be it short lived, climbing, with good gear that is a bit too low down to ignore. just don't fall off the crux as you'll likely wreck yourself on the ledge below.
Yukon VS 3c 4b 4b
An excursion! A lot of this was very wet today. Such a massively cool slab traverse. Top pitch is a bit snappy in the rain and wind. Not one to just jump on a bad day. Felt more demanding than Brewers Corner, which was dry.
Really nice to be out multipitching at this time of year! No cold hands yet...
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Nov 5, 2011 21:35:59 GMT 1
Post by Browne-Bear on Nov 5, 2011 21:35:59 GMT 1
Fantastic day out in Lower Cove today. Weather was absolutely brilliant, and the climbing ecsquisite.
Myself, Gra, Dan, Benoit, Bon Jegely and Joachim all headed out! Craic was had, of a banterous and climbing nature!
Third Corner HS 4b * - Niall/Gra
Nice start, deadpointy in nature. Crux was most definately getting into the chimney (which was bloody desperate). Sustained climbing throughout - grand enough route.
Pillar Variant S 4a *** - Gra/Niall
Because we had half ropes, Gra linked this as one single pitch! FANTASTIC ROUTE. Absolutely lovely climbing, and great gear throughout!
Gynocrat HVS 5a *** - Niall/Gra
An epic route! Sustained HVS all the way! Gear was good, and had moves that kept you thinking! Brilliant
Gotta get back up to Lower Cove again - some epic routes up there to be had...!
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Nov 5, 2011 23:10:28 GMT 1
Post by rintygold on Nov 5, 2011 23:10:28 GMT 1
Got out today to L.Cove with Yocham amongst others. What amazing weather! Anywhoo, i decided to warm up on
Dark side of the Moon** E1 5b John, Yocham
Had to rest on the rope in a few places as it was really pumpy. Hard start, harder finish.
We continued climbing straight up on
[Enter name when Yocham gives me my guidebook back!] VS 4c John, Yocham. Probably took the wrong line as it was hard, but a bit dull
We finished off the day by having lunch and practising gear placement.
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alek
Edward Whymper
Posts: 20
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Routes
Nov 6, 2011 16:47:47 GMT 1
Post by alek on Nov 6, 2011 16:47:47 GMT 1
As always, good to see people climbing things! Third corner is desperate, more so if you try to link pitches on it and well done on Gynocrat. In other news... I'm back in the northern hemisphere.
So last month Alek (and Nick) went to Peru. It was more of a walking trip than a climbing trip (and any climbing done was slightly alpine so felt more like walking anyway). Despite it not being a club trip, I'm going to write a little report on it anyway, but anyhow, a route summary to put here anyway.
-A 450g gas canister can last 2 people 18 days. -There is a hell and it is full of soya. -The spoon Will always find a way to lose itself. -You can climb disturbingly few mountains in 28 days or so of being in the mountains....
So anyway, there's undoubtedly a way to make this a better trip- by eating better! The stuff available in Peru is mostly similar to Europe with a few exceptions: Dried fruit and salami is very hard to find (at least decent stuff), cheese is primitive. We didn't try shopping in Lima (could be the mistake), but in all smaller towns it's the same problem. In any case, the whole trip can pretty much be summed up as, when going to high up mountains far away, get the food that you can digest *easily*.
First we went south to Arequipa to climb the large volcanoes (scree plodding yay!) and found that a) in the country's second largest city topographic maps are exquisitely hard to find, b) it's the dry season. In any case, from there we traveled to the village of Cabanaconda (did I mention that Peru has incredibly comfortable buses?).
In any case the first five day outing was an acclimatisation walk past Nevado Seperagina, which took us to 5.2km, involved a day of hideous bushwhacking (aka being lost due to being on a 1:100000 map with paths that didn't' mach up to reality), and by all rights should have been a couple of days longer for a better effect.
Nevado Ampato, North Summit (6200m-6250m, ) So we didn't actually climb the proper summit of Nevado Ampato (and hence to be completely honest it means that we didn't actually climb Nevado Ampato, but I'm still putting it here) because I let someone else do the navigation and when we accidentally ended up on the north summit, it was too late and tiring to go the real summit (about 6288 meters). The average pace of moving up from the last camp (~5200m) to the 'top' (~6200m) was 166m/h, curiously with a higher rate of movement in the last 300m or so due to paradoxes. Terrain was mostly 3 steps forwards 2 step back scree and bastards (see below). Interesting peculiarities of the place include: -With strong sun and altitude, the snow sublimes to form penitents (aka bastards) which are essentially a field of meter high spikes which make it feel like you're moving through a thicket, except the brambles are made of ice. -There is no water within half a vertical and several horizontal kilometers of the suggested base camp. The stuff that melts from the top does not reach the bottom, except as a colorful mud flow.
The walk in takes 3 days (4 because we started late on the first day and left a packet of important documents in the middle of a desert on the third) and the walk out takes 2.
In any case, there are two more nearby six thousanders (Hualca Hualca and Sabancaya) which we didn't climb because the fact that we had bought inedible oats and uncookable (and for Alek indigestible) Soya and Nick's unwillingness to make an attempt on a Llama's life (fucking vegetarians) meant that we were a touch on the eager side to return to somewhere with food.
Nevado Mismi (5650m) So this one is on the other side of the canyon and is supposedly the geographical source of the amazon, (whatever that means!) So whatever that does mean, we thought it would be cool to be able to cross one's arms and say "I've been to the source of the amazon!", even if we wouldn't have a clue as to what it meant. Now it's meant to be mostly snow covered, but it looks like we were there just at the right time for it to be a pile of scree. I can see how in winter, the summit ridge could make a very interesting traverse. In the state it was in, it felt somewhat welsh however. So by this time I had cought something of an unpleasant cold, but with camp at 4800m, our average rate of movement was around 250m/h. Ah slowness... The walk in took one day (and was actually at a fair pace), and the climb and walk out could be done in one day, but we split it up for the sake of the state of Alek's alimentary canal.
Then upon the suggestion of climbing the volcano El Misti, Nick decided that enough all permeating ash (seriously, volcanic ash gets everywhere and in large quantities) was enough and that he'd rather learn some proper mountaineering. Which left us, once you had counted rest and travel days, 5 days in Huaraz. This spawned a hair brained plan that we could, in theory, climb Copa (6180m, 'PD' by the standard route) if all things work out like cogs in a machine... The plan was one day walk in, one day to teach Nick, one day to climb, one day spare/climb some more, one day walk out, night bus, fly away.
As it was the walk in day weather was somewhere between Irish and Scottish so progress was a little slower and we ended up with 2/3rds of a walk in. Which made little difference. On day 2 weather was fairly unpleansant, so we did not scout the final approach to the route. Which led to the unexpected complication of an exceptionally long and unpleasant final approach, which meant that even if we had good weather on day 3 we would have ran out of time (as it happened, weather conditions on day 3 led to a character building descent). Threat of more weather on day 4 made us decide to climb an easier subsiduary peak to have a near certainty of bagging something (as it happened, day 4 had perfect ascent weather for Copa), and then we had to go or stay and miss a flight (which I would have been fairly happy to do if my stomach would actually let me eat something more than milk and chocolate).
In conclusion, Alek is a numpty. Anyhow, the climbing.....
An attempt on Copa (6180, PD). Essentially once you approach, there are two couloirs, left and right. In the lean conditions that we encountered, the left couloir was a bowling alley with stones between fist and finger size coming down at a rate of around one every ten seconds. Hence we chose the right couloir. The right couloir starts at around 30 degrees, but has a central crux step of [thin] ice at around 60. Followed by the second half at around 40-50, with the snow steepening towards the top with the exit being at around 70. This made it quite enjoyable with one axe... Afterwards, above 5km it was a normal snow plod. Anyhow, we reached 5200m, ridiculously far from the summit before being shut down by weather. Upon attempting to descent the way we came, we found that it was a funnel for the large amounts of hail coming down the mountain (no thankyou). This left us hoping that the conditions would also shut down rockfall in the bowling alley. Which they did. This made it safe enough to run down that way. So on the down side we didn't get up that one, on the up side, Nick seems to have taken to it very well, as one would expect, so I guess lose a mountain, gain a mountaineer?
Nevado Vicos/Lejia (5350m, F+?) So Copa has a vicious looking south ridge (I'm coming back for it), but before it becomes vicious, there are a couple of small summits on it. The map is a bit useless, so I'm not sure which of the two we climbed, but I suspect that it was Lejia. So we decided that since there was a risk of being shut down by the weather if we tried the main summit again, we could go for a shorter outing (in this case unnecessary, as the weather for the next two days was brilliant). In any case it can be done by one of three fairly simple routes from the lake (Laguna Lejiacocha), get to the glacier and a) go left and reach the ridge and then right and to the summit. Go on the glacier, cross the bergshrund and up the face (~50 degrees). Go on the glacier, then come off and up an easy couloir and then left onto the ridge ad to the top. So we took the third option, saw some cornices and then proceeded to the top. Yay. Then we went back down.
In conclusion: -Volcanoes and semi deserts, while interesting, do not substitute for a good, proper mountain range. -The Cordillera Blanca is actually awesome. -At altitude semi-technical routes are the was to go since you can't move that quickly anyway, so you might as well enjoy a technical challenge. -Eat properly or you will be destroyed.
I'm going to write a proper trip report analysing what went right and what didn't.
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Nov 6, 2011 18:28:48 GMT 1
Post by Browne-Bear on Nov 6, 2011 18:28:48 GMT 1
Great to see you are back in the Northern Hemisphere - get your crazy Russian ass to Donegal for some Trad and Fresher scaring!
Andes sound absolutely fantastic! Did Nick experience the faff? Third Corner was desperate alright - gaining the chimney with your gear on is rather grim! Ah Trad...
Get back over to Belfast, Fairhead and the Mournes beckon you!!
Also, John, its Joachim (not Yochim)...
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Nov 6, 2011 22:49:27 GMT 1
Post by gilmo on Nov 6, 2011 22:49:27 GMT 1
Well this forum doesn't specify climbing routes so i'll go ahead ad report the walk. We, Andre, Karin, Tim, Siobhan, Thomases O'Hagan and Prebble and I met at the PEC at 8, naturally I was late .The cars were pointed in the direction of bloody bridge (my thanks to thomas for wiping the windscreen of condensation, my heater doesn't work). From here we jovially jaunted (alliteration may become a theme) up to the style. Down then up brought us sweatily to the top (close enough) of Lamigan via a detour through the tunnel at Lower Cove, which is an incredible experience, I also jumped in a river. The sun shone as our route continued over Slieves Beg and Cove. From here it was an easy stroll down the Brandy Pad to Hare's Gap. Gracelessly contouring round Bearnagh (it was slippery!) and passing through the Windy Gap brought us to our boggy campsite above Blue Lough. It got dark, we ate and then we got bored. Doan by moonlight anyone? The walk was interesting but character was built and we lay on the top talking shite for an hour till it got too cold to continue. Going back down was like going up but downhill. We inserted ourselves into our respective tents, each tent has it's own story which i am not allowed to tell. Total Height gain 1100m 12 hours later: The morning was cold but was eventually warmed by the sun and much jumping about. Up more Hills! Meelbeg robbed us of two and Meelmore a futher one; various injuries to the lower limbs. Myself Karin and the Thomases went on to follow the wall to the top of Donnard, enjoying the excellent scrambling on Bearnagh, falling over a lot, talking to dogs, running needlessly, burning matches, eating jelly babies, climbing walls, thinking of Fish and Chips, feeling class and generally walking on hills. NB, the steep side of Donnard is steep. Total height gain 1339m My thanks to all who came and all who didn't, it wouldn't have been the same were you there, the weather, all 14 of our ankles for staying unhurt, Jesus and Thomas O'Hagan for officially renaming sheep shit "Mountain Lube"
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dan
Edward Whymper
Posts: 24
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Routes
Nov 7, 2011 0:58:52 GMT 1
Post by dan on Nov 7, 2011 0:58:52 GMT 1
Great day on Saturday at Lower Cove as Niall said, myself and benoit started with:
Demob * HS 4a (Dan, Benoit) ***************************** Really nice route, worth the star. Slightly overhangy, (didn't know HS's could be...) but good holds. Was funny to hear Conor and co. grunting their way through the cave as I was climbing!
Sundowner E1 5c (Benoit, Dan) ********************************* will let Benoit describe this, looked scary to lead.
Pillar Variant S 4a (Dan, Benoit) ********************************* Nice climing, also led in 1 pitch which is fine once you extend the lower protection. The vertical part in the middle is really nice.
First Corner HS 4b (Benoit, Dan) ********************************** Route of the day for me. I would give Pillar variant 2 stars and this route 3 stars.
Went mountainbiking today to Kirroughtree to round off a great weekend. Highly recommended for anyone who is into it. Stena doing a deal at the moment, 4 people, 4 bikes and a car day return for £110, bargain!
Lessons of the day: Climbing is fun! Good to be back out on rock after only getting out twice over the summer. It may take more than 8 months before people stop mentioning helicopters when they see me.
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joh
Edward Whymper
Posts: 36
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Routes
Nov 7, 2011 11:09:23 GMT 1
Post by joh on Nov 7, 2011 11:09:23 GMT 1
In the russian literary tradition
Lessons - dark forces gather at belays and are trying to kill me, which is "not cool" - belay jackets are for belaying, even in november - it takes less time to fall than it does to finish the thought: "these jams aren't actually that bad"
Dark Forces E3 6a, 5c, 4c - McCune, Monkey king of babylon mccune handled the first pitch in all its slightly wet groovy glory. I slowly lost vision at the first belay and john constructed some sort of glass wall around himself so it was difficult to hear him as well, I just wanted to throw up anyway. Just as as I was about to faint, or die, I took off my fleece and shortly could see and hear again, and did the second pitch which was one of the best climbs I have ever done! An awesome corner...
GBH E3 6a I gave this a go but it was getting dark after I had spent some time falling off the crux. If size 3 nuts drank I would owe mine around 7 pints. More like gross index-fingerly harm. Then mccune finished the job. I expect I shall be falling off it again sometime soon.
In conclusion, it could be worse.
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Rónán K
Anderl Heckmair
Piggly
President '11/'12
Posts: 180
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Routes
Nov 7, 2011 12:43:12 GMT 1
Post by Rónán K on Nov 7, 2011 12:43:12 GMT 1
In the words of Boney M, "Oh, those Russians..."
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Nov 7, 2011 15:54:38 GMT 1
Post by thomasohagan on Nov 7, 2011 15:54:38 GMT 1
So many intersting trip reports, so many people having fun. Sounds like the USSR trip to Peru was a lot of fun can't wait to get chatting to Alex. Finally hill walking with Gilmour in charge is a lot of fun.
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benoit
Edward Whymper
Posts: 20
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Routes
Nov 7, 2011 16:37:57 GMT 1
Post by benoit on Nov 7, 2011 16:37:57 GMT 1
A perfect week-end, like every week-end should be... sunny, yet not too warm nor too cold... climbing at Lower Cove on Saturday, climbing at Fair Head on Sunday... can't beat that!!
Saturday - Lower Cove
Sundowner * E1 5c Benoît, Dan
The description of the route starts with "a technical little test-piece" and with a FA by Eddie Cooper... it sounded promising! And it did not disappoint! The crux is relatively low, well protected, but still quite committing! Leave the comfort of good footholds and a jug to reach a good pocket, then a sloper. Build a cam nest before committing to the crux, namely gaining the dyke above the sloper. Once you start moving up, there is no turning back!! A typical Mournes route!! Recommended!!
First Corner ** HS 4b/4c Benoît, Dan
Excellent route. Stayed close to the arete the whole way up for more exposure and a 4c variant.
Sunday - Fair Head
First time doing routes at the Head for Fyfe! What an introduction!!!
Blind Pew ** E2 5a, 5b Fyfe, Benoît / Benoît, Fyfe
The route starts in a corner and two variants are possible. Staying in the corner the whole way up to the belay (5b) or traversing left to reach a groove and then a short offwidth (5a). The second variant was chosen by Fyfe (excellent lead!!), providing some excellent moves to reach the groove. The offwidth was thoughtful as well. The second pitch is quite imposing and involves some bridging and trusting your feet (my calves were getting pumped!), until reaching a thank god hold. A few more moves before reaching the finishing groove which has a very nice juggy and flowy start, but gets harder the higher you get. Excellent route!!!
Roaring Meg ** VS 5a, 4b, 4a Benoît, Fyfe / Fyfe, Benoît / Benoît, Fyfe
A route with contrasting pitches. The first pitch is meant to be one of the best of its grade. Slightly pumpy and definitely worth its 5a (4c in the old guidebook). Good climbing and interesting moves passing the overhang. The second pitch starts easy and after a wee dander up a ramp, finishes with an awkward move to reach the belay. Good lead from Fyfe on that pitch! The last pitch is quite terrifying... traverse on a lovely narrow ledge (about 80-90 meters above the ground), then traverse back with loops of slack in your hands to unstuck the rope from the crack it got jammed into. Traverse again and dig a lovely jug out of the grass, bridge and look down, enjoying the exposure, trust that grass provides friction and you're ready to top out!
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Nov 14, 2011 1:41:09 GMT 1
Post by Browne-Bear on Nov 14, 2011 1:41:09 GMT 1
So another trip to glorious Glencolmcille has passed - Mary as mad as ever... Donegal, what can I say - OUT-F**KING-STANDING! 3 years on the bounce of glorious sunny weather! Ideal climbing conditions. First PROPER chance for Freshers to experience outdoor climbing. With 28 names on the Trip List (but 27 attending - a late withdrawl), and a further 3 making their own way up, this shaped up to be a great weekend. We met at the PEC, boarded our vehicles (Cheers to Conor/Siobhan/Toni/Bon Jegley/Tony), and made for Glencolmcille. **Travelling Highlight (IMO) has to be me calling out of the window to Monkey king of babylon "Stinkin Prods" in Asda's carpark - nothing like some sectarianism to kick start the trip!** Arrived to Dooey Hostel, to be greated by the most insane/fantastic woman in the world - Mary (who instantly offered us tea - another reason to keep staying at this hostel!) With alcohol, banter and the box game to keep some of us up till 5 in the morning - we called it a night. And so to Malinbeg! Myself, Conor, Colleen and Chris (Connolly) departed first thing with gear and rigging ropes to set up a couple of top ropes ontop of Neptunes Wall. With the freshers settling in to the routine of club trips (warm up, pockle, climb, boulder, lunch, boulder, climb etc etc), I grabbed Chris (Connolly) - who I had taught earlier to lead climb/belay - and made for some trad leads. Having set up an abseil to access the routes, we climbed! Flying Enterprise VS 4c *** - Niall/Chris First route of the day - and with a lot of interest in this route (namely from Benoit/John Monkey king of babylon/Conor), I made for this first. What a route - airy, strange protection, and a difficult enough crux if you aren't in the right frame of mind. Felt it was quite balancy, and intimadating as a result. Brilliant route though - definately three star route, though I felt it was difficult for a VS - possibly a HVS in my opinion (but that is just my opinion!) Fantastic second from Chris, who cruised up the route (albeit, unable to remove one nut - more practice seconding is required! Perhaps a trip to the Mournes sometime ) With that done and out of the way (in a good way), we headed back to Neptune's Wall, where I proceeded to get as much done in one day as I could. This time myself and Chris were joined by Nick. Shaky Riggings HS 4b - Niall/Nick With Chris belaying me (since I could trust him), I shot up this route. Climbing beside Monkey king of babylon is an experience - especially whenever Benoit instigates a race between us. Upon hearing it was a race, Monkey king of babylon ran up a VS with no gear (basically). Hilarious. Shaky Rigging - quite a decent route. Good protection, easy climbing. Good second from Nick, who cruised up it no bother, ripping his jeans in the process. I then returned to the base and climbed again. Hydrophobia VS 4b *** - Niall/Chris Lovely route - soft for a VS, but felt harder than Shaky Rigging. Laced the route with gear, getting my moneys worth from my rack! Take the line up the centre of the face on good solid holds. Great second from Chris - certainly getting used to this trad malarky! Following this, I racked up again and headed back towards a group of freshers collecting around Colleen and Michael. I grabbed two, and climbed again (what I though was a HS, but was incorrect!) Jib VS 4b - Niall/Laura (Fairbairn) I got Finn to give me a lead belay up this, and had Laura second. Fantastic route - in my opinion, worth at least one star. Make a move up and over an overhang on pretty good holds, before making a big (but completely safe) move around the arete, before climbing up the steep wall. Protection was grand, although I did run it out at the top. Great second from Laura, who clearly shows that shortness is not a limiting factor in climbing! With that, we called it a day - four routes, all fantastic quality! Back to the hostel for Meatball Risotto and Banana Bread for dinner - thank you Colleen. Couple of pints in Roarty's, before some night time frisby and some artistic photography! Bed by the sensible time of 1 o'clock. Sunday, Muckross Head - WOW! Unbelievable place! Even as an "experienced" second year climber, Muckross is daunting! Overhanging, steep and sustained! Was concerned that freshers wouldn't have a good chance to second routes (successfully) - I was wrong. I was a little intimadated, but incredibly psyched! So Myself, Colleen, Chris (Connolly) and Toni (Bunting) teamed together and made for some routes. Since this was my first time at Muckross, and of the increased possiblilty that I could fall, I did not accept belays from freshers. Nuts and Berries HVS 5a - Niall/Chris/Colleen Oh my f**cking god - what an excellent route. Described as "pleasant climbing" in the guidebook, this is one hell of a good route. Ascend the short arete to a small roof, place your large hex (purple), extend in order to make the crux move! Lean back off the edge of the roof (feet below the roof), place your right heel over the roof, heelhook/mantle/rockover whilst palming off, and reach up for a small pinch and a small pocket! That is a 5a move if I ever saw one. However, the route is sustained, with a balancy move following this (lace the horizontal crack before committing, otherwise your hard work is for nothing with you decking!). Had a bit of a run out (about 4/5 metres) due to lack of gear/ladder type climbing - ie: Easy. The upper face of the climb was immensely enjoyable, with a lovely finger crack, and great gear! Initially had Toni seconding me, however the roof proved just that bit too difficult! Fantastic second from Chris though, who cruised the route (but again couldn't remove one of my nuts - more practice me thinks. Offer of the Mournes is still open...) Colleen cruised up afterwards as a warm up. I then gave Colleen a belay up a HS, which was excellantly seconded by Toni! Some nice balancy start moves, and good sustained climbing in between! Sinead climbed this whilst I chose my next route and racked up at the top! Cois Farraige VS 4c ** - Niall/Colleen Two words can describe this route. 1. Pumpy. 2. AWESOME. This route was used throughout the day as a top rope route, but with the light beginning to fade, and freshers away bouldering with Conor/Michael/Chris, I went for a lead on it. Great start move, with a jump to a jug, heelhook/rockover to another jug, before standing up and grabbing a solid thread. Gear was great, with solid threads and hex placements all up the route. Lovely layback esq crack climbing with a steep, pumpy nature to it. Colleen seconded, with a slightly hurt shoulder from the initial move - fair play! With her injured, and light fading, I doned the Buffalo and chilled out at the top of the route with John Monkey king of babylon, Siobhan and Colleen sorting gear. Fish and Chips at Killybegs, and a stop off at Casa de Gilmour (By the way: Mary Gilmour is an absolute SAINT, Conor's dad is a good lad as well) for tea. Great weekend away, cheers to all who attended - it was banterful and climb filled. Cheers to Chris for the belays on Saturday, and big thanks to Colleen for Dinner on Saturday and for belays on Sunday. What a weekend - I want to go back RIGHT NOW!
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Rónán K
Anderl Heckmair
Piggly
President '11/'12
Posts: 180
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Routes
Nov 14, 2011 16:32:10 GMT 1
Post by Rónán K on Nov 14, 2011 16:32:10 GMT 1
Seconded Niall. Excellent Weekend. Malinbeg on saturday, I grabbed Michael Campbell and got him to belay me up
Calvin's Corner (HS) Rónán, Michael Nice route. CHose it as I was a bit out of practice but it felt comfortable. Michael led it after me, Woohoo first HS for him!
Fiddler's Green HVS 5a (or for Benoit, Green Fiddlers) Rónán, Conor
Tricky-ish start followed by an easy ramp then a thoughtful crux on carefully arranged small gear. Crux was fun and balancey, although route felt soft for HVS.
Then Sinéad wanted to lead something so I took her back round to Calvin's corner and talked her into climbing it. She got up it - albeit completely differently to the way I climbed it, doing 'awesome funky moves'. woohoo first HS for her as well yay!
Sunday at Muckross I set up a rope on Boho Dance (S) and belayed for a while then on Niall's advice climbed
Nuts and Berries (HVS 5a) Rónán, Tony (McHale) Solid HVS and excellent route, doesn't look to have an overhang on it but because of the nature of the holds it pushes you into an overhanging position. Crux was surmounted by a mantle off smears to a toehook - nice! THe 'ladder' was a bit hard to read, it takes a while to get used to the sandstone/mudstone. A rockover onto grass to finish and then a dodgy-ish belay round a rock.
Cois Farraige (VS 4c/5a) John (B), Rónán Seconded JOhn up this number at the end of the day. ONe of my first outdoor routes, toproping it 2 years ago! Jumped for the start then another rockover to a toehook - nice! Run up the route removing gear and get a bit pumped. But very fun.
THen we messed about atop the crag, pile-ons and tying Gilmour up... then John Monkey king of babylon and Conor either wrestled or got it on, I'm not sure...
Yay Donegal!
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joh
Edward Whymper
Posts: 36
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Routes
Nov 14, 2011 22:01:13 GMT 1
Post by joh on Nov 14, 2011 22:01:13 GMT 1
don't worry ronan, i was thinking of you the whole time.
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