Rónán K
Anderl Heckmair
Piggly
President '11/'12
Posts: 180
|
Routes
May 14, 2012 14:49:23 GMT 1
Post by Rónán K on May 14, 2012 14:49:23 GMT 1
A very interesting weekend up at the North Face of Ireland. Met Dutch Reyer and Australian Jules (aka Ernest the Magnifico...you may recognize him from the festival of fools www.magnifico.com.au/magnificosite.swf) in O'Connor's in Ballycastle on friday night. Cue several hours of drinking and talking shite with some very interesting characters. Class. Met them again on saturday morning at Reyer's apartment (part of the Castle Hotel, first thing you see when you come in the door is a massive poster of Winston Churchill... the guy who lived there before was interesting). We got a lift to Fair Head with Phil Linten, 4 in a mini. Reyer and Jules warmed up on Fáth mo Bhuartha while myself and Phil climbed Stone Mad (HVS 5a) Rónán, Phil Not too bad, low crux thoughtful due to lack of gear but rest was grand. Jungle wading at half height. Then Jules and Reyer dispatched GBH easily! Fireball (E1 5b) Rónán, Phil Superb route, incredibly physical climbing. The offwidth is fun, with slow progress. This is followed up by very sustained jamming and a few rests before a steep finish. One of the harder E1s I've done, felt similar in difficulty to Equinox but 15m shorter. The Prow was busy by this stage with several aprties about, including Angela Carlin and a few guys form Dublin, and Andy Marshall on Paul Swail romping up Rathlin Wall E3s. Reyer and Jules meanwhile dispatched Cúchulainn. We were quite tired after the fight with Fireball, and it was Phil's first time at the 'head so we finished with what I thought would be a 'soft touch' as it was short: Simple Minds (E1 5b) Rónán, Phil Short but very sharp. It's pretty hard! Now I remember why I've shied away from short E1s, they're nails. Great route though, safe (if you have the energy to place the gear) and jam jam jammy. Defintely not a soft touch though, it packs it in. Fair play to Phil, he had a bit of a baptism of fire! So another great day at the 'head. Saw Monkey king of babylon atop the Doffer, fair play! Proper aul school. If anyone is looking a partner for Fair Head, get in touch with Reyer! He's super psyched, really good and is generally a really nice guy.
|
|
joh
Edward Whymper
Posts: 36
|
Routes
May 14, 2012 17:41:06 GMT 1
Post by joh on May 14, 2012 17:41:06 GMT 1
yay, back at fair head
the jungle line - bit damp, not very jungle-y at all. meh
seconded benoit on peas and carrots - with some meat is the final moves... tasty! they say the first ascentionist ran all the way from belfast after finishing the marathon, and placed only a solitary nutkey. so they say.
wagger moon - The main crack is fist-sized to bit-bigger-than-fist-sized (mostly bigger) and it was incredibly awkward and intense! A real fight, I only remember that I was very very nearly off about 3 times! Size 3, 4 cams, similar sizes of hex... I should have taped up…to my elbows. cool...
|
|
Rónán K
Anderl Heckmair
Piggly
President '11/'12
Posts: 180
|
Routes
May 14, 2012 18:20:17 GMT 1
Post by Rónán K on May 14, 2012 18:20:17 GMT 1
Wagger Moon? Even more impressive. What's Peas and Carrots? Also I notice every time I try and write O*Hara I get Monkey king of babylon...
|
|
joh
Edward Whymper
Posts: 36
|
Routes
May 14, 2012 18:43:41 GMT 1
Post by joh on May 14, 2012 18:43:41 GMT 1
Instead of going left in "let the children play", finish right up the short-lived but fairly desperate groove. Kev did it, then Benoit shortly after.
And that's Prebster's doin'.
|
|
Rónán K
Anderl Heckmair
Piggly
President '11/'12
Posts: 180
|
Routes
May 14, 2012 19:40:46 GMT 1
Post by Rónán K on May 14, 2012 19:40:46 GMT 1
Small Crag worth visiting then? Haven't been apart form that shi'ite day I fell on your belayer
|
|
joh
Edward Whymper
Posts: 36
|
Routes
May 14, 2012 20:06:44 GMT 1
Post by joh on May 14, 2012 20:06:44 GMT 1
aye, it has trees.
|
|
benoit
Edward Whymper
Posts: 20
|
Routes
May 23, 2012 16:59:11 GMT 1
Post by benoit on May 23, 2012 16:59:11 GMT 1
Quick report from last week-end at Fair Head. Not many routes, but all high quality routes! Sandpiper *** E2 (5c, 5a) The route starts as for The Brasser on a beautiful frictiony red wall ( www.fairheadclimbers.com/pages/photos/1/images/sandpiper_brian_760.jpg). The first few moves are interesting, but not as bad they look. Then keep climbing the corner with the usual bridging and jamming until a right traverse. A couple of tricky and exciting moves followed by a tricky mantel. Then the crack gets wider, a short section of exposed face climbing on good edges, some more crack, then the last move... a font mantel... heelhook in all its glory 36m above the ground! While enjoying the view, I had a look a Striapach... it looks absolutely insane! The second pitch is short, but fun! A lovely offwidth! It could probably be run as one pitch with careful rope management, but make sure the rope does not get stuck in the crack. Highly recommended!!! Cinnabar * E2 (5c) What a route!! Start with a wide crack, then a short, but tricky traverse. Then an overlap, some gardening to discover that there actually is a crack, but that the crack is too thin for fingers... once past this tricky bit, the climbing eases for a while. Then a couple of tricky moves see you at the bottom of a massive imposing overhang. A couple of exposed sport climbing moves see you through the overhang. Amazing finish for an awesome route!! I don't know why it only gets one star and why it is not climbed more!
|
|
|
Routes
May 27, 2012 23:33:30 GMT 1
Post by thomasohagan on May 27, 2012 23:33:30 GMT 1
Pigeon Rock
Turned up an hour and a bit before everyone else cue chatting to Englsh climbers, an upside down mini caving expedition in the boulder field (highly recommended) and some tops off for power fell running.
Long bon Jegley and Benoit teamed up and seemed to be giving the E's a good hammering all over the place while me Emma and Leah hit gully wall. There was climbers all the place with the good weather providing buckets of craic.
Class Distinction S 4a *** Thomas/ Emma and Leah Excellent climb worth all of its 3 stars my new favourite climb, first time leading with halves they are so much better. Felt very hard in the grade but mabye that is because all I have been climbing since before Easter is the libary stairs. Although the recent wild country jamming videos did help with a move or two.
Nuclear Wheelbarrow HS 4b * Emma/Thomas Emma cruised up without issue, excellent climb crux is excellent, determined to get back and lead this when I shake off the exam weakness.
Pi R Squared S 3c Leah/Emma and Thomas Yet another excellent climb, but I have done easier 4a's.
Lessons of the day Long johns for climbing and fell running during a heat wave are bad. Despite cold rock apprarently having more friction the warm rock seemed much easier to hold on to. The tat on top of gully wall is good despite recent mutterings of murderous mice. Microcams are cool but tricams are still the best. Emma said she liked the tricams I may be starting to infect the whole club. One route on gully wall has more gear than all of hen put together
|
|
alek
Edward Whymper
Posts: 20
|
Routes
May 29, 2012 0:50:57 GMT 1
Post by alek on May 29, 2012 0:50:57 GMT 1
So, long time no homo- I meant no post. The topic of today's discussion will be bouldering (as you may have already guessed). So the tales of bouldering during the summer of May 2012, even if they are not from Font....
Lessons of the day(s):
-Boulderers use the V grading system because of its simplicity. The only grade you will only ever really need to know is V0. The hypothetical grades of V1-V14 exist only as hypothetical phoenomena in the highly theoretical field of WWGD (what would Gaskins do). -Each rock type has its own loving way of destroying your hands. -Contrary to firm self belief (aka being deluded), even Alek can get sunburned under the English sun. -Tricams are not very useful when bouldering. -Start the day on slabs and slopery problems to maximise the lifespan of skin on your fingertips. -Think twice about visiting a south facing crag in the near-thirty degree heat if there is not a cloud in the sky.
So the adventures of Alek in the magical realms of John Monkey king of babylon started last sunday (actually they started about a week previously when Alek went to some random part of the peak with a guy called Dave but yadda yadda), when it finally stopped raining and he, Vlad and a guy called Deepak, went to the roaches. Since neither of the later were too concerned for grade pushing, Alek let the teddybear picnic go on and went to talk to some boulders. Many boulders were spoken to and Alek remembered that climbs are usually harder than they look. Many classics were attempted, though due to the dearth of guidebook, Alek did not realise this till much, much later. Attempts to overcome gravity usually ended in fail or absolute fail. On the up side, a rope bag and carabiner were found. On the downside they had someone's name and telephone on them so I had to give them back.
Then on wednesday Alek went to visit Dave (a former Keele student who despite being made of only skin and bones is actually a damn good climber of pebbles) up in the lakes, where problems in Kentmere were attempted. Now limestone is a horrid rocktype, especially on overthangs where it digs into your fingers and tries to take the skin off as if was a glove. Easy problems on the Badger Stone (second biggerst boulder in the Lakes) were climbed. Harder problems were attempted, but the consensus was that you had to be Dave to do those problems in that temperature. So we then attempted a few other problems and concluded that "Common Trolls" (usually V3) were missing a foothold and therefore impossible, Stegosaurus (V2) was harder than the V6 next to it (remembering the section about hypothetical grades, V2 is probably not far off) and that other one had no use for a bouldering mat, because 3/4 times you'd be falling far loer than the start of the problem.. All in all a good, if slightly hot and mildly frustrating (at not being able to get off the ground) day. On thursday we went to a little limestone seacrag which was limited, but sufficient to give Alek a blood blister without allowing him the dignity of getting off the ground. Then Dave had to go make burgers and recommended another bouldering venue for Alek. So Alek hopped on the train and off at the next stop. Now many people accuse bouldering of being gay, but when you go bouldering at a place called Faery Steps, then real climbers really start to ask questions. All in all that was a lovely venue- most importantly shaded and completely deserted- for not being able to get off the ground, with the rock being mostly a good deal kinder than the other places, with so-so friction, due to the oddness of the guide, Alek has no idea what he climbed, but is convinced that it could only have been V0.
On Saturday, Alek took of to Hathersage for three days of excellent grit. In fact, when it came to bouldering, there was one day of excellent grit and two days of tentative, delicate climbing as to avoid putting any pressure on near skinless fingertips. Alek climbed almost everything up to 5+ (with the exception of a couple of famous highballs), and failed utterly on anything so much as half a grade harder. All I can say that the pebble area of plantation is almost Font-like and apparent north is almost as good (including that stupid dyno which I must have failed on at least 30 times, before running out of skin and going and doing some 3s to console myself).
Now the tone here may be light, but in actual fact, bouldering is a serious psychiatric conditions known to affect intellectually stunted climbers and occasionally other human beings and even dogs.It is contracted from a mind affecting fungus that exists solely on rocks smaller than 10m in height. Symptoms start with repeating the same clearly impossible move over and over again and progress to an irrational fear of harnesses, helmets and tall rocks (which is thought to facilitate spread of the bouldering fungus). In the later stages, victims may sit on the ground hugging a rock. If the victim is sitting down hugging a rock and crying, the condition is often terminal. The only known effective remedy is removing the victim's limbs, though on occasion this measure is ineffective, in which case the victim should be quarantined (in area with plenty of rocks to avoid further destaibilising the victim). In this case the victim is not dangerous and will continue to sit on the ground, trying to hug the rock with all 4 stumps and crying.
Anyhow, looking forwards to some granite and Golan trad for a change.......
|
|
owenl
Edward Whymper
Posts: 34
|
Routes
May 30, 2012 15:51:41 GMT 1
Post by owenl on May 30, 2012 15:51:41 GMT 1
Excellent trip to Fairhead with Nial B, Beardy G and Benoit D. Tuesday evening was spent dodging midges and bouldering. Only successful ascents being on hug the arête. Then a pleasant sleep (for me anyway) down by the sea in Murlough bay. Late start on Wed, but after a few maltteasers we were psyched for Binnagapple Area.
December ** 55m HVS (4c, 5a) OL, NB (No falls for leader) Nice climbing out of the cave and some cool jamming on Nials pitch. Comfortable and with nice moves.
Toby Jug E1 (5a, 5b) NL, OL (No falls for leader) Awesome line, with thoughtful jams on the first pitch, good lead from Nial. 2nd pitch gets more sustained but solid jamming sees you through to the jugs. Really want to be able to cruise this sort of route without it feeling like such a fight. But the crux felt desperate. Managed to get to the bigger crack higher up and happily wedged myself in for a rest.
Benoit and Conor tore up some harder routes (literally), I’ll leave this for them to elaborate on. Everyone satisfied and still alive we headed back to Belfast for pints, craic and some climbing of the local architecture.
|
|
benoit
Edward Whymper
Posts: 20
|
Routes
May 31, 2012 10:26:01 GMT 1
Post by benoit on May 31, 2012 10:26:01 GMT 1
Pigeon Rock
Rosa Parks * E1 (5b) John, Benoît Nicer than I remembered! Good lead from John.
Diesel E2 (5c) Benoît, John Small gear, committing, nice moves!
Castrol R * E1 (5b) John, Benoît Some creative gear placement (stacked nuts, threaded nuts, ...) from John!
Downbound Train E2 (5c) Benoît, John Some nice moves, but a bit of an eliminate. Top-out is sketchy... either crawl through the spiky bushes or do a dodgy traverse to reach the belay of Yellow Brick Road.
Fair Head - Binnagapple Area
Duais E1 (5b) Conor, Benoît An interesting and at times awkward route that starts in a tree! The route takes a wide crack/chimney in a corner and provides really enjoyable climbing despite the slightly crumbly finish (it's much cleaner now, so don't let this put you off!). Lots of interesting no hand rests (shoulders jam, calf jam, ...) and three overhangs to overcome! A massive block came down and Conor followed it. Then back up and down to bring the faulty block to the ground! The scariest belaying ever, with small rocks falling and whistling around me, as Conor was cleaning the top of the route! Solid effort after not having climbed for a while!
Jolly Roger *** E3 (6a, 5c) Benoît, Conor When thinking back about this route only two words come into my mind F**KING AWESOME!!! The start feels a bit bold, but a peg is quickly reached. Then the fun begins... an absolutely brilliant finger crack! AMAZING! At the end of the crack the best thank god jug in history! The second pitch is up to the standard of the first, and provides 30m of sustained 5c climbing. Stunning! Note that the route description in the guidebook is wrong... The route is 57m, not 75m and could be run in one pitch, which would be awesome! Almost tempted to go back and do it again! Did I mention this route was absolutely AMAZING?!
|
|
Rónán K
Anderl Heckmair
Piggly
President '11/'12
Posts: 180
|
Routes
Jun 4, 2012 11:21:14 GMT 1
Post by Rónán K on Jun 4, 2012 11:21:14 GMT 1
The Fair Head meet. A superb weekend and rather busy, with some very recognisable faces about...
Friday Drove up with CC, Tim and Leah and decided to head over the the small crag as none of us had really been there before. It was a bit damp and uninspiring but we did
Sexter's Route (VS 4c) Rónán, Kevin
A bit dusty and not great but not terrible.No stars. Midgetastic, bring midge nets to the small crag.
Saturday Went to 'real' Fair Head saturday.
April (E1 5b) Rónán, Janette
Wanted to do the variant of this but the guidebook left me none the wiser as to what it was. Took what I thought was the logical line, a long leftward traverse from above the crux, passing through several routes in the process. Slightly run out on small holds but fun, not too hard, about right for the grade.
Curlew (VS 4c) Janette, Rónán
Lovely route, tricky for VS. One rest for Jam then she realised there was a good foothold...D'oh. Deserves stars.
Blind Pew (E2 5a, 5b) Rónán, Janette
A great route. First pitch was harder than I thought, particularly the offwidth section that I ended up laybacking. Was going to do it in one pitch but the belay ledge was too lovely not to use. Second pitch is just fantastic, brilliant fingerjams and bridging with the crux right at the top. Low in the grade.
Then there was saturday night, free beer, and Greg Boswell (who likes my shoes)'s talk.
Sunday
Taoiseach (VS 4c, 4c) Rónán, Janette (Alt leads)
climbed this before with Begley but led the second pitch so I did P1 this time. Easier than I remember but tricky for VS. Quite heightist, definately a grade harder for Jam! P2 is the crux IMO, but was a lot less slimy than last time. Quite delicate but lovely.
Conchubhair (E2 5a, 5c) Janette, Rónán (Alt leads)
Abbed in to do Cinnabar but couldn't really find it (turns out I was looking in the wrong place). A massive imposing corner system, terrifying from the ground. Janette led the first pitch impressively, solid HVS corner jamming/laybacking to a belay ledge that you can't really use because it has no gear. P2 is simply the most incredible E2 pitch ever. Continue up the corner with steadily increasing difficulty to a rest, then move up and make a wild move out left (I ended up hanging off 2 crimps with no footholds and swinging across) into an overhanging section on flat holds. Got a bit pumped stupid hear trying to place gear which was a bit crap anyway and was only saved from a big fall by a strenuous headjam. Finding a hidden hold allowed an escape to the glory of a resting foothold. Finish up a tricky V-groove which you escape out left onto a balancey arete for a potential bananaskin of a finish. A massive pitch. I found it really tough but think I missed a rest or two. Jam seconded clean which was very impressive, first E2 Jam?
Brought radios that day, which worked out really well. I recommend radios for anyone doing the big routes at Fair Head.
Bloody excellent weekend. Sore and wrecked today. To Gola!
|
|
joh
Edward Whymper
Posts: 36
|
Routes
Jun 4, 2012 17:01:11 GMT 1
Post by joh on Jun 4, 2012 17:01:11 GMT 1
Yeah, class weekend!
On sat I climbed something that was probably Stone mad/Sabre Rattler with Mark and Toni. Nice line I thought, especially the sabre part and the juggy(ish) crimpy crack I finished up. Then I went for a dander and met Reyer about to second Kev on the first pitch of Face Value E4 6a 6a. "Do you want to second this O'Har a?" "Yes!". So I followed Reyer up, not quite as comfortably as the dutchman (no sleep and no climbing = poor effort = resting on the rope). Reyer led pitch 2, which I also had a bit of trouble on. Fair play to both of them, it was fun on top rope. "Imagine some modern-day hitler decided he didn't like all the climbers, all he would have to is go on facebook and there are all the climbers... fuck man, y'know what I mean?"
On sunday I teamed up with Benny D which could only end well. We went hunting for a Scorpion but failed to find it. Back to the Future 8? E4 6a, 6a, 5b. After several minutes of indeciveness from both of us, and without a coin to flip, I thought, "Aye, let's do it...this will be interesting..."
First pitch required a jump start and then was SUSTAINED climbing in a groove formed by dolerite pillars with the joining cracks almost non existant. Shite holds, dirty smears, back-and-footing, and the like. Was F'kin hard! My poor calves..
Using some skill but mostly luck and magic I got to the belay without being completely ejected off the rock. Benoit led second pitch which has more SUSTAINED groove and a big roof to go around. He also didn't fall off! And I was sure he was about to go after getting some awful rope drag after the roof, but he downclimbed and sorted it out. Well done the Swiss.
Third pitch is somewhat easier to climb, but also easier to rest on gear if you are more of a John than a Benoit and are now looking for the summit and the food and water thereon by any means at your disposal. Sustained hand jamming that takes big gear (unlike previous pitches) and this pitch is even dirtier than the previous two (which is saying something) and it filled my eyes and mouth, Bleeuughh! Of course Benoit is unable to lose psyche so easily, "There was no fucking way I was letting the 5b pitch spoil my onsight!" and lo and behold we were both at the top many hours later.
Awesome!
|
|
Rónán K
Anderl Heckmair
Piggly
President '11/'12
Posts: 180
|
Routes
Jun 13, 2012 20:54:54 GMT 1
Post by Rónán K on Jun 13, 2012 20:54:54 GMT 1
Gola. Another amazing trip, despite the 36 hours solid rain we got at one point. Highlights include:
Narrow Zawn zipline. RIP Conor's half rope. The James Bond theme on mandolin, repeatedly. Exploration of the nether regions of Gola. Much new routing.
A lot of climbing was done so I'll only mention the highlights:
The new routes. for me, this was You Forgot the Battery Mummy (VS 4c) Machaire na nGall (Ground up O/S) The Ubiquitous Blue (E1 5b) Northwest Zawn (Ground up O/S)
and myself and Monkey king of babylon Early Bird Gets the Clap, Second Mouse gets the Cheese (E3/4 6a) (cleaned on abseil, fallen off a lot on lead)
as well as the established routes:
Ceol na Mara (E2 5c) Rónán, Chris. bouldery and excellent. Flake Out (VS 5a) Rónán, Benoit. A superb and atmospheric route opposite Run of the Arrow. Legislator (D 4a?) Rónán, Monkey king of babylon, Rónán. FTA (First Tweed Ascent). Climbed in 3 pitches with a short hemp rope round the waist which was found on the beach. Destitution (E2 5b) Rónán, Benoit. Nearly messed this one up when I got stuck in a double kneebar position but got there in the end. Pride of Gola (S 4a) Rónán (solo) lovely. just lovely. Inscrutability Puff (E2 5c) Conor, Rónán. Brilliant route, fell off a lot ons econd as I'm crap at the quasi-offwidthing involved. Fair play Mr. G.
Til next time...
|
|
Rónán K
Anderl Heckmair
Piggly
President '11/'12
Posts: 180
|
Routes
Jun 24, 2012 18:27:38 GMT 1
Post by Rónán K on Jun 24, 2012 18:27:38 GMT 1
Was at Lower Cove on Wednesday with Sinéad. Walked in with the intention fo warming up on Dot's Delight - only to find that the only party on the crag were on said route, and it was none other than Mr Swail and 2 clients. Luckily by the time we were ready they were done.
Dot's Delight HVS 4c (Rónán, Sinéad) Named as one of the MOurnes best routes, apparently. Not sure about that but still superb. One for the confident leader - about 5 bits of gear in 30m of climbing and none of it great, apart from the peg you can use as part of a belay stance if you haven't got half ropes. Definately worth doing.
Sinéad then had a go at New Decayed but was a bit put off by the committing finish so I finished it to retrieve the gear. Then:
North Wall S 3c *** (Sinéad, Rónán)
Toss up between this and White Walls for my favourite route of the grade. Absolutely lovely, a lot nicer than New Decayed! Looks a lot harder than it is, the gear is a bit sparse though (justifying the grade). Takes a line between First Corner and Tyro. Just lovely.
Les Jeunes Filles en Jupes d'Été E2 5b *** (Rónán, Sinéad)
The classic, more than lives up to its reputation. with 2 pegs and 2 stuck bits of gear, almost a sport climb! The style of climbing is reminiscent of El Chorro as well. Well worth doing. Steep and pumpy with some cool pockets, take the hands off rest when you get it. In my case, I had to downclimb back to it after placing gear! The guidebook is a bit vague about the finish, but it makes sense when you're there. When you reach the old stuck MOAC near the top under the roof, traverse left to a big eldge on the corner. Then finish up by a rickety flake and small tree.
Amazing route, I'd say 5c rather than 5b. Well worth doing. A great day!
|
|