Routes - Trad - 2013

[bojo]

New Thread for a new year!

Climbed any trad routes this year? Write about them and entertain us!

[bojo]

With the prospect of an expensive weekend in Dublin pulling on plastic not appealing to Owen and myself we opted for the magical land of Fairhead. With the magical land being cold and misty we opted for the small crag.

Ton le Gaoith VS 4c Owen, Me

Nice little route to get back into trad. nice climbing up a groove with good gear.

Screeboar the Omniscient E2 5b/c Me, Owen
New route. Tried it last year and got to the crux and didn't have the stones but this time got my revenge! enjoyable climbing through the groove above gear. No matter what Owen says that tricam is awesome. There is no gear in the groove so by the time you get to the overhang there is the comforting feeling that if you fall then you will become intimate with a hollybush. After getting a couple of wires in there is a class sequence through the right of the overhang before the most glorious of all glory jugs. Note: Prepare for some serious calf pump!


Jungle Line VS 4c Owen, Me
Great route to introduce you to jamming. As Owen said, You can play around with jams and get used to what they feel like, then not use them. By this point it was a little chilly and I had numb hands and feet which does not make a fun time while jamming!

quote of the day: Farmers have no place in Modern society

[Rónán K]

You got the year wrong!

So I wrote a lot of wintery stuff, then noticed your other post.


Nice going though at the 'Head! First routes of the season there maybe?
Looking forward to getting back to rock. Have done one route since July and that was a freezing cold Scottish quarry in November. Bring on the Peak!

[bojo]

Trad time is truly on its way. The head is cold at the moment so its a good time to have a wander around the small crag or single pitching at the prow. If we get a cold dry day they to hen I shall go! Also 'perfect grit conditions' expected during the trad trip so jump on some hard stuff!

[Rónán K]

FAIR HEAD MEET YAY

So the weekend just past was the above. Class. The weather can be described as 'inverse Alpine' - rain in the morning then clearing up in the afternoon and lovely. Perfect for dealing with the 'Fair Head hangover' - which involves no alcohol but a lot of jamming, bridging, and full-body climbing.

I drove up Friday morning and got out climbing with Richard from Cork. Fun times at the prow.

The Fence VS/HVS Richard, Rónán
Fun as always.

Mongrel Fox E1 5b Rónán, Richard
Absolutely superb route. Tons of bomber jams and a really long pitch, no real crux but it's not over until you've got the final jugs in hand! Go do it!

Midnight Cruiser E1 5b Richard, Rónán
Superb fun. Just a brilliant route, not particularly hard for the grade.

Stone Mad HVS 5a Rónán, Richard
Good fun! Low in the grade.

Saturday brought rain and the café. When it cleared I abbed in and cleaned The Offence, just right of The Fence. The guidebook describes it as scruffy and loose, which is bollocks.

The Offence HVS 5a Rónán, Janette
Lovely route, as good as its neighbours! Saw 4 ascents in one day, has probably only seen that many in a few years. Really nice now that it's clean.

Feeling all happy and psyched after that, I bowed to the inevitable (and the only other route at the Propw without a queue)

GBH E3 6a Rónán, Janette
It starts off well, E1ish climbing to two thirds of the way up on good gear. So far so good. Then there's the crux.
Savage.
Fingerlocks but no feet. A layback on difficult to place fingerjams. A slopey crimp. And many, many falls.
I eventually sussed out the move - but by the time I did I had no energy left. Blood spattered over the rocks and my right index finger numb and swollen from the initial fingerlock. I frigged my way to the top and had to ab down to get gear out that was very very stuck after Jam came up. We didn't get back to camp until 2230. Well worth it though - I'll be back, now that (I think) I know how to do it!

Sunday everyone was a bit tired after climbing and the Nick Bullock talk, so things started late. Jam and I went off and climbed
Roaring Meg VS/HVS 5a, 4c, 4a Janette, Rónán
It was nice to do this route when it wasn't pissing down! After getting the ab rope stuck on the way down, we challenged the adjacent Galwegians on Cúchullain (surely one of the best routes in the country) to a race to the comfy belay at the top of the first pitch of both routes.
What followed was one of the slowest races in history. The first Galwegian backed off the crux of the first pitch of Cúchullain, leaving his partner to climb it. Janette didn't like the look of the crux of Roaring Meg (which is in no way a VS!) and belayed under it. The Galwegians beat us to the belay, but in the end neither of us ended up using it as they belayed above and I strung half of P1 and P2 together! Ah well.
P2 and P3 of Roaring Meg are slightly disappointing, P1 is where the fun is. Also well done to McCune on Death or Glory, looked impressive.

Then Ballycastle for pizza and Maud's. No crag is complete without a nearby Maud's.

Roll on Gola.

[Duckfeet]

Got out on Sat having not climbed in months, indoor or out, thanks to the bitch that is final year. Deciding that it was far too fecking hot to hike we opted Hen. Why is it you never remember how steep that lump of a Mourne is? After short but sweaty reminder of how fat I've gotten, we got stuck in.

Sudden Impact HVS 5b* - Tom/Michael
A warm up for Prebble and a nice second to work the rust out of my fingers.

Touchdown E1 5c - Tom/Michael
No easy adjacent routes for me, so Tom went again. Like Sudden impact, this route followed the trend of a horizontal break with gear 1/3 way up and blank for next 2/3.

Was somewhere about now that we started going mad with heat stroke and began singing rather graphic covers of kareoke songs.

Sunset VS 4c - Michael/Tom
A "multipitch" that has no excuse to not be done in one. Prebble tricked me up it as its a HS in guidebook, then talked me into the VS variations. Great climb though, no gear at crux of first pitch but the "short head wall" finish has a threaded tricam. ;D

Messing with the Kids E2 5b* - Tom/Michael
Same as before, a horizontal break, some gear, and nothing for the rest. Very well done by Prebs, managed to magic up on some crystals in sweaty frictionless weather. I seconded as far as the break and lowered down, fuck that noise

Last of the Summer Wine (Variation) HS - Michael/Tom
Failure to read the guide and a "path of least resistance" attitude to climbing meant I climbed around the VS crux. Stupid move, especially since the gear is great.

Walked round a tor to find an "swarm of Children" as Prebble put it. Suddenly feeling bad for having "Sweat dripped down my balls" stuck in our heads, we toned down the crudeness for the rest of the day as we scrambled up to the belay ledge for the next few.

Fingerbowl S 3c *** - Michael/Tom
Nice lead of a classic Hen route. The bowl was still full of water, surprising since I can't remember last time it rained.

Travelling Tales E1 5a - Tom/Michael
Actually has some gear! Nice to belay Prebble without fear of him landing on me.

Having to scramble down around and up to climb each time was getting annoying but we stupidly left our bags on the ledge so we went up for a final climb.

Y Crack Left HS 4a - Michael/Tom
Intended on leading Y Right, definitely should have as there is a bomber thread at your feet at the crux. But unfortunately you can always reach the HS finished from the same stance. Routes on Hen are quite squeezed together. Need to go back and get the VS tick.

Mainstreet E1 5c* - Tom/Michael
After quickly deciding that "Little one" was daft and blank, Prebble decided to climb the equally daft and blank Main Street. Prebble made short work of this, took me significantly longer. There is clearly an art to figuring out which tiny dimples are foot holds and which are just dimples. Still, immensely fun to figure out the moves and climb

The one they call the white hair VS 4c - Michael/Tom
Very well protected, laced the shit out it. Good thing to, turns out I can't smear for shit. My attempt can be summed up as "step left, step up on crystal to reach horizontal break, realise break is slopey and shit and you have no more crystals to step on, jam right hand and hang off it while frantically smearing feet on nothing, realise there really is no more foot holds and rock over with foot by hands, near face". Fun route, would recommend as is very safe and obviously doesn't get climbed much. Sharp as shit, bled all over it.

Very productive day, 5 leads each at a very relaxed pace. Got to love the long days. ;D

[Browne-Bear]

Has been a surprisingly excellent summer weather wise - why not just get out and climb?

FAIRHEAD - The crag where you are physically assaulted on every route!

Headed up with Siobhan and Tom about 10 days ago for a bit of "Bitchin' Classic VS Multipitchin!" Tom joined us mainly because he needed to retrieve gear from Blind Pew/Mizen Star (Not too sure which one!)

Roaring Meg - VS 5a, 4b, 4a ** (according to UKC) Niall, Tom, Siobhan

Led all three pitches as Siobhan was up for an easy day and Tom had led the route before - made the belays a bit of a clusterfuck with the ropes. Ah well!

First pitch is tough - I was not in condition for Fairhead having not done any Trad for next to 5/6 months (excluding the Alps!). Learned later that it is a pitch that everybody finds tough. Start is good on decent holds and good gear. Then the crux - strenuous laybacking up a flake with bog all for your feet. Excellent. Took me a while to figure out the sequence needed. Second pitch is nice - like a short sort of scramble with one difficult step to the wonder ledge for the belay. Last pitch is poor - crap gear and exposed. Was a tad bit scared on it. Route is more of a HVS than a VS, but still nice to do!

Taoiseach - VS 4c, 4c * Niall, Tom, Siobhan

Again, led both pitches because Tom had done it before and Siobhan was happy to second. Fun first pitch, solid gear to protect a few awkward mantles. Good belay stance. Second pitch - first few moves had me saying "THANK GOD FOR A 0.3 CAMALOT!" Perfect slot for it just when you need it. Rest of the pitch is easy. Tom pulled a large enough block off on second - no helmet could have been a silly mistake.

Finished up and went for Mauds!

Three days later I was back up with the new Chief (Stuart). He also had yet to tick off the VS climbs, so we made for the Ballycastle descent gully.

Girona - VS 5a*** Niall, Stuart

Led first pitch. Solid gear, some funky moves - top route. Worthy of three stars for that pitch alone! Stuart took the second pitch which involved some chimneying (no bother for a caver!). Fun crux move on the second pitch.

Chieftain - VS 4b ** Stuart, Niall

Stuart dispatched the first pitch superbly. Clearly getting into the sing of the Fairhead climbing. I took the top pitch which traverses left up into a grove, where the interest is maintained all the way. Superb setting as well. Fun

Taoiseach - VS 4c * Niall, Stuart

Did this again whilst we waited on Hell's Kitchen to free up. Ran up the first pitch no bother. Stuart took the second and didn't need the 0.3 Camalot that I was so happy to place. Fair enough. Just as fun as the last time!

Hell's Kitchen - HVS 5a *** Niall, Stuart

I had done this route with Tom at the Fairhead Meet on the Friday evening last year. I did the second pitch that time, so I felt that this time I should do the first pitch. Phoaw - some route. One route I could do many times and still enjoy it. Bridge the life out of the first pitch. Some excellent rests and solid hand holds. Great gear, meaning I could run some seconds out (a little...). Belay is slightly uncomfortable. Good lead by Stuart of the second pitch. Crux is at the top, where you just need to make sure the sequence is correct and you know where the crucial hand holds are. Also, placing a cam under the roof and not extending it makes for horrible rope drag - ah well, can't be perfect!

With that, we called it a day.

Back up again! This time with Ronan, Tom and Monkey king of babylon. Having been out the night before, we were slow moving that morning. I had wanted to do an E2 that day, but I knew in the back of my mind that I was not in the right form to do one (and by form, I meant the previous nights Guinness was taking its toll!). We abbed in at Binnagapple so that Ronan could do a route.

Sandpiper - E2 5c *** Ronan, Niall

F**kin' Hell! Ronan did it in one (though it is a two pitched route!) First section has excellent gear and some thoughtful moves - only about E1 (and not too hard!). He placed a 0.75 Camalot in on the crack of the Brasser, then moved it higher as he needed the hold. It walked about a metre up (somehow!). Lost forever - least it was a club one (says the Gear Sec...).

What follows was some of the most awkward climbing I have done. Step awkwardly right on good holds to a ledge to just below the crux. Get a "solid" fist jam in and try to remove the 4CU that he has placed awkwardly at the very back of a crack (over-cammed as well - what I call a "Gareth Brown Special"). Do some strange mantle using your knees onto a slopping hold to then find that the crux continues on. Now you have to smear bridge your way up with what initially is not great hand holds, but which improve... eventually! Step right onto the face and do some nice climbing up good holds to an obvious crack. Step right and surmount the ledge for a nice rest. Now for the fun part... yes, the fun part.

OFFWIDTH! Not a brutal scary offwidth, in fact not as impressive as some other offwidths in Fairhead, but nonetheless an offwidth. Thrutch your way up the crack, jamming your right shoulder in. It is necessary to remove your helmet and bag and tie to the other rope. This part shredded my knees and elbows.

What a f**kin route! Superb lead by Ronan.

December - HVS 5a ** Niall, Ronan

Did this in one pitch. Delicate climbing at the start, with good gear and interesting moves. Second pitch is surpisingly physical. Double gastoning a wide crack, and jamming your knees in to rest. Strange. Top section was powerful. Two solid finger jams after using a large flake to get your feet into position. Reach up and grab the jug. Almost fell with my feet slipped from their holds. Timed it perfectly to finish as the midge had started to come out.

Walked back to the bags to watch Tom and John do Jolly Roger. Tom got a jolly good rogering on it. I was very impressed by how well they climbed it. Has got me psyched!

Hurricane - E2 5b *** (in one)
Equinox - E2 5b *** (in one)
Blind Pew - E2 5b **

My aim now for the end of the summer. Provided the weather stays decent!