Glanekeera

Went for a walk up and around Turlough Hill and Glanekeera today. Weather was cracking with a decent cold breeze so it never got too hot. Walked up the road from Wicklow Gap to the top. I can confirm there is no bouldering in the quarry. Further north along the ridge are some outcrops and a few boulders, the boulders are ok there might be one or two decent problems.  The right arete on the below photo looks good and the landing is flat.

The north facing outcrop has a few easy slabby highballs on it and the one facing west has at least one nice project - the line a meter or two from the right arete has an easy start and a steep blank finish. Part of the reason I went there was to see if the ground would be dry after this drought we are experiencing. It was pretty dry but you would still need a tarp.

I went on to Lough Firrib and followed the tiny stream that flows north out of the lake. This is Upper Glanekeera, the valley is huge and packed with rock, mostly outcrops but some boulders. After around 5 minutes I turned a corner to see this steep and sharp fin of rock with some huge jugs on it. Amazing line. There was holds all the way, it didn't look that hard and I got it first proper go. Brilliant moves. As good a problem as any of it's grade (5 maybe). An hour from the car though.




I had savage blisters at this stage, I think my socks were too thin for my leather boots. I was planning to go all the way down the valley but decided to cut across the river to the ESB road. Saw some nice stuff that I will defo go back for.

The above boulder/outcrop was around 30 feet high. The bottom overhangs alot. There is a lack of holds but someone might work something out. The ground was pretty marshy even after this dry spell so it would be a pond most winters. The rock was pretty dirty as well but this is one serious boulder. If there were a few more holds it would be a contender for a Spectre type problem.

Its a huge valley and it would take more than a day to explore it.

Swim

Yesterday morning I went to check out a bit of coastline not far from the house that might have some potential for bouldering. The rock is mostly choss but some of the low down stuff has been washed by the waves into nice smooth rock similar to that of Portrane. I arrived at low tide and scrambled down to a small pebble cove with a cave at the back. The far walls were high cliff, I climbed down a shallow slab to the lip, the pebble beach was around 6feet below however the lip was very undercut. I stood there pondering if it was wise to jump down, my concern being getting back out. Suddenly my camera fell out of my pocket onto the beach and without any though I jumped down after it.

Soon as I landed I realised I was stuck. The walls overhung loads and were very smooth. The easiest spot to get back up was this steep and smooth runnel but it would be about 6c with rock shoes. I tried to build a platform out of stones and sand but it was never going to work. I wasn't panicking but was a little frantic. Tide was coming in a good rate so the only option was the swim. It wasn't far only about 10m to a ledge which I though I could get up on.

So I took the clothes off threw then up onto the ledge, I kept my shoes on for grip, my jocks for decency and my dryflow for warmt. The water was cold so I went in up to the waist and then came out and jumped around then got in and did the swim no problem. There was a little chop -3foot - so it was just a matter and timing when to go for the ledge.

Didn't feel cold when I got to the ledge, must of been the adrenaline as the water would of been 8degrees at the most. So it all turned out fine in the end but it could of been serious if the sea had been bigger or I had to swim a lot further to get out.

It was so stupid to jump in, I could of easily got the camera out using the strap from my pad.

Pierre's questions for Michael Duffy - UPDATED

Here is the second part of Pierre's research for his article about bouldering in Ireland. This time Pierre puts some questions to Michael Duffy.

Michael Duffy is a talented young architect, photographer and climber.  Pierre Fuentes, who's preparing an article on the recent developments of Irish bouldering for Grimper asked him a few questions.

1.      Your Age?  28
2.      Are you a true Dub (by mother and father at least)?  Scanda jacket, air max, Temple Theatre.
3.      What do you consider to be your first climbing achievement? Abseiling The Ghost slab.
4.      How did you like climbing with Ron and Howard? Do you consider them as your first guides or were there any other before / after, that have been more important to you?
I was very lucky to have started climbing when I did. I was 12 and Ron and Wally had just built the board in Church Avenue.  All my heroes trained or had climbed there, Ron, Howard, Donnie, Grimer, even John Dunne had a problem on that board.  Church Avenue and its climbers played a major role in Irish climbing and to be taken under the wing of so many great climbers was a privilege.  Ron blared out Rage against the Machine and trained us all up. He taught me everything he knew, took me on trips and sorted me out.  I owe him everything for that, and my friends then are my family now.  That was an exiting and inspirational generation to grow up in. 
5.      What is the toughest ideological discussion on climbing ethos that you can remember, and with who? 
With myself.  Bolting.
6.      Did you ever have to pick a side between bouldering and sport, or between Bouldering and trad?
Ireland has always been trad. High quality trad.  Which is great if you’re a trad climber.  But if you wanted anything else you had to move away.  As soon as you climbed E6 you left.  Bolting was out of the question and bouldering just didn’t exist.  Of course the routes and boulders existed, but the mindset didn’t.  Bouldering only really started to develop in the late 90’s and sport more recently in the last 5 years so Ireland’s a late starter but things are moving well now, people are training and its all very exciting. People have loads they can go at now and hopefully they stay. 
7.      Are you still on the dole and if yes, for how long as it been going on? If no, how do you manage? Do your kids climbing classes suffice?
It’s a bit like being on parole and your not allowed to leave the country without permission.  And getting paid a week what you used to get paid a day isn’t very glamorous.  But that said were still lucky to have a decent welfare system here and I’m not complaining.  When we graduated a couple of years ago half my class ended up signing on, the other half emigrated.  Jen and me just had a little boy last year so I’m happily unemployed at the moment, lots of parenting with the odd bit of work here and there.  The kids’ coaching is voluntary.  It’s been 10 years of study and lots of work, too much work and now it’s no work, baby boy and climbing so I’m happy out.  Things will pick up again unfortunately.
8.      Have you finished your architecture studies and when? 1 year left to fully qualify need a job to do it, thousands of us in the same boat it’s a mess.
9.      What’s your plan for the future, professionally? In 10 years to have a big studio in Dublin working with my friends who will have all moved back by then.
10.   Do you think the recession has affected your climbing (obviously it has but, positively or negatively or both and how?) I’ll give you a tip, I think that without the recession, Wonderland would still be the Big Squeeze but correct me if I’m wrong.
Less work has its ups and downs.  Having more time doesn’t necessarily mean more climbing, especially when there’s babies involved, when you’ve less time you try harder and when you’ve too much you become complacent so there’s a balance.  When work dried up it was an opportunity to explore and find lines, I wanted to start climbing as well as I could and the only way to do that was to develop, and that takes a life time compared to going out and repeating stuff.
11.   Your favourite ticks :

Bouldering :  Contact, Carrigshouk. The move, the setting, perfect Wicklow line.

Trad : Right wall, Dinas Cromlech.  Thought I was dead, great line, great setting.

Sport : Chomolungma E6, Dalkey Quarry, 3rd ascent at 14.  This would have been considered a safe pegged sport route at the time (fr7a+) but the line is getting destroyed now because the pegs are falling out and getting replaced making it dangerous to climb and chipping lumps out of the rock. This is destroying what is arguably one of the best and most unknown lines in the country.  It’s a strong and rare contender for retro bolting, 2 bolts would do it, and in a man made quarry, conserving a fine line as it was originally intended as opposed to damaging it further.

Other : Beating my heroes in the IBL’s.

12.   Were you stuck on a plateau before building the Co-Op? Or did it not change your climbing abilities?

I was starting to lose interest.  I couldn’t see how to continue climbing here.  A good facility was desperately needed in general, but personally I needed somewhere to train for projects.

13.   Do you think you have been able to establish the recent lines because the Co-Op gave you the possibility to raise the general level of the Dublin bouldering community, and therefore to develop a proper motivated team?

Motivation.  The more of it the better.  And cohesion.  The Irish scene has always gone from strength to strength but at a slow pace and with small circles of friends scattered everywhere.  In a wet and wild country you could argue that an overall scene and its standards only reflect the quality of its indoor facilities.  So in Dublin when it rained everyone would split up or head back to home boards.  By the time we built the Co-Op Church Avenue was in a skip and UCD was crap, so a new board seemed like a good idea.  And now there are 3 of them; there are people training, people are starting to get to know each other more, people are out a lot more together and people are motivated.  And naturally everyone starts to get better when they’re climbing together, so I suppose the general level is rising, both North and South. It’s weird, you don’t know people now, you used to recognize everyone.  A team? I’m pretty anti-social.

14.   Any problems with the Co-Op recently? I mean, can I say long life to the Co-Op?

Hopefully.  Until a bad ass bouldering centre comes along and gobbles them up.  But then another board will come along.  There’ll always be boards.

15.   Do you honestly think there is anyone in Dublin capable of climbing at your level? And in Ireland?

There has been for years and I’d imagine there are more people we don’t know of yet.  That’s the problem, so many of the good climbers left Ireland.  Either you left, stayed and developed or trained till you got bored and stopped.   Now with a good stock of lines to go at and the secret mutants who stayed and kept training and all the new kids coming into the sport I’d say your gonna see some pretty freaky shit.

First Ascents (best of), including these over 200 first ascents around Ireland:

Wonderland 8b, Glendalough, December 2010

Contact 8a+, Carrigshouk, December 2009

People of the Sun 8a+, Glendalough, March 2011

Leviathan 8a, Portrane, May 2010

Dutch Gold left 8a, Glendalough, Feb 2011

Dutch Gold 8a, (with a top out) Chris Davies FA, Glendalough

Switch 8a/7c+, The scalp, July 2008

Leftism 7c+, Glendalough, December 2008

Astro 7c/+, Black Valley, Kerry, April 2010

Primer 7c/7b+, The scalp, July 2008

Super Bock 7c, Glendalough, December 2010

Exit Planet Dust 7c, Black Valley, Kerry, April 2010

White Lightning 7c/7b+, Black Valley, Kerry, April 2010

The Spunk 7c/7b+, Aytons Cave, Howth 2010

Maneater 7c/7b+, Aytons Cave, Howth, Summer 2010

Neon Lights 7b+/c, Electric Mountain 2008

Sow your wild oats, 7b+, Glendalough 2010

Lemon Sole 7b+, Summer 2009

Pascals’ ss 7b/+, Glendalough 1997

Electroshock 7b/+, December 2010

Block Party 7b / E7, Dalkey Quarry, Dublin, Summer 2009

Big Al Qaeda 7b, Robin Hoods Stride, Peak District, 2003

Kinky Reggae ss 7b, Glenmalure 2010

The Mentalist 7a+, Glendalough, 2009

Bump in the Night 7a, Black Valley, Kerry, April 2010

Piece de resistance 7a, Mall Hill 2009

Permadry 7a, Glendalough, 2008

Lip service 6c+, Electric Mountain 2008

Gen Tilly 6c, The Scalp 2008

Sherpa Tensing 6c, Black Valley, Kerry, April 2010

Dub Step 6b+, Brimstone West 2010

Duffy Slap 6b, Glendalough 1997

The Scalp

At the moment I'm trying to use The Scalp as my personal outdoor training area. I'm not the only one getting out there judging by all the chalk. My current goal is Gen Tilley. I have a good sequence from the stand start but getting there from the sitter is a different story. More work to do.

In one of many guide discussion with Diarmuid - he was my main sounding board, so kudoes to him - he said that the contents (I think we where talking about the Glendo circuits) of the guide would become definitive. It's was an intimidating concept and something I shrugged off.

In between burns on Gen Tilley, I wondered what grade was ie. what I had put in the guide. So I took it out of my bag and had a look 6b+ apparently. Ouch. What washed around my mind then was this funny feeling that that was the grade. For better or worse it was set in stone - pardon the pun. Since I got the book I have looked through it very little, after all I poured over every little detail for a year. The guy who wrote it is gone (I won't say dead that just sounds too dramatic) and in his place is this punter who uses the guide just like everyone else.

Beta on Gen Tilley welcome.

Pierre's questions

Pierre is writing an article for french climbing mag Grimper about bouldering in ireland. He asked me a few questions and I have included them and my answers here.

1.      Are you the Irish Bouldering Guru?

Look at it this way – if I was on mastermind my specialist topic would be bouldering in Ireland. I’m just a trainspotter. People assume I’m a wad and are then a bit confused when they meet me.

2.      What are your name, age and familial status?

You know my name. 33. Married.

3.      Do you consider yourself a true Dub?

Suppose.

4.      Do you remember your first climbing achievement?

Do you mean the first time I climbed? It was either with scouts or on an outdoor course I did when I was 11 or 12. I haven’t any achievements of note.

5.      I’ve been told you were once a scout. Is that true? Do you think this is where your quest for exploring the Irish bouldering potential started?

Technically I still am as I’m a scout leader. Yes I was in scouts. This was when I grew interested in the outdoors. A lot of the early bouldering I did was in north Wicklow, places like Knocknagun. We would walk or cycle up and camp. It was as much, if not more, about the camping and all that that entails. For years we would spend weekends in Glendo camped in the forest or amoung the boulders. Bouldering during the day and sitting around the fire drinking at night. I always used to feel sorry for the other climbers as they headed off back to the carpark and home when we would have the whole valley to ourselves as the darkness descended.

6.      Were there any other people from the Dublin mafia in the scouts?

Mafia? Some of my friends who I climb with were. I have always climbed with my friends. I suppose I’m Iucky that way. A lot of them whom I climbed with in the past no longer climb but they are still my friends. I have always been interested in the outdoors.

7.      Did you already know many of the places you later visited as a boulderer? If so, were they better or worse than what you remembered?

The impression a places gives to a boulderer and a non-boulderer can be very different. Yes I remember being in Lough Bray and Glendo between the time I first climbed and started to climb independently. I received a tip off about Glenmacnass from my friend Kev who had spied the boulders from a distance while on a scout hike.

8.      Why did you start bouldering? And with who?

Ever since I started climbing independently I was a boulderer. At first it was because we didn’t have any gear of our own. In my early years I spent a huge amount of time bouldering in the quarry, particularly Ivy Wall. Probably why I never go there anymore. Once I started college I had use of a rack and I gradually acquired my own. For a while I was pretty into trad climbing. Diarmuid, Ped, Kev and I started developing some new routes in Raven’s Glen near Maulin in Wicklow. It was great fun, cleaning and climbing. At this point I would of bouldered in Glendo a few times. But once we got tried of the faff of new routing our focus turned to bouldering and I haven’t looked back since.

9.      Which routes have you climbed in Dalkey quarry?

I’d say I have done most of the easy ones and none of the hard ones. I once tried to onsight a route called Praying Mantis in the quarry. Fortunately I placed a siderunner which was the only piece of gear that held when I fell a few feet from the top. In a way this is my best and worst memory of the quarry. I did love the place once. I used to spend so much time there soloing or bouldering.

10.   Are you doing any trad-climbing lately?

None for years.

11.   Did you ever have to argue about ethics? Do you remember your worst/best discussions?

I have had lots of discussion but no arguments. I once talked to the infamous Si O’Connor on the telephone which was pretty weird.

12.   Bouldering or sport? Bouldering or trad ? Ever had to pick a side?

I have never sport climbed. I choose bouldering over trad all the time. I do like soloing but haven’t done much of it in the last few years.

13.   What is your occupation at the moment? Any plan to change in the future?

I’m an unemployed house husband. As for the future I have no idea. Would like to do another book, have loads of ideas but I’m not sure how viable they are. I’m sure something will come up. I’m in no rush.

14.   The recession has probably affected your climbing. Was that good or bad?

You are right. The reason I wrote my guide was cause I was made redundant from my job. I felt it was now or never. I could have written it in my spare time but it would of taken years and I would have ended up hating it before the end. Quick and painless is the way. I’m glad the way things have worked out.

15.   Your hardest ticks?

Bouldering : I would say I might have done 6c at some stage. Somehow somewhere. Definitely no more.

Trad : E1 I would think but soft quarry E1.

Sport : None

Other : None

16.   Have you visited every single area detailed in your guide? If not, how many of the places described in your guide have you actually visited yourself?

I just counted it up and I haven’t been to 6 (Rocky Bay, The Loaf, Fanad, Doagh, Rubonid, Greyabbey) so thats 84 out of 90 which is 93%, pretty good I reckon. Basically I ran out of time and couldn’t get to them. I couldn’t find Rubonid actually.

17.   You have compiled 5 PDF versions of the guide since 2000. What were the main issues you had to discuss, apart from the obvious problem of grades? 

I never have any hassle about grades, they aren’t a bit deal, I don’t spend ages staring into space wondering is Andy’s Arete really 7a or 7a+. I laugh when I hear or read people take them as fact. While I’m massively grateful to all those who every contributed to the guide I can’t help wonder about the rest, the silent majority who contribute nothing. I’m not saying the irish climbing scene is any worse than others in this regard but I do find it frustrating sometimes.

18.   The format of the guide seems a popular one these days. What are your favourite bouldering guidebooks? (I am referring to the actual products, not the spots).

My main inspiration was the Peak Bouldering Guide which is one of my favourites. If you think about guides of a similar format – landscape A5 – and subject – bouldering – are always going to look pretty similar. There are exceptions like Simon Panton’s North Wales guide which is a one off. I like 7+8 but I’m not sure if it is a good guide. It’s style is very extreme.

19.   ‘Ben’s Font’ became ‘Cloghogue’, but ‘Ayton’s Cave’ remained ‘Ayton’s Cave’. Any comment?

Plenty. I suppose part of the logic of that was that boulders in Cloghoge (I dropped the U after doing more research) already had a name that described them pretty well. Cloghoge means rocky place in Irish. And the river which runs within meters of some of the boulders is called Cloghoge. When the Ayton’s Cave name came up I didn’t like it. Still don’t. But after doing some research I couldn’t find a name that referred to that part of the coast and Howth Cave was a bit too general. So Ayton’s Cave didn’t have a name so Dave had a good claim on naming it.

20.   You decided not to mention the first ascents in the guide because you said that ‘one can never be sure it will be correct’. Holds break, boulders move – every 6 months in the case of Doolin - and vegetation grows. Clearly, your guide will be incorrect before the end of the year - as all guide books do. Any comment?

Part of the reason I didn’t credit FAs alongside the description, name and grade was that I didn’t know most of the FAs so it would of been a largely blank entry or a ‘?’. I did consider listing FAs for the list of top 89 problems but in the end the benefits of getting it right were out weighted by the hassle getting it wrong would create.

21.   You provide your readers with a list of 89 best problems, but what are your top three?

I haven’t done Echo Arete on Polldoo which is the best problem in Ireland I think. I’m happy not to have done it on the basis that I will get it done at some stage. There aren’t really two standouts. St Kevin’s Slab is a pretty cool piece of rock and I like the way it came about. I was searching for photos of boulders on the internet, as one does, and saw a tourist photo that had this nice looking slab in it. I took note of it but had low expectations literally I thought it was going to be too small. Low and behold it was a beautiful clean slab, the perfect height and difficulty. It’s not often things work out that well.

22.   Finally, are you ‘the short span’ of that title?

No. The short span is mentioned in a poem by Geoffery Winthrop Young http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Winthrop_Young

“In this short span between my finger-tips on the smooth edge and these tense feet cramped to the crystal ledge I hold the life of man.”

I liked it very much then and still do.

Damp day

Headed for Mall Hill but it was wet so went to check out a boulder I had spotted not far from the road near Lough Dan. It was ok. 3 problems to be done but nothing too exciting.

  

Then headed to The Scalp on the way home and tried Dark Angle. Diarmuid did the SS.

A first flick through the guide

Got the advance copies of the guide today. I'm very happy, was a bit nervous, a whole years work culminating in a flick through the book. The print is super sharp and the color is pretty good thought the fold eats a bit more paper than I expected but it doesn't really matter. I hope people are impressed. Its a great feeling to have it sitting on the table here beside me. All day I keep picking it up and flicking through it, you think I would be sick of it...