Balmy Irish Summer Days!

1st & 2nd August 2016.

I have been in Ireland with Wayne and Chris sampling the delights of Connemara and Mayo, and the Irish summer.

Down from Croagh Patrick and all is good!

This week I have travelled to Ireland to spend a couple of days introducing Wayne and Chris to the delights of mountain walking as well as taking a look at the mountains of Ireland for future trips.

We travelled to Connemara on Sunday and took a walk up onto the 'Twelve Bens' circuit on Monday.

I chose a challenging route up to the circuit proper, this meant I could look at how the boys were moving and coping with the terrain to get an idea of how they may handle the main circuit.

They were fine and with much determination, banter and plenty of 'craic' got on with the job in hand. Unfortunately the weather wasn't in such good spirits!

The forecast had been on the doubtful side to start with and only got worse as we gained height so after a leg burning ascent, a recce of the terrain that lay before us and having to be the barer of bad news I took the decision to retrace our steps and descend.

We would have spent the rest of the day looking at the inside of a cloud which wouldn't have been productive as a way of introducing the lads to mountain walking. 

Connemara in high spirits.

From the mist they came....

Happy to be on flat ground despite the weather.

On Tuesday with a deteriorating weather forecast for mid week we drove up to County Mayo to walk the famous pilgrimage route to the summit of Croagh Patrick.

An estimated 1 million people make the ascent each year, some in an act of penance climb the steep rocky path barefoot!!😳

Leaving the car park in full waterproofs we gained a few funny looks as the weather was fairly good, the weather further up the mountain was rather less so and it was ourselves giving the solo barefoot guy and the countless people we saw in jeans, or shorts and T shirts the funny looks.

I have been fortunate to walk many mountains but I found this an unbelievably busy mountain track considering the only the satisfaction to be gained was that of reaching the summit and seeing the church before heading back down the steep rocky path through the wind, mist & rain.

Fortunately the wether cleared as we made the descent and we had some stunning views over Clew Bay.

Wayne and Chris both dug deep on the route and have hopefully paid penance for a couple of previous misdemeanours....?

With the weather leaving them wetter than the front pocket of an otters dungarees they both showed proper character and determination to reach the top in poor conditions when they could have easily sacked it off.

Good job boys!

Starting Croagh Patrick and all is well.

The Irish summer can be changeable!

If looks could kill I'd probably not be here!

This isn't McDonalds!!!!!

Lads done well.

Outstanding beauty of Clew Bay on descent.

Possibly the first smile of the route!

Reach For The Stars!

Saturday & Sunday 25th & 26th June.

Last weekend I returned to the Lake District to climb with Gavin Kellett and tick a couple of classic Lakeland routes off.

Saturday - there was a time when the first thing I would do after an evening working on the doors of Leeds would be to go annoy door staff at another venue with my drunken behaviour, so to head straight up to Langdale to catch a few hours sleeping in the car before climbing marks a bit of a change of lifestyle!

After a few hours shut eye in the car park at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel I woke in time to meet Gavin as he arrived from Scotland. I had met Gavin a couple of years ago on International Mountain Leader training so was looking forward to a catch up as well as a climb or two.

 I have probably been bit guilty of overlooking a lot of quality climbing as I have looked to push my grade up this year and whilst it has been good to improve my climbing grade it's not always the best time to improve the core skills when concentrating on just stating on the rock! We would spend the day at Raven Crag in Langdale as it offered us a number of routes and has a short walk in as rain was forecast.

 As the day panned out their were many climbers at the crag so route choice was a matter of getting on what was free at the time.

We climbed 'Centipede' (S 4a**), 'The Origional Route' (S 4a***) and 'Evening Wall' (S 4a*). Good climbing on good routes and gave me a chance to concentrate on making good gear placements, building solid belays and slick(ish) rope work!

Sunday - We had driven around to Borrowdale Saturday evening and after a 'couple' of social drinks catching up and generally putting the world to rights spent the night sleeping in our respective vehicles. Rising at an unheard of 7:30am for myself we made our way to 'Shepherds Crag' and were the first ones on the crag.

 Gavin has a lot of previous climbing experience in the Lakes and recommended 'Little Chamonix' for our first route. What a great route! Graded at VD*** the route offers great climbing and exposure whilst offering good protection, this will be a definite route I will take people up in the future.

 

With the crag getting busier we opted to do 'Ardus', with the option of a direct VS 4C finish it would be a little more challenging. A 'thrutchy' corner is how I would describe it and though it meant topping out into undergrowth and scrambling around to find a suitable, solid belay I was happy to get another Lakeland VS4C multi pitch route under my belt.

Summary - another quality couple of days in the magnificent Lake District. Good climbing, good routes and a chance to catch up with Gavin too. Only 2 routes on the Sunday due to the rain moving in but a great weekend!

Borrowdale - With Andy Swann (& 'The Lads')

 The past week I spent a couple of days climbing in the magnificent Borrowdale in the Lake District with Andy Swann of 'Grit, Track & Trail' and 'The Lads'. 'The Lads' being the dreaded midges! 😤

Tuesday - and I met up with Andy, who holds the MIA award and has been helping me improve my climbing technique and grade, to drive up to Borrowdale which is found south of Keswick in the Lake District.

 Even though I have the excuse of being a very late starter to climbing, I am still a little embarrassed to admit this was my first climbing trip to the Lakes. With the weather forecast to be fine I was more than looking forward to it.

 Leaving the vehicle in Grange we made our way on foot to 'Black Crag', which is a rhyolite (volcanic rock) crag with a number of multi pitch routes, through the surrounding woodland.

Unfortunately we were soon joined at the bottom of the crag by 'the lads', midges! Although I can accept that these tiny flying critters have their place in the food chain is there any need for so many of them to be in action at once, swarming over any bare flesh and leaving itchy little bites??? 😤😤 I had applied jungle formula insect spray containing the chemical and I swear I caught one licking it off my the back of my hand!

 I thought the rock was top drawer to climb and the routes we did (The Shroud VS 4c** & Troutdale Pinnacle Super Direct HVS 5a***) outstanding. Climbing alternate pitches gave me chance to practice not only my climbing but gear placements, rope work, building belays, and change over stages while accepting any tips and guidance on where anything could be improved from Andy (who has climbed a bit previously!).

Wednesday - we made the hour long walk in to 'Sergeant Crag Slabs' from Stonethwaite. The thought was to gain a little more height and be exposed to some stronger breeze which the midges can't handle, the bast@rds were there in force and battling the strong breeze 😤😫.

Andy taking extreme fashion measures to combat the midges!

But midges or not this again was a great crag. 'Friendly' rock, good gear placements and great routes.

 I seconded Andy on 'Lakeland Cragsman' (HVS 5a***), 'Terminator 2' (HVS 5a***), 'Between The Lines' (E1 5b**) before going back to 'Lakeland Cragsman' to lead it myself.

 Being keen to improve my grade I was happy to second the routes to gain some confidence. 

Summary - a quality couple of days!

I'm very aware how quickly I can fall into bad habits so to climb with Andy whilst also be given advice on best practice and  pointers as to where I can improve worked well in my 'sort of' training plan.

North Wales Climbing & Gardening!

Monday 23rd to Thursday 26th May.

A couple of weeks ago (been lazy and neglected my blog 😔) I spent a few days in North Wales climbing and catching up with Rob Gurr of Summit Adventures, Stephen Hobdell of Steve Hobdell Mountain Adventures and John Deakin who chops wood for the Queen!!

Monday - and after being far too optimistic about the M62 traffic I arrived late (early evening) in the Ogwen Valley to catch up with Rob & Stephen.

They were climbing on 'Bochlwyd Buttress' which is just a fifteen minute walk in from the car park. It also catches the afternoon sun though is fairly Baltic at all other times it seems!

It was good to catch up with Stephen who I met a couple of years ago whilst shadowing Rob Johnson on a winter skills course, we had also spent a damp cold day at Stanage last May which felt like another winter day!
 Having just sat in traffic for nearly four hours and having had to spend cash at 'Joe Brown's' on another climbing helmet (left mine on the kitchen table!) I was happy enough to second routes whilst Rob & Stephen led.

Tuesday - myself and Rob had decided to spend the day climbing at Tremadog and met at Eric's cafe. I had spent the night sleeping in the back of the car (it's part of the climbing apprenticeship) and had woken early as Eric came to make sure I was going to pay the £6 fee without driving off!

Having already climbed here a number of times, leading some lower grades and seconding some higher graded routes, I was keen to get a couple of the well known routes ticked off.

We spent the day battling with midges whilst climbing 'The Brothers (VS 4c**), 'Shadrach (VS 4c**) and 'One Step In The Clouds (VS 4c***), with the latter route having the added pressure of a small roadside audience during the top pitch!

Midge Protection

Wednesday - and I had the day to myself as I wouldn't be meeting Rob until late afternoon due him having work that day, bit inconsiderate in my opinion!

We went to Australia Quarry above Llanberis to climb some slate sport routes at 'The Sidings'.

At this time of writing the blog I do not have the routes we climbed to hand but just to say it was disappointing to be struggling on lower grades routes first climbed by an 11year and 7year old brother and sister! 😔

The reoccurring comment was 'bloody kids' and we weren't too disappointed when it started to rain.

More practice on slate is needed!

Thursday - and myself and Rob met up with John Deakin who had driven up for the day.

Meeting at Siabod Cafe in Capel Curig we had originally planned to climb in Llanberis pass but the weather was looking doubtful and with John only having the one day we opted for another trip to Tremadog which tends to get less rainfall than the mountain crags.

We again went to the popular Craig Bwich y Moch at Tramadog, again it was extremely popular with the dreaded midges!

 We first climbed 'Grim Wall' (VS 4c**) and concentrated on our rope work, gear placement, bringing seconds up in parallel and adseiling. This was more a result of us being joined on the crag by a couple of groups who were on their British Mountain Guide assessment and we didn't want to look like amateurs....!

We (John) decided we would climb 'Clapton's Crack (VS 4c*) after lunch and off on an adventure we went!

Finding the start of the route through the under growth was a turned into a gardening mission and then there was the scramble to the route base proper whilst carrying ropes and rack.

To be fair the first pitch of the route was very good with bridging moves whilst going up a corner crack and nearly made up for the under growth scratches and cuts getting up to it!

The second pitch was covered in undergrowth for the most part but was fairly simple climbing though quite exposed.
I think the route might benefit from being climbed more regularly to keep the shrubbery down and the scramble up to the route less 'green'.

I know will carry a life long scar on my shin to remember the nature trail to the route by but I wouldn't hold John in any way responsible due his choice of route, it's not as though there are many great routes at Tremadog to choose from...! 😉
After the route John had to leave to make his way back 'down South' (where ever that is!) so Rob and myself went up to Bus Stop Quarry where I led 'Equinox' (VS 4c**) and my first trad route on slate.

Unfortunately we have no pictures of this as most of the time our attention was on a guy climbing a 7b sport route at the side of us who seemed to be holding on to thin air! Pretty impressive to watch though also slightly depressing given our performance at 'The Sidings' the evening before.

Summary - a good few days better spent out climbing than wasted doing something like working or alike!

I was happy to tick some classic routes and felt happy with my climbing.

It was also good to catch up with Rob, John and Stephen who all share my love of all things mountain!