Repentance. E6. 6b Hen Mountain

I’ve been home in Newry for 2 weeks busy helping my parents move house. I got out a few evenings to hen Mountain. My local. Its 20 mins drive from my parents house and features perfect granite, and a lot of wind. Yesterday I did a new route. Repentance, E6 6b? It is the really obvious line between last rights and purgatory. I stuck with the catholic/religeousy theme for the hard routes on that wall, Last rights e5, unforgiven e4, purgatory, e5… I practiced the route on a top rope, but on reflection I think its very flashable, a bit of beta could be useful though. It took me 3 sessions to work out what to do. I was making it way harder than it needed to be. I think I thought that because it had never been done it would be savagely hard and went straight into trying it on a shunt. Its not, and it is a great mystery to me why it hadn’t been done before, being one of the most accessible tors in the mournes. I don’t know why I had never tried it before, because it is so close to home.
It is super safe, with a bomber number four nut at your waist when you do the crux. However getting the nut in is very difficult. The climbing is mostly stemming strenuously between the two grooves, with a few thumb sprags and a bit of crystal pulling at the crux. Its a great bit of climbing at one of my favorite crags.

a good month smashing around in the Alps…

I finished my winter driving work at the end of February, and went onto a casual contract, meaning I only worked if I was offered it, and if I wanted to. Working depended on whether the sun was shining, or if I felt particularly broke at the time of the call. Mostly, I’ve just been sticking to the principal, of climb now. Work and everything else later.

A tiny bit of Scottish Winter

(me on magic crack Scottish VII or an amazing HVS. Photo Miles Perkin)

I went back to Scotland for a few days at the start of March for my BMG Winter climbing induction and some training. This went well and we had really good conditions. I climbed with Kevin Kilroy on Friday, and we enjoyed the Genie, Damnation and the Magic crack.

(somebody on Damnation grade VI)

1938 Route, Eiger North Face ED2

Before I left, for Scotland my friends Alasdair Fulton and Graham McGrath took advantage of a three day weather window, and dubious conditions and smashed up the North face of the Eiger. At the same time I had waded my way up to the base of the Grand Charmoz North Face, and made a call that there was too much unconsolidated snow, so waded back down again. I also had work commitments but I was very envious of their ascent, and wished I could have been with them. If there is any route in the world that I have dreamed of climbing since as far as I can remember it is the Eiger Northface. The same for a lot of climbers I guess.

(me on the Hinterstoisier Traverse.Photo John Orr)

When I was back in Scotland I eagerly scanned the forecasts, and was surprised to see what looked like a weather window at the end of the week. I talked John Orr into driving out and we got on and climbed through the weekend of the 7^th, 8^th and 9^th of March. The climbing was hard work, and it certainly matched all my expectations and more. I don’t think it was in great condition and we were smashing a way up a lot of bullet hard ice and bold awkward sections, in particular “The Ice Bulge”. I will write up my own full report, but in short it was a dream come true to climb that mighty wall of 1800 vertical meters of choss.

(John Orr teeters across snowy slopey choss on “the traverse of the Gods”)

 

(time to put the tools away and climb with hands and look like its really fun- Exit Chimneys)

Bouldering: Medonnet and Vernayaz

After the Eiger, the weather continued to stay settled and lovely. I needed a bit of rest, and quite nicely Katie was coming out to see me. We had a nice few days chilling out, doing a bit of skiing and bouldering. Katie’s climbing really strong at the moment, and bouldered 7c+ at raven tor while I was on the Eiger. She was keen for a bit of boulder crushing. (http://katieclimbmaxwell.wordpress.com) I thought it was quite funny how we both completed our limestone projects on the same day. Katie climbed a desperately hard boulder problem in a cave under raven tor, and I climbed a massive pile of choss above Grindlewald. We are both psyched for very different things.

We bouldered at Medonnet and Vernayaz. Katie cruised some 7a’s and 7bs, as I struggled to get my ass of the ground. I did manage a brilliant 7a hanging arete thing and the 7b eventually, but I had to remind myself to pull really hard again.

 

With the weather holding out, and surprisingly still looking awesome, I needed to get back into the mountains again, so I combined forces with Graham, and we set to some smashing around.

Super Coulour. Mt Blanc Du Tacul. ED1

After leaving Katie to the airport I went for a ski down the Vallee Blanche and had a look at most of the big faces, to try and make a plan. The Super couloir on Mt Blanc du Tacul looked like it was in good shape so we decided to do that the next day. Planning on going up and coming back down on the same day, we went up on the first bin of the morning. Unfortunately 3 other teams had also planned on climbing super couloir that day and had all stayed in the cosmiques hut and started very early. By the time we got to the base there were 2 teams on the direct start, and a team on the rock start. The team on the direct start were still moving very slow, and although we really wanted to do the direct, we couldn’t really be bothered hanging around. I had my stickys and reckoned we could zoom up the rock start quite quickly and possibly get ahead of at least 1 of the teams. We were fast and moving well, and over took everyone and finished the crux pitch about 2pm. We upset one Norwegian, but his partner seemed happy enough, and could see we were definitely moving faster, and that there was space for us to climb to the side. Rapping down this route is so easy with bolted abseils every 55m. We skied all the way back to town and straight to elevation to have beer. It was a great route, and fun to climb a few pitches of E1 in the sun, and then superb steep ice, all in a very grand alpine setting. It was also how I had once dreamed of climbing this route, after reading an article about it a few years ago where some one described skiing in, climbing and skiing out down the valley blanche in the same day.

(Graham climbing the rock start. E1 In spantiks)

(overtaking)

(nicer Norwegian On the top Pitch)

(me having a super time, rapping down the super couloir. Super route+ super abseils=super time)

 

North Face of Petit Drus. Allain- Leininger. Still winter. TD

With it being so warm, and having quite enjoyed the bit of rock climbing we had done on Super couloir we decided that the original route on the North Face of the Drus could be a fun route to do in the current conditions. The drus is probably one of the most iconic mountains around, and viewed from Chamonix rises up as a 900m shard of granite. Famous for hard rock routes and enormous rockfalls, it is not an easy summit to achieve but for an aspiring alpinist it is an obvious goal. I first looked at the Drus long before I knew anything about climbing, on a hiking trip when I was 17. I remember being impressed but I don’t think I even comprehended that people climbed up its steep walls. 9 years later I was going to climb its north face in winter. Its cool how we progress.

 

A day and half after super couloir we were sliding down from the Grand Montets on approach skis to the North face of the Petit Drus. I say sliding because I definitely wasn’t skiing. With a heavy bag and heavy deep snow, I had no control over those stupid mini planks which might as well have been sellotaped to a pair of slippers. In such circumstances approach skis felt about as useful as trying to play tennis with a fish instead of a racket. I pointed them down hill, sat on my bum, and kind of turned into a human sled.

Graham brought a single skinned tent which we pitched under a massive boulder on a platform with one of the best views in the valley. I had heard about magical bivouacs here, and it didn’t let down. We sat under our objective route with a couple of terribly rolled rolly up cigarettes and enjoyed a stunning sunset and tucked into re-hydrated soya bolognaise. (real meat costs more. sorry g)

(glamorous camping thanks to force ten for giving Graham a lovely lightweight tent)

We started climbing the next morning at 4 am. Again, we felt fit and were moving well, and climbed fast and efficiently. The bottom section was all really good mixed climbing, with occasional awkward chimneys or steep cracks where we pitched.

(like a mini wintery thank god Ledge)

(fun steep Mixed with some good neve in the cracks)

Around the junction with the west face, we put our tools away, and climbed in rock shoes and bare hands. It was beautiful climbing and the cruxes were really fun. We passed a French team, who had already spent a day and one bivvi on the route. They were trying to climb dry  5b cracks with ice tools. We were able to move fast past them on hand jams and smears, sort of smiling to ourselves. Towards the top we were definitely off route a few times, but just kept boshing on.

We topped out around 2 o’clock and chilled on the summit for a short while hanging out with Madonna. Its a fairly special summit, and I can now finally say that I have climbed the big pointy one.

We made our way across to the breche and began the slightly less enjoyable descent down the drus couloir. This is basically 800m of abseiling off abolikovs, and dubious tat connecting a mish mash of lego blocks and pegs. The further you go down the more and more abseil stations you find and its quite obvious that most teams dont bother climbing to the top of the Drus couloir. It was mega dry, and the direct looked like 200m of the most amazing overhanging e4 granite corner.

(loving the abolokov situation)

Eventually we made it down to the glacier and back to our splendid bivouac spot. It was 6pm, and we were just in time for another glorious sunset and the prettiest of skies.  We had another night in the tent and adventure skied out the next morning. Due to the amount of snow on the banks of the glacier finding the Charpoua ladders was quite difficult from above. We got down to town mid afternoon and went straight to elevation and drank athletic quantities of pelforth  blonde until about 3am the next morning.

(me skiing out under the Drus on approach skis. Barely skiing)

(grahams creepy topo)

Indiana Jaune. Maladiere. 270m 6b+

The next route we went in to do was the modicca nouray, but we got shafted by the injustice and corruption of the Aiguille du midi queing situation. By the time we got up there were loads of teams on it and psyche diminished. We decided to ski down and drive to the Arve valley and climb  a route at Maladiere called Indiana Jaune. At 6b+ this route is 10 pitches long and doesn’t disappoint. After skiing in to a crowded ice route in the morning we were stoked to be climbing on a massive deserted sunny limestone crag in the afternoon in our t-shirts.

Pinocchio  Grade VI 7( whatever that means)

With the arrival of some less pleasant weather we went up and climbed Pinocchio on Mt Blanc du tacul. It was a cold and slighty Scottish day out, with the worst hot aches of the season. I thought we were going to get choppered with the amount of screaming going on. It was good fun to scratch around on some steeper mixed, on what was another dull overcast day in the valley.

Sometimes you have to ask yourself, Where would Stevie Haston go?

Mt Dolent Traverse solo. Via Charlet route (TD) And south face Descent. With a flippin heavy bag.

Another spell of good weather came and with no readily available partners I had a little idea for a solo mission. Seen as distinct pyramid, far away from the familiar peaks of the Verte, Chardonnet and the Droites, Mt Dolent (3749m) stands proud at the end of the Argentiere basin.  As a beautiful peak, joining the boarders of France, Switzerland and Italy, I decided wanted to climb it. With an excellent and rarely climbed north face route and a classicly good skiable normal route on the south side it, a traverse sounded like a grand adventure. With no schedule and friends to meet at the lift, I can’t say I found it very easy to get out of bed that morning. Digging deep into my pockets of motivation I eventually got round to catching a grand Montets bin at about 9.30. The skin up the back of the Basin was hard work and I was breaking trail through knee deep snow all the way.

(lonely skin up to the back of the Glacier)

I got to the final slope below the berchsgrund about 1 pm. Crossing was a nuisance, and spooky business. I finally managed to cross on the very right hand side, and got my tools into some decent neve. The route follows some cool little chimneys and grooves in the middle of the face which are hard to see until you are in them. Thankfully the neve was really good, and the climbing was fun. The face had a lot of snow on it, and from the approach I concluded that it probably didn’t matter where I climbed. I soon discovered that a lot of the snow was covering fairly dry and blank mixed ground. I got myself a bit too high up on a section of this. I could see the Neve filled groove I needed to be in to my left, but I had climbed up into an area of buried blank slabs. I got a bit scared, as I wasn’t sure if I could down climb what I had come up and I couldn’t find any gear to lower off. I settled myself and, after scraping around, managed to dig out two little thumb sized flakes of rock. I equalized them with some slings and lowered myself hand over hand back down to where I could swing left into the “thonka” neve ice. As I climbed past my equalized thumb rocks I flicked the slings off and carried on happily. The top section was mostly hard black ice, and quite relentless. I followed what I thought might be the bash marks of some other climbers and smashed on and on.

(looking down. while resting my tired calves on a belay)

 

 

(looking up)

At the top of the face, you reach a col, where it is common to abseil back down the face. The final section of the north ridge to the summit is quite long, and still quite difficult. It was a relief to reach the summit, and know that soon I would be sliding down soft snow, instead pounding blunt tools into hard ice with a massive bag with skis strapped to it.

I enjoyed putting first tracks into the descent and sought out the fiorio Bivouac hut. I still probably had time to ski out, but finding a lift from the road head to Courmayeur, and then through the tunnel was looking unlikely, so I decided to spend the night in the hut. It’s a lovely hut, however there was no bonus food so I had a hungry night. The next day I skied out of Val feret, hitched to Palud, then took the Helbronner lift back up and skied down the Vallee blanche. It was a grand adventure. If I was to do much more of this type of thing, I would definitely get some much lighter skis, and a light weight rope. Instead I hauled a pair black diamond verdicts (really usefully 110 underfoot) and a 60 dmm prophet.

(fiorio Refuge)

 

(my novelty topo, shows the berchsgrund adventures, poopy pants moment and summit joy. The route is 700m to the col I think, and in reality dwarfs the buttress on the right.)

Aiguille du Tour Noir. AD 

John Orr came over for a visit, and was keen to do a good day tour on skis and get a peak climbed. Dave Chapman joined us for the banter. We skied to the col du tour noir, and climbed the south ridge on the Aiguille du tour noir. It would seem this is quite an elusive peak, and another rarely climbed route. It was quite good fun, with reasonably involved climbing for the grade.

 

Legarde Direct. North Face of Les Droites. TD

I had a full body crash the day after this after over week of daily activities, and needed a lie in. The following day Rory was keen to do something before his season came to an end. I Suggested a rock route up high somewhere. That evening one beer turned to six and the following morning admittedly I wasn’t very “on it”.  I arrived at the midi, and realized I had forgotten my lift pass. Rory thought it was an April fool. Driving back to get it we decided it was maybe a bit to cloudy for rock climbing up high, and thought about then zooming up to the courtes and doing the swiss route. On the approach to this, Rory suggested the Legarde couloir on the North Face of the Droites. I have done the Swiss route but not the Legarde. I can’t say I really wanted to climb the Legarde couloir. Having already climbed the North East Spur Direct, and the Ginat/Jackson on the Droites the Legarde wasn’t really on my radar. But the idea of doing the Swiss route again wasn’t really filling me with psyche either. It was at this stage quite late in the day, and the legarde is a long route. We watched another team disappear over the steep ice into the upper wide couloir and thought that if they were starting this late, then we probably could too. After all we were fit, fast, acclimatized and could probably catch up with them. Little did we know it was Ueli steck and Colin haley. We committed to the idea, and made our way up to the start. It was 12 nooncrossing the berchsgrund. We stood at the top at 4pm. Not bad for Rorys first Grand course. The start has about 200m of excellent steep ice, and the rest is mostly a slog up a wide and easy couloir. Despite that, the rock architecture is stunning, and it takes you right to the summit. We passed Ueli and Colin down climbing back the same way. That was also our plan, but on reaching the summit we, weren’t actually that keen on down climbing. There were a few tricky bits, and the idea of abseiling down the south side seemed easier. The problem was our skis were at the berchsgrund and we were in ski boots. We had a long walk all the way down the telefre, mer de glace, and montenvers back to Chamonix in ski boots. We made it back to town at 10 pm. Still all that was better than climbing a big route with skis on our backs. Right?

North Face of the Grand Charmoz ED1

My final route to seal the deal of a pretty damn good season was the North Face of the Grandes Charmoz. I had wanted to climb this all season, since I read about Jon and Ally climbing it in December. Dave Searle was up for it. We met up and had a chat about tactics, and decided to go for it in a day from the first lift. We got the first lift up to the midi plan and skinned across to the col du bouche. From here we ditched our skis and went up, over, down, and around to the North Face of the Charmoz. We moved together through runnels of ice and neve all the way up the face, apart from an awkard chimney pitch in the middle.

(awkward chimney pitch. Photo Dave Searle)

After the large snow field we climbed four superb 60 m pitches of mixed which deposited us on the summit. The descent down the Nantillions glacier went smoothly and we were back to our skis around 6pm. We skied through the sun baked slush for as long as we could and then walked. I made it back to town without having to get my headtorch out, and we went straight to midnight express and had burgers. It was another superb day in the mountains, taking in a huge north face route in good style with good company. Daves report is (http://davesearle.me/2014/04/07/grande-charmoz-north-face-a-day-to-remember/)

(at the end of the large central snowfield with Aiguille du republique on the left)

(0n the mixed ground towards the top)

I have really enjoyed my winter season in Chamonix and over the past 4/5 weeks with generally good weather and free time I have been able to climb some really amazing routes. It was nice to be climbing these routes, just for the love of the mountains, not because I was chasing routes for an application form any more.

I have been writing this on the long 17 hour ferry from Cherbourg to Dublin. I had a swim in the sea at Omaha beach and I’m looking forward to summer time. I also visited some good friends in Strasbourg on my way, and spent a day not talking about climbing. That was nice too. I’m looking forward to Irish trad climbing and I’ve been thinking about a few routes and projects. Alpinism is great but it doesn’t do much for your rock climbing. After a full winter of skiing and loads of mountaineering in big boots i feel like I have tree trunk legs. Better start off with some slabs…

 

 

an ice climb, an alpine classic, and some sketchy extreme skiing….

I’ve been out in Chamonix for the last wee while. I haven’t been blogging because I haven’t really been doing anything very interesting. Before I came out here I was doing some rope access work on Gatwick airport which was MAJORLY crap. It pretty much made my decision to get out of the UK for the winter, which seems like it was a good call seeing the storm reports from home. I came back to Chamonix to drive buses for mountain drop offs, but mainly for the 3 days off per week to ski and climb. The weather here hasn’t been amazing, lots of unsettled grey days, and nobody seems to think climbing conditions in the mountains are up to much. So for most of the time its been skiing on days off, or messing around at some dry tooling crags, laughing at how crap, weird and terrifying I find it. I also had my BMG avalanche course and ski induction in La grave back in January. It was nice to ski La Grave and see a whole new area of the Alps. The Avalanche course was interesting and we all learnt how to dig very scientific neat snow profiles and analyse the snow pack, with rulers and stuff.

1. An Ice climb

Last week I went to Cogne to have a go at Repentance Super. This is possibly THE line of Cogne. Its a superbly obvious straight up and very steep frozen waterfall. As a bench mark WI 6 its not a push over but since climbing Nuit Blanche (WI 6) 2 years ago this seemed like the next logical objective. I doubt I climb WI 6 and both were probably more like WI 5 condition, but its still a head game and exposed pumpy stuff up there. I went with GInj (Ginger graham McGrath) and Ally fulton. Ally Swinton told us to leave chamonix at 3.30 am to be first on the route. We all thought he was being a twat with an outrageous suggestion like that. We left at 5 and just made it to the route before the crowds gathered. Thanks for prompting us to leave early Ally. We took a pitch each, with me taking the last up an incredibly exposed pillar. What a position. We had quite an banter-full day which climbing as a 3 usually provides. Despite being first on the route and breaking trail to the base, a french guide and 2 ladies kindly cut in ahead of us from the left sending down a rain of ice chunks and shoulder bashers. I swore lots, and hoped all the farts coming out of my ass were wafting up and making their day unpleasant. In the end, when all 6 of us were squashed on the penultimate belay I took it all back (not the farts) and was quite happy to let them go first and use his hooks.

2. An Alpine Classic

The next day the weather looked good for the second day in a row which was quite something in this season of quite silly weather. So maybe it was good to try something in the mountains. Rory and I went up the Rebuffat- Terray (Carrington- Rouse) route on Aiguille de Pelerins. As can be predicted, first lifts never go when you need them to, and after waiting at the midi from 8.00 we finally got up to the midi plan at 9.30. Not to be put off we slogged through deep snow for 2 hours to reach the base of the route. We skinned in. Walking would have been impossible. The last 10 m from where we ditched our skis to crossing the shrund took about 20mins wading up 50 degree chest deep shite (also known as powder wooooo pow pow in Descent). However once on route we found the most perfect neve and were able to scuttle upwards out of the way of looming seracs that threaten the start. The route thereafter was great fun, with lovely neve, thin ice, and dry rock. We mostly moved together, clipping all the belays. After a final “techy” 60 m pitch on progressively dryer rock, we thought about rapping off while it was still light. We discussed our options. We were still in the fun phase of this climb. The next pitch looked climbable, but definitely not the easy ice covered slabs described in guidebook. It would be time consuming. There were a few more pitches. We discussed our options.  I said I didn’t mind climbing on, but equally Id be just as happy to go down and eat burgers. Rory agreed, and we could hear the burgers calling from the town below. We also both had to be back to collect van keys for work the next day. So down we went, to enjoy a good deep ski out and were back in town in good time without having to get out head torches. It was great to get out and do/mostly do something in the mountains. 

3. Some sketchy extreme skiing.

I enjoy skiing but I don’t think its my raison d’etre. With skiing seeming to be the in thing to be doing (it is winter after all) I have been doing quite a lot of skiing. I’ve had some great runs through the trees “hucking” off various lumps, and some swweet laps down vb, grand envers,  helbronner and paddy chev. I’ve also been dabbling with some of the steeper things. I had a rather unfortunate avalanche ride down under the helbronner cables at the start of the season which definitely shook me up a bit, and Ive been a bit tetchy on stuff since. Don’t get in the way of cool dude pro skiers who do half hour laps, and have no regard for anyone who might be underneath them. Actually don’t even bother being there unless you charge half hour laps. dude!  But thats a whole other rant…

I’ve done the e.n.s.a. a few times, which is a very beautiful couloir under the Brevent. We also skied the Rectilgne couloir next to the pas de chevre, which was narrow and yuck at the top, then lovely.

  

The last two days I did some classic ski descents that I’ve wanted to do for a while. The cosmiques couloir and the Glacier Rond. Ginj, Rory and I skied the Cosmiques yesterday. After one abseil at the top you gain a massive 40-50 degree 800m couloir. With good snow it was an incredible descent. Amazing skiing with a serious feel, as a bad fall would probably involve not stopping to the bossons glacier. We traversed out from the bossons onto the paraface? This provided open deep untracked powdery stuff, prompting whoopage! whoooo! We finally got to the mt blanc tunnel entrance after some serious bush whacking.  At the tunnel carpark those really freeking awesome pro skiers came down behind us, and basically told us we were shit, because they do half hour laps man. Those guys are so great. We went back up and had a cruise down the Grand Envers. 

Today after a slow start myself and Grahm went up and skied the Glacier Rond. We were going to go for a tour, but seeing the queue for the lift at Flegere we thought we’d just go up and do the rond. It wasn’t as nice a day as yesterday, but we thought the snow would still be OK. It must have been very windy up there last night, for it was a very hard pack glacier rond. The glacier Rond is technically an easier ski than the Cosmiques, but it is a hanging glacier ending in a huge ice cliff. Its a no fall zone, and today a fall would probably have been very bad. We Carefully side slipped/stepped the worst parts with ice axes in. Heading out into the middle we found some softer stuff and managed a few turns. Once on the shoulder where you ski down the gully on the left the snow was much better and it was actually a nice ski. It was definitely type 2 fun. I don’t think I like side slipping steep hard pack above a huge cliff. It felt like quite an adventure.

I’ve now got one more week of full time driving, and then I’m on a casual contract so I have more time to do some more stuff. Hopefully some settled weather is on the way.

Owey topos

I made a few wee topos of some of the big crags on Owey. Im crap at names, and am still thinking. If anybody is inspired to go out then I recommend it. There is some insane granite! See you next summer Owey. Psyched for Irish climbing as usual…

 

 

1. Fat arse crack? Mick Walsh, Damien O’sullivan 2011? Varient Michelle and Ricky 2013, and climbing assuming it was a new route. E3/4 60m

A carefully set up free hanging abseil (60m) reaches a ledge at the base of the crack to start routes 2 and 3.

2. demise of the rockstar, J.McCune, K.Kilroy E3 5c. 60m Climb the massive steep deep crack at the side of the Zawn. Start in an open groove at the base of the cleft or as low as the sea allows. Climb using a combination of squirming, jug hauling, caving and bridging, outside and inside the crack. Possible belay at half height. Crux at the top with an overhang  Start as low as the sea allows.

3. Rainshadow . E4 6b 70m. J.McCune, K.Kilroy

Climb the groove to a diagonal ramp. Continue up the roof and cracks to a spacious belay ledge/cave. (5a) From the lefthand side of the ledge climb a diagonal rightwards crack and pull strenuously around a roof (6b Crux) to gain the most incredible hanging corner. Climb around a second roof to reach the third roof section which is enormous. Follow this via an epic traverse with good gear, underclings and just enough for your feet. Gain another 5 star belay ledge hanging out above the nose, and the sea. Follow the crack straight up into a final overhanging groove which is passed with surprising difficulty. (also probably 6b)

The following two routes are approached by a diagonal abseil down a corner /gully with a big chock stone. With a deviation about half way gain a non tidal big square ledge.

4. Srón Tochasach – (The Itchy Nose) E5 6a/b. J.McCune, K.Kilroy

Climb a rightwards diagonal crack from the lefthand edge of the ledge. When possible follow some cracks and grooves straight up to small niche under the righthand side of the massive roof. Now traverse up and leftwards on small egdes. Place a few cams under the roof and gain an arete on the left. Pull round the arete via an exhilarating move to gain a wonderful belay ledge/cave. 6a 35m (Careful route finding and rope management required.) From the belay traverse rightwards onto the hanging slab using small holds and underclings in the roof. Step down to gain the arete of the incredible hanging nose feature. Belay “au cheval” a leg either side. 8m 5b. Now follow the steep splitter crack with increasing difficulty until possible to move back left to some good ledges and a rest. Now soak up the exposure, atmosphere and life in general before attacking the strenuous overhanging exit grove. 6a/b

5. The Donkeys Pelvis. HVS 5a. J.McCune, K.Kilroy

Follows the line of the abseil. Climb a fine crack to a niche and rightwards trending ramp. After about 4 meters climbing up the ramp climb up the wall via grooves and flutings. Trend rightwards, then up a groove to gain a big ledge. Possible Belay. Climb a crack above the ledge which leads to the exit groove, blocked by the huge chockstone. Pass on the right with care.

6. The donkey jumped over the moon. E2 5c. K.Kilroy, J. McCune

An exhilarating variation top pitch to the previous route. From the right hand side of the belay ledge climb a crack with difficulty into a groove barred by a roof. Escape rightwards under the stepped roofs on under clings and small footholds. When things run out make a sensational move to gain a magnificent hold on the arete and follow the jugs to glory.

Abseil down to a good ledge at the base of a few cracks.

7. E1 5b. Climb the corner into a crack passing a few bulges. J.McCune, K.Maxwell

8. HVS 5b. Climb the crack right of the corner passing a few bulges and a strange move. K.Kilroy, J Colandairaj

9. VS 4c. Climb the diagonal ramp and corner, until a crack on the left wall. follow this up to a ledge and belay behind an enormous block. Follow the slab and ramp rightwards to finish? S.Black, C.Strawson, R.Temple

10. E2 5c 25m Jmccune, K.Kilroy. Abseil to a good ledge down and left. Climb the rightwards flake and groove passing a birdbeak roof. Immaculate granite.

11. Lumpy space. E4 6a. J.Mccune, K.Kilroy.  Silly climbing up and across a series of dubious but juggy flakes gains a span to gain the hanging groove. Continue up the groove with sustained interest and bursting  forearms to a slabbier finish.

autumness

Up until last week the weather in Sheffield had been generally good. I have enjoyed lots of quality climbing being able to tick a few more awesome routes. This last week Has been generally complete turd.

At the end of September I had a good go at london wall E5. A route that looks class and has a bit of a rep for being hard. I just thought I might as well get on it. I got to about a meter below the top and my fingers slipped out of a jam and i took a lob half way down the wall. Gutted, I was so close. I pulled my ropes, stripped the gear and sent it next day. As annoyed as I was about blowing it, I enjoyed my airtime and was glad I got on it. I like crack climbing, and the peg scars make reasonable finger locks. I just crammed my fingers in and whether they felt good or not, I just pulled on them. The locks at the top where I fell off didn’t feel any worse than the rest of the climb, my fingers just slipped out. Katie abondoned the midges and belaying to take a photo. I was on the good holds. Surveying the kingdom, but facing the wall

Edge lane was my next and after a bit of up and down I finally committed to the crux. Falling off the crux on this is definitely NOT an option. My first down climb was one of those not so enjoyable experiences, bordering on harrowing. The crux is technically not difficult, but it is a little bit hard to work out. You hope there are good holds to come but you are not totally sure. Keep moving and don’t look down until your at the top.

I’ve been out a few days with Dave Hollinger, getting some mileage in at Stanage and Froggat. At Froggatt I did Strapadictomy E5 6b which is a short but fun bit of climbing. Some dudes were there sieging it so I had to wait for a few hours. I climbed some scary Whillans route E3 Cave wall, which was good and also definitely not one to fall off. I climbed strapadictomy as close to onsight as possible, however the siegers had left some helpful ticks.

Mark and Neil invited me down to “the Churnet” to try some things down there. Its an interesting area with these random big lumps of conglomerate gritty sandstone scattered around the woods. It is also right next to Alton towers and you can hear people on the rides not very far away. There are a number of Stand out lines, and I had a go at some of them. I climbed the classic E5 arete Soul survivior with a bit of Beta from Neil. Its like a steeper edge lane but protected by a few pegs. It did seem a bit of an eliminate, because you are only allowed to climb on the right hand side, but other than this its a great climb.

Mark Rankine on Soul Survivor, Photo Me

I tried “the pride” which is currently a very high High ball E6. I didnt like the dynamic move accross the lip, as it was very high, and in my mind could result in landing in any position on my dodgy ankles. It was cool to watch Mark and Neil get it sent and Neil proceeded to do laps on it. We went back down the following Sunday to Inas Rock and climbed Thumbelina, Another very High High ball E6/7. This time the crux suited me better and soon I was crimping my way into the no fall zone.

Photos: Guy Van Greuning

There is also a cool E5 called inaccessible which climbs a potatoey headwall. It is a russian roulette of pebble pulling.  This was a much more normal traddy e5 experience than the usual grit antics, and with no chalk to follow and thoughtful gear it was a trouser filling onsight. 

A day at black rocks brought on another battle with that stupid gutter move on the block. I tried and tried, and enviously watched Rob Greenwood find the knack for the move. Watching him enjoying the slabs was so frustrating, not being able to get onto the gutter. I opted for a footie, and once on the slab flashed velvet silence. It doesnt really count, but I had fun. Photo Rob Greenwood

Mark took this photo of my falling off Pulsar Direct, E6 on Higgar tor. Its a cool e6 with a safe and tricky crux. On my flash attempt I was fairly close to catching the hold, but just needed that inch of pop. I got it second go. Brilliant route with a safe fall, even with the rope round the back of your legs.

Before the rain came I discovered Raven tor and had a go at some peak Limestone. I climbed the “sardine”, 7b+, “Tin of”, 7b and after one more session “another toadside attraction” 7c. No big deal, but I was surprised to say I quite enjoyed myself. My sport climbing experience is next to nothing, as I don’t usually enjoy it. I had written off Raven tor as a crag where everything would be uber hard and polished, and not that nice. I certainly didn’t think it was somewhere I might push my sport grade. Previous to raven tor I had only ever managed to climb one 7b. Maybe I can get into this sporty thing.

Early season grit

Ive been back over in Sheffield for the last 2 weeks, looking for a bit of work and filling in the time until the BMG induction. Ive had a few good days out on the grit stone. First up I got on End of the Affair, which I had had a play on last year on top rope. I had another session on it an evening last week and then got on the lead. I felt solid on the moves and had a good sequence which didn’t involve any dinos for the big reach out right. The lead went by in a blur and was over very quickly. It was good to get it ticked.
The next day I did a route at burbage called Masters of the universe. This is originally graded e7 6c, but if so it would be the softest in the world. I managed to flash this with the beta from mark and neil who had just climbed it. The moves are quite big but the holds mostly positive, and whats more its the safest route in the world.
I also bumbled my way up the beautiful arete of ulysees or bust. This was a nice ground up scary above pads. A bit like don at stanage.
Yesterday I climbed at Almscliffe and ticked the classic trio of E3s, The big greeney, Western Front, and Wall of horrors. I also climbed Arries Ook e4, Black wall eliminate e2, and soloed most of the classics up to HVS.

Im enjoying the handyness of climbing on grit, and dreaming up lots more projects.

Thoughts and Garblings on Learning to fly.

Sitting in Sheffield giving my finger tips a chance to recover after a few days on the grit.
On 27th August kev I did the second ascent of Learning to fly. E5 6b. Its a beautiful route with 2 excellent pitches. I hope this report removes a shroud of mystery and puts this route proudly onto the list of top end hard classics.
Its a route that I had always wondered about. A 3 star Eddie cooper e5 from the mid 90s, taking a daring line up through the overhangs left of Night rider. These overhangs have always impressed me as they form one of the steepest bits of the crag. As impressive as the wall of prey, but on the dark side, they have seen very little attention in recent years. In fact for as long as Iv been climbing, I have never heard of anyone really talking about these routes. The fact learning to fly had never received a second ascent probably puts a lot of people off it. It certainly struck a bit of fear into my mind, together with wondering how a route could force a way up that wall. From the top of Jolly Roger I have often looked across at the wall and pondered. The block strewn ledge coming across from the bottom of Kneewrecker is not an inviting place to start from. From its right hand end the pedestal which the route starts off looks like a jenga block poised above the choss. Above that the route could be anywhere, it just all looks fairly blank.
The description in the guide adds a touch of mystery. “not a sports route” I wouldn’t call anything at fairhead a sports route so what the heck is that supposed to mean. Dont expect any bolts, pockets, french people or limestone. The name “Learning to fly” gives the final, and probably most obvious touch of enchantment, sounding delighfully terrifying.
Anyway I thought somebody should check it out some day. Being at the Murlough end, and not massively psyched to go down and climb any of the other routes for the umpteenth time I thought it was time to have a look.
One can always look, it does no harm. Given nobody had touched this wall for over 17 years I had no idea what state the route would be in. I thought it wise to ab in and check out its condition. I wasn’t too worried about it being too dirty, as it looked like mostly face climbing. I was more worried about the condition of the peg, and snappy and loose rock. Also I wanted to get a rough idea of where the route went. This proved to be my biggest problem. On the ab rope the wall looked well hard. A section in particular looked totally blank, and there was no reference to this in the description. I resorted to pulling on many of the holds to work out where to climb, and what to brush. After some time playing on a lot of the moves and cleaning lots of edges and flatties, I was relatively happy I had worked out where it went. My main confusion was around a section where a particular grove fades. Here there was a really hard section of moves right to gain another groove, that would lead to the belay. Or did you climb a different way into this groove, via some overhang to the right. With so many overhangs and grooves I was a bit baffled trying to work out which ones the route followed. There was no mention of a really hard sequence of moves right. But after some time I concluded there would be no other logical way. Anyway the rest of the route below this made sense and I found the old peg, cleaned a load of stuff, and the odd bit of rotten rock. I came back to lead it the next day.
I decided the peg was fairly essential, and it is not in great condition. I backed it up with a small nut which I left preplaced before leading. To place this nut on the lead would be really awkward and hard and any gear below this is far away.
The start of the route is bold, and climbing off of the jenga rubble is very committing. I left kevin firmly anchored to the ab rope and numerous large cams. Start of the route is quite blind, and wonders a little. Some of the rock is a bit dodgy, one foothold blew off, and a flake I had a sling around peeled off while kev was seconding. Its not too difficult here but I was glad I had given it a bit of an inspection before leading. Pressing on I got to the first good runner. The moves above the peg are quite tricky and it feels steep and again I was glad for the pre placed back up nut. A roof is gained which you follow rightwards to some good edges, and then gain a groove back left again. This groove has some lovely moves in it and you can really admire your position on the wall. Where the groove fades the crux moves await. With good gear in an undercut you follow a technical sequence on crimps, sidepulls and edges rightwards for a few meters to gain some jugs at the base of another groove. I had this sequence sorted from looking at it on abseil, and if you were onsighting this would without doubt be the crux. It is blind and tecnical, but the moves are amazing. I presume this is the inspiration behind the name, as if I had not cheated I would have definitely done a lot of flying here.
The next groove is followed with continued interest and until the belay. I enjoyed watching Kev fight his way up the pitch on second. There were some serious power screams as he pulled through the crux. A fine effort. He took the second pitch which follows a lovely flake and corner system to the top. It makes a great pitch at about e3 5C.
Initially when I was abbing down I thought there’s no way this is E5. Its was too hard, E6 surely! Ive onsighted a number of e5s and e6s at fairhead and this looked so much harder. When I was looking at the groove section trying to work out how it would climb I thought it was such a sandbag I cant be arsed with the effort. On reflection, maybe it could be e5, as the crux moves are safe. But if so I would say very top end E5. I think a proper onsight of this would be a wonderful achievement and I would recommend it to everyone who operates at the grade. A cool head is required for the start, and some technique and strength for the cruxes. It is clean with the edges and smears lichen free, and the nature of the wall mean it should remain clean. I would recommend that you have a look at the peg, and either replace it or back it up with wires which would be difficult to place on lead.

Unfortunately the only pics are from kevs phone, of me on abseil.

back up at “the head” and a bit more owey for good measure.

Craigy, Kev and I had another trip to owey. The weather was fairly ming, but being off work we didn’t have much else to do. For a day we sat in a little shed (apparently the kings shed) and drank tea, as it rained constantly. In the evening the sun appeared and we went to look for more rocks. Myself and Kev climbed a lovely flake feature we had spied from the kayak on trip one. It went at about e2 5c. Craigy did his thing and took some amazing photographs.

Then Kev climbed a cool crack feature in this weird zawn. This went at about HVS. To the left there was a mad steep wall and I climbed a route up a hanging groove corner thing. Its steep and pumpy and the wall overhangs a slot which goes into a cave which must go all the way through the island. With the water bashing around beneath, and hanging onto the weird big granite flakes it was an exciting place to be, especially with terminal pump. That was it, we only had a day before the seas got to rough and we had to get back to the mainland.

I Have since spent some great days at fairhead with kev and his wonder van. 

I climbed thunder road (no jam rash) whats all the fuss about? Then I climbed promised land, without a fall this time. 

On sunday I cleaned and inspected learning to fly. After 18 years I made a second ascent on monday. Its fabulous techy and committing climbing. reccommended. 

 

Oh and I climbed Stripach, (Irish for Bitch Whore) enought said. Respect to Emmet goulding in 1968. HVS or E4 5a. I could hardly walk the next day and my knees are all scabby.

 

Now, im off to the airport for 9 days DWS in Mallorca. 

 

More on Owey

Last weekend I returned to owey with some more friends. Ricky, Michelle, Craigy and Kev. We drove up through torrential sideways donegal sheet rain on Friday night. We slept in the carpark at cruit Island. It was wild. The forecast for most of Ireland was fairly crap, but I convinced the others of the rainshadow effect on the Islands and that it would be great weather. In the carpark on Friday night I was feeling a bit uncertain. But Saturday morning came, and the darkest clouds began to clear over our heads and settle on the Glenveagh Mountains. Squalls continued to pass untill 11 or so. We couldn’t get out to Owey. Kayaking was out of the question in the sea conditions and Owey Dan wouldn’t take us as he said it was way too dangerous. So we drank coffee for a few hours looking at Owey and discussing options and other potential mega crags. We drove round to the Cruits crags and pottered about on some solos and did some swimming in the unbelievably warm water. I think I swam for 2 hours body surfing. Dave Turnbull was there too with his Kids, also enjoying the surf. I was jealous of Harrys body Board and tried using a Bouldering mat, but it didnt really work. Towards the end of the afternoon, it seemed a little less rough and Owey Dan the wee boatman, was able to take us out. We got out around 7.30 in the evening, and went straight to the crag. After pointing a few things out, myself and Kev went over the edge and Kev Lead a new pitch from a nice ledge about 15 m down. We had spied it the first time we were there, and it took a line through a set of underclings to an airy arete. It was a lovely pitch in a magnificent situation. The sea below was totally mental. Its about e2. Craigy took some great Photographs. 

The next day I was keen to try a line through the overhangs again. There is an awesome undercling feature. This time with a 100 m ab rope we could get down the left hand section of the crag, which is free hanging most of the way down. We climbed a new pitch up to the Cave belay, and from here I was able to climb difficultly into the Huge roof. Its a unique feature, as you climb through the biggest overhang with a thin slab for your feet. I think its a bout E4. at the lip of the overhang you step down onto a perfect belay ledge. From here we tried a bit on a potential route leftwards, but it was a bit too blind. To finish we climbed up the the steep hard crack of the itchy nose.cutting loose, and then promptly cutting back tight again.

To finish, we climbed a huge crack/chimney on the left end of the wall. It was yet again amazing. 60 meters of overhanging shimmying, back and footing, jug hauling and bridging. This felt about E2/3.Ricky and Michelle climbed an amazing crack on the left hand wall straight out of the sea. A little too close to the swell for everyone watching and the got totally walloped by a monster wave. Despite being soaked Michelle led off on the first pitch and ricky lead an incredible second. A very fine effort. Thanks to Craig Hiller for the fantastic Photographs. 

Owey Owey WOWEY

I love Donegal. During the heat wave I Spent a bit of time up there. There is an incredible range of rock and a lot of adventures to be had. Last year I did a few new routes in Inishowen and it gave me a taste for going and finding more. I went up to Donegal over the 12th weekend. My Family had rented a house in Bun Beag. I spent some time with them there and went to check out some of the local granite crags with Katie and Niall.

We went to Cruit Island and climbed a few lovely routes and had a day on Gola. I love climbing on Granite and this area is entirely granite. Cruit has some lovely routes with great features. I climbed a new route on the wall left of an existing e1 mainly because the features on the little headwall looked amazing. It was pumpier than it looked but gave lovely climbing. Im not too good with grades but it could be e3 ish.

I was very impressed with the granite, and looking out to Owey Island my suspicions of there being some brilliant climbing out there grew. I had seen a photo on climbing.ie of an Incredible looking wall a few years ago and since then have wanted to take a trip out. It was called the “Holy Jaysus!” wall, Presumably after a dub or southerner of some sort exclaiming in shock and awe upon finding it.  Only last week did I get around to finally going out to have a look and explore for myself. Such is climbing and really there is just too much in the world to climb. Kevin Kilroy was my fellow intrepid explorer and we borrowed some sit on top Kayaks and set off for an adventure.

Paddling accross to the island only took about 15 mins, its not far. We dumped our gear and then went for a paddle all around the island.  There were a few exciting moments paddling in reasonable swell on the open atlantic side of the island. We also found amazing caves, ones that go right through the island. As predicted we found lots and lots of cliffs. The Holy Jaysus wall is as impressive as I imagined. But we left it for another trip, partially because it took me 2 days to find it. There are a handful of existing routes, but mostly in the lower grades. But what we found were some seriously impressive cliffs and when we investigated further we found impeccable granite. 

We climbed 2 new routes, The donkeys Pelvis HVS 50m and An Sron Tochasach ( the Itchy Nose) E5 6b, 55m

The first route was really just a recce and after abbing into the Zawn that is locally know as Fat arse North we climbed out by the line of least resistance. Beside this there are Immense overhangs. Probably some of the biggest I have seen. From the Kayak I had spotted a huge nose feature. I decided that this would be the object of the trip- To climb a route involving this huge nose.

The experience of climbing this route was very rewarding. I started up a crack and groove system that led up to the first huge roof under the nose. My plan was then to traverse under it and then have a look what was around the corner. From our belay ledge we couldn’t see what was around the corner. I knew there was a crack from the top of the nose to the cragtop that looked like it would climb. I didnt know what this middle section involved because it was hidden from view, So I climbed completely onwards and upwards into the unknown. When I got to the end of traversing under the roof I could reach my had onto an arete. at this point the foot holds disappeared. I had good gear and was running on a fair amount of adrenalin so pulled hard so I could peer round the arete to see what was next. To my surprise there was a crack and groove that lead up to a huge ledge. The move round the arete is superb. The ledge is the most perfect belay ledge. It is almost a cave. Upon reaching this belay, I discovered that the next pitch was possible and we would make to to the splitter crack. Not only did it look possible, but also relatively straight forward. It was a stunning bit of climbing traversing an entirely hanging slab to an incredible position on the hanging nose. Here you make a belay sitting “au Cheval” one leg either side of the arete. The last pitch, the only one I had been able to see from the abseil decent, was a crack feature that was a lot thinner, harder and steeper than I expected. I started up this pitch about 9.30pm and darkness was failing. I climbed the moves but I was parched knackered and getting a bit scared of getting stuck there so I had to rest on my gear most of the way up. Before the very top is a final overhanging handcrack. I had to aid up this. Around 11pm I topped much to the surprise of the locals who were having a traditional piss up by the lake.

The next day I intended to try and free the top pitch. However Abbing in to the belay on the nose was epic. I fairly well had to aid down climb with so many deviations on the rope to gain the belay. We were down there so I climbed the pitch with some pre placed gear.

The last day we climbed the route free from the ground this time with Kev Taking the first and second pitches. I had to give it stacks on the crux pitch. But I managed to climb it all free and clean and was happy. I could go back to work the next day satisfied.

It is a committing place to climb and Retreat of the route would not be straight forward. If you took a big lob off the crux pitch you would probably be in space and it would be a complete faff. Worse still as the only two climbers on a remote island in the atlantic climbing here feels totally wild. It all added to the experience of our adventure. I have a few more things to climb there and will be back soon. As with most of donegal there is a lifetime of new routes to do, it just takes a bit of exploration.

starting up the donkeys pelvis HVS. Excellent climbing.

Starting up An Sron Tochasach e5 or there abouts. definitely hard

Second pitch. A beautifully exposed traverse.

Starting up the relentless crux crack

 Belay “au Cheval” Looking down the pumpy crack. Kev took this seconding. Note the ab rope hanging in space, gives indication of steepness. Kev coming out of the final Squirm