Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Great Battle of Chillax 2009 - 2011

The great battle of Chillax finally came to a victorious end this morning with me topping out and screaming with over-due, pent up joy. Oh Yesssss !! Sweet satisfaction is mine :)

 
I first made Chillax my project in February 2009 ... ''Wow'' I thought to myself, ''this is a serious boulder problem ... you need to train hard for this one''. I was attracted to the powerful moves and the unlikely looking sloper holds. Tragedy struck however as I broke my back in three places falling 70 ft in an abseiling accident in the Dalkey Quarry .. so before I could learn the intricacies of this beautiful problem I would have to learn to walk again. Doctors told me I may never walk again and that I would certainly never climb again, but I had a different opinion on those matters.
2years ... 5 screws, 2 plates, 7 months in hospital and a year and a half of working my fingers to the bone and training my heart out ... Chillax is finally mine. It was feckin mad, I campused through the whole crux. I didn't use the heel hook method as this is for sissies and technicians and I am obviously neither of those things !! Now it's done I have 21 days of fierce stamina training on the way to get me ready for my sports climbing trip to Thailand, can't wait !! Happy climbing folks ... don't lose the faith on your projects  :)
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10 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 3, 2011 at 4:52 AM

    Well done Ciaran. It's a great problem. The most work I've ever put into a problem too. I ended up doing it half sissy - heelhook the get past the lip and then dropping into campus position for the jug.

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  2. NealFebruary 3, 2011 at 5:30 AM

    " I didn't use the hell hook method as this is for sissies and technicians and I am obviously neither of those things" ha ha ha ha :)
    brilliant, I love it. Congrats on the send, it's a brilliant problem.
    Anyway, there's a a heelhook on Chillax?! ;)

    Also, that is the most outrageous x-ray I've seen in a while - fair dues for belief, good on you sticking with it all.
    You only need 20 metre stamina for Thailand - not much longer than 5 boulder problems :) Let me know if you need any info before you go.....

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  3. ciaranFebruary 3, 2011 at 8:07 AM

    Thanks Stephen

    Cheers Neal ... I read your cool Thailand guide a lttle while back, I fished it out of the climbing.ie forum search engine, good stuff !!

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  4. trishFebruary 3, 2011 at 1:21 PM

    Awesome.

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  5. caoimhFebruary 4, 2011 at 6:39 AM

    Congrats Ciaran,

    Inspirational, to say the least.

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  6. ciaranFebruary 4, 2011 at 7:00 AM

    Thanks Patricia, lovin your blog :)

    Good man Kev ... couldn't have done it without good buddies like yourself !!

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  7. ColmFebruary 6, 2011 at 3:17 PM

    haha fair play :-) hoping to try chillax weekend after next.

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  8. PierreFebruary 7, 2011 at 12:04 PM

    Good effort Dude!

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  9. PedronautFebruary 7, 2011 at 4:56 PM

    Well done Ciaran, inspirational indeed. Have a great trip to Thailand

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  10. ciaranFebruary 8, 2011 at 1:47 AM

    Nice one, cheers and thanks Colm, Pierre and Ped :)

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