Motivated Squirrel: On The Lead In The Sunshine

Lassisitude VS, Glendalough

I am absolutely knackered. For three out of the last four days I have been trad climbing in the sun and on the Sunday when it rained I got a big stamina session done in Naas. There is good progress on all injury fronts :) ... my finger is responding well to easy routes climbing, my foot injury is going away and best of all my feet have become strong enough for me to able to climb stemming corners and slabs without pain at the ankle joint, so I have been getting out and about on easy routes in the lovely weather getting back in tune with trad routes and placing gear, it has been geat craic altogether !!

Quartz Gully, Hs

On Saturday I hit Glendalough. I left the car park at 8 in the morning with Pat and Laura. The walk up the hill to the crag was nearly the death of me. I hopped straight on Quartz Gully and it was so sweet to back climbing multi pitches on the the Glendo crag, all the routes are classics !! After this we met up with an eager gang from the savage craic climbers club at Expectancy Slab. Here I did a couple of top ropes, had a great laugh with the gang and then led a lovely VS called Lassisitude, nice slab climbing with decent gear to a small roof with a crack in it, nice :) Finnished off the day leading Provo VS on Acorn Buttress, also nice ... then the midge ambushed us and we called it a day. I practically crawled out of the valley I was so tired, the only thing keeping me going was the thoughts of an ice-cream, but when we reached the car-park the shop was closed :(

Diarmuid

On Sunday I had a stamina training session in Naas on the auto belays. I was climbing with Diarmuid and he is on his holidays and so am I and the weather was looking good so we organized a trip to Dalkey on Monday and Glendalough on Tuesday, with a stay over in the I.M.C hut on the Monday night. Monday in Dalkey was deadly, great weather and a good mileage day, I got 5 leads in, Eliminate A V-DIFF, Up Slide Run VS, Holy Moac HS, Streetfighter VS (pure class) and Dirty Dick VS. Then we split to the I.M.C, which is a brilliant facility and filthy cheap at a fiver a night.

Racking Up In The I.M.C hut

The View From Hobnail Buttress

On Tuesday we woke up in the hut and quickly ate youghurts , granola and sausage sandwiches for breakfeast and headed out the door for Hobnail Buttress in Glendalough. Here I led the mega classic HS Pyramid Route. It's a phenomenal route for anybody operating at this grade, a better HS you could never find. You climb to the top of a granite pyramid, which is not connected to the main crag, then you have to reach across the void to the main wall and step across on to it with your heart in your mouth, and then climb through a roof and a lovely crack in a quartz seam, it's quality !! After this we climbed Hobnail Chimney HS which was also another cool mountaineering style route. We left the valley just in time for me to get back for work in Naas.

The Reach Across The Void Move On Pyramid Route

Now I am completely wrecked and starving and I am going down stairs to stuff my face tasty food ... mmm. Food always tastes better after a day of trad madness. Thanks to Kat for the photos from Glendalough, thanks to Patricia for my new shiny rope and rope bag and thanks to Diarmuid for partnering up with me for the two days.