Two More Fairhead Sessions, Farewell To Martin And A Great Summer

A few days after Dalkey I had a sweet trip up to Fairhead with Aron. Aron is only getting into climbing and has only been outdoors about five times. He had no idea what he was getting himself into, I spent the whole two days laughing my ass off at his struggles trying to comprehend Fairhead crack climbing and his coming to terms with the sheer length and sustained nature of the climbs. It was very entertaining and also inspiring to see him fight so hard and win.

We decided to top rope for the trip as Aron has only a little experience belaying a leader and none belaying with half ropes. We did most of the routes on The Prow and the weather was gorgeous. I got Fath Mo Bhuartha E1 clean 1st go on the top rope and it was a super climb and great fight for me. I would like to lead this climb one day, the moves are unforgettable, tricky stemming and finger locks as you skip between one crack and the other all the way up, brilliant scurrying altogether !!



Last Tuesday after about a week of rest, I headed off to Fairhead again with my good buddy Martin. It was his last couple of days left on his trip to Irleand before he returned to Clombia for another year or more. We drove to Belfast where Martin had a quick meeting at 4:30, after we got this sorted we continued on bound for Ballycastle. We got there quite late in the evening and decided to leave the climbing until tomorrow. We were both eager to check out the Giant's Causewat as neither of us had been before. We got there at about 8:30 with just enough time to check out this stunning rock formation and catch the sun setting over the North Sea.

Giant's Causeway

After checking out the causeway we headed for pints of guinness and had a good aul chat about the meaning of life. We were pretty well on when we got back to the campsite. It was freezing out so we sat in the car and pulled out the banjo and the guitar and had a jam session in my Toyota Yaris with the window wound down so the guitar would fit and the heater on full blast. We were baiting out the choons for some time. Unbeknownst to me the engine wasn't running and so the battery went dead !! We lost shit loads of climbing time the next day looking for someone to jump the car and waiting for the engine to give the battery back some life. We got a good aul days climbing in anyways and it was a great way to bid farewell to Martin, good luck in Colombia, adios amigo !! Thanks to Jon Smith for the lend of the ropes and guide.

All summer long my finger injury has been getting a little better every week, but it is a frustratingly slow process and it is still niggling at me, but apart from  bothering me whilst I am climbing the worst thing is it has prevented me doing any form of hard climbing training all summer long, so as I have been climbing outdoors having fun all summer scared out of me brain on VS's and HVS's my fitness level and finger strength has been decreasing. I can't complain though I have had my 1st full summer of outdoor climbing in  two and a half years and it has been a fantastic rediscovery for me of how great exploring and trad climbing in Ireland can be. However I really miss bouldering and I hope to have a great craic ticking problems and new areas from the guide this coming bouldering season over the Winter. As well as my finger my back and knees are feeling the effects of lifting and shifting heavy bags and gear and my ankles are also a bit battered, so I have a made a really hard decision to stop climbing completely for a whole month to let the cells in my finger knit together and my body have a good rest, hopefully I will be able to ease myself back into bouldering with fresh focus and fingers around about the time when the midge dissappear from Glendlough and The Gravity Climbing Center opens in September. Happy Climbing Folks !!

The Sun Sets On The End Of An Unforgettable Summer :)