Wild Country Wires

I’ve been putting some new (and very nice) Wild Country wires through their paces recently

Those precious days out...




Looking down Bad Skin Day from belay
 

I don't get out much. That stands as a fact at the minute but it doesn't mean I have to like it. Fortunately that makes me want to try hard when I do get out regardless of fitness etc... I think this is something that I can be quite proud of - I try hard, sometimes really hard. It may not be pretty. I may not have any gas left in my tank at the top. But I'm not afraid to try and in some cases fail. Long may this last :) Since my last post I managed some nice routes during psyche fuelled daytrips with the A-team.

Irish Climbing 2014

Interested in what goes on around in the Irish climbing scene? You could do worse than have a read through Daniel's awesome production - Emerald Allsorts #2. Contains all the major activity on Irish Rock that took place during 2014. Inspiring stuff and great to see so many of our team from Awesome Walls Dublin taking active roles in developing and repeating stunning lines and ground-breaking boulders around the country.

Danny's effort in producing this is epic and heartfelt and he's created something which in my opinion captures perfectly the beautiful and diverse scene that we know and love here in Ireland. Great work man!

http://www.flipsnack.com/DBONeill/emerald-allsorts-2-ftjs6if9r.html?b=1&p=20

Thoughts on Dalkey

Indecent Assault E8 6C, Dalkey Quarry, Dublin

 

A few weeks back I caught up with Ron and Howard at the Fair Head meet. I got to talking about Indecent assault and the story behind it. Turns out my comment about Ron "working it over a period" is misleading, apologies. He put a few sessions into it before leading it on trad gear - it wasn't a prolonged siege affair by any means and was a mind blowing ascent for the time.

Kerry

Air Time - Photo: David Flanagan

 

I attended the 2014 Gap of Dunloe climbing meet at the weekend. Wow! Great location, great routes and fantastic atmosphere. Very similar to Llanberris in North Wales but with a huge amount of development still waiting to be done. I teamed up with Brian (Honey Badger) and we set out to get trashed on the bullet hard sandstone. Heres the pick of the routes we did on Friday and Saturday morning...

Air Time 30m E5 6a – classic, clean and safe ***

Far Away Friends 10m E5 6b – flash after watching video, 5 cams all sound - more like E3/4 5c/6a **

Name Unknown 12m E5 6a – nice wall climbing above crux of Wickedy Wock **

The Crazy Horseman 9m E3 6a – short and sweet, kneebars a plenty, just bring cams **

Wickedy Wock 12m E3 6a – perfect rock, classic! ***

Hawker 12m E2 5c – safe boulder start, eases quickly **

Willie Wonka 20m E2 6a – Brilliant, no peg but great gear **

Mighty Mouse 10m E1 5c – safe positive climbing, 5b? *

Mother Of Prague 20m E1 5b – Classic at the grade, perfect ***

Did some bouldering too. It was all on beautiful rock in picturesque locations. The edge of the onion blocks were class as was Barry’s Cave roof. White lightening was worth just walking up to look at but the beauty block that stuck in my mind has to be the striking “Exit Planet Dust” – incredible!  

Can't wait to go back!

Indecent Assault

On Friday I lead Indecent Assault in Dalkey quarry. This is a route that assumed a fierce reputation and went unrepeated for 19 years despite being located roadside in an urban quarry, right in the heart of Dublin city. Nearly two weeks ago I dropped a rope down it to try the moves and see if it was feasible. Really I was looking for something to occupy me during short windows of free time from home - I found that by using a mini-traxion I could cram more hard climbing into a focused hour than I used to get in a whole day of climbing in the quarry. I figured Indecent Assault could be something I could work on for weeks or even months without any real pressure to get done. On that first session I managed the crux 6C rockover but couldn't fathom the top out sequence. A week later I returned for another quick play. It had been on my mind and at some point during the week I thought of a sequence that might work. It did! I managed to "mini" the crux section from the gear to the topout twice without falls. That was all well and good but my complicated sequence felt so insecure that the prospect of leading it yet didn't really stick in my head. Four days later I met Brian out in Dalkey and was abseiling down the line to check the gear and clean the lower half of the route. Before long I had placed what gear there is in the flake and climbed the route from ground to top twice on the "mini" without warm up or falls. Still felt too touch and go to lead though. It's a weird one, when you're at the crux looking down, thinking of slack and rope stretch the gear looks too low. But from the ground the gear looks 2/3rds of the way up and totally safe. With the mindset that all prep is good prep I cleared some pointy sticks from the landing zone and took some of the branches off the tree that might catch a falling climber and cause a flip. I was ready to sack it off and go climb something else when Pat came up with a classic line "sure lead up to the gear just to get a feel for it". Good idea!

 

I set off on lead with Brian on belay and Pat watching. The lower half climbs like a 3-star HS and then I was standing hands free at the last gear looking up. At this point I was on auto and I rambled up through the increasingly committing moves to the shakeout before the crux. Fuck! A quick shout down to Brian to check for slack and ask him if he's ready to catch me. I begin the rockover to the crimp. Then the hip twist, right heel-toe cam in the undercut, bring my right hand back down, fuck, right foot step through to the blind edge and left foot leaves the good hold to take up position on the piss-poor smear. Then the move I was dreading. Match the shitbrick crimp and smack the left into the base of the groove. Harder than on the mini but I'm still on. Everything felt greasey. I'm about to grease off, can't chalk, might as well fight on. Fuck the sequence, left hand to the next grease free hold, foot slip but I'm locked in between two gastons. Run my feet up to high smear and cross over to layaway and top. I may have screamed :)

 

Felt nice to climb something hard without the fitness to make it feel comfortable and boring. It was a case of fighting to the top on this one and not giving in to a fall. I hadn't had that on a route for years!

 

Psyched for more headpoints and so happy to have climbed this route in particular. Dalkey was where I began climbing and this route represented the ultimate route to me when I first got hooked on climbing. Getting to the top felt like finishing something I started when I took my first steps on rock in the quarry. And the best part is theres lots more to do!

 

Thanks to all the characters who worked hard, went for it or just pricked around in the quarry cleaning, climbing and developing these routes people take for granted - they're superb and under rated and have history which makes them all the more memorable

The holds look bigger on Instagram

Route with a view

Odd bits

I cleared out some odds and ends from some HD cards that had been building up since late last year - nothing of great quality but not worth throwing out all the same... The First problem "One for the Road" is a line Ricky cleaned and let myself, Michelle and Gaz play on. I ended up lanking it first before Gaz swooped in for the second ascent. Nice we problem and a good addition to the Scalp. The second problem is fast becoming the most popular problem in the Scalp, Michael Duffy's "Space Machine" - people often overlook the time spent cleaning and building landings for what soon become classic problems - Space Machine's landing is a constant reminder of the hard work that goes into developing new blocs - The problem gets 10 cool points for the climbing and an additional 5 just for the platform. The final problem shows James Gernon's awesome Arete, "Maniacal Laugh". This thing is a beauty! Big, proud and great climbing - I switched the camera on after the start sequence that begins in the middle of the face to the left. Once on the slab an airy traverse to the arête and then some sweet moves to the top. Rarely tried but a fantastic addition by James - one of my favourites in the area!

Lemon Sole

While driving to work last Wednesday morning I was admiring the sunshine and blue skies over Dublin from the M50. I had pads and climbing gear in the van and next thing I new I had driven straight past the Finglas exit and onto Portrane - low tide, choppy sea and a chilly breeze. I wanted to get back on Lemon Sole - this had never really appealed to me before last November when I had a play on it with Gaz during a lunch break. I fell off trying to match the highest undercut during my first session and I've been keen to get back on it ever since. Well Wednesday morning was my second session on it and after a bigger battle than I had thought I was in for I managed to match the finishing flake. Ricky's left foot beta helped with the move into the undercut but I still managed to drop matching it a few times before realising there was a positive edge right at the back of the hold! Game changer. (note: I also broke the left foothold before the send but there is still a smaller and slightly lower edge for the left foot, which I used). Great problem and worth stars I think - not too many positive, physical style mid 7's around like it that I know of. As for the grade? Probably easier for the tall - felt harder than Computer World Left (7A+), and Robots (7B). No where near as hard as Space Machine (7C). Good 7B+? Chuffed finger and shoulder are playing ball too...

Some new problems

A few weeks ago I spent a damp morning cleaning ivy, moss and dirt off a load of roadside blocks in the Scalp. Brian turned up and gave a hand and Tom swung by to talk with some cyclists. Later that week I grabbed a few hours out on the problems and they had cleaned up nicely - still a few more to do but they all require better landings or multiple spotters.

Whackbat – Start on obvious jug under roof, use two big breaks to top
Kristofferson – Start with foot jam under roof and undercut. Climb steep flakes to tricky rockover onto slab
Boggis – centre of the proud slab...
Flynnstone – The arête beside a tree
Ceramic Unicorn – centre of the face to a tricky topout in a v-groove
Maximus – the big arête on big holds (dodgey landing)
Lee of the stone – the smaller arête on smaller holds (careful up there!)
NIMH – start undercutting the block, clamp the fin to top
Nicodemus – start RH undercut, LH crimp crack. Climb the crack to flake and span to nose of prow
Tigerlilly – stand start, LH sidepull. The Sit would be a cool move
James’ Crack – the beautiful crack to prickly topout. FA James Gernon back in the day
Mr. Ages – start on hanging flake with feet in the roof. Nice holds, nice moves

 

The grades might be a bit out but the problems were quality - best ones would be Whackbat, Kristofferson, Ceramic Unicorn and Mr. Ages



New Blog

I finally got to thinking "why blog?"

The answer was fairly straight forward... Two reasons:

1 The only thing that gets me to write anything is climbing and I only really read (or am interested in)  blogs/articles about climbing - specific routes, areas, climbers etc...
2 My blog acts as a kind of climbing journal for me, which I like

So a revamp - bin the running and motivation shite and be honest with myself by bloging only when I feel I have some climbing to record

Simple!

Back on the blocs

Mall Hill from Dave Ayton on Vimeo.

Well it's that time of year again - crisp Wicklow air, the trad rack packed away for the winter and thinking thoughts of training and slapping to slopers... need to get my teeth into a project or two!

Change

Yesterday Caroline climbed Chillax in Glendalough. This is a mega classic boulder problem in Ireland and justifiably so. It requires power, fingerstrength, flexibility, core strength and a fair bit of technique. It's the perfect boulder problem at the grade. For Caroline it marked the beginning of her return to form 10 months after giving birth to Matilda. Being a parent has brought a lot of changes to something simple like going climbing. Ease of access to the boulders becomes a major factor. Conditions can be too cold for the baby. You've got to bring so much more stuff to the crag. It's not just the return to fitness issue, it's the logistics of managing another little person. Spotting becomes more difficult too. Anyway - it was a great send and seemed way too easy for her in the end.

Chillax Glendalough from Dave Ayton on Vimeo.

I've been doing a lot of bouldering lately and I keep coming back to the same thought. Wicklow grades are a mess. The Irish scene seems to be stricken with a few character flaws that have acted to provide an impenetrable glass ceiling to all but a few who have the benefit of a broader outlook or supportive peer network. I'm not advocating soft touches but I think it would be more productive and beneficial for climbers improving if the scene was at least as open to upgrading as it is to downgrading. Seems fair doesn't it?

As far as I can tell a lot of the development of the Wicklow boulders was done by a few with the mentality that "I had to try really hard on this thing so it's 7A". These were super psyched and strong climbers, doing fantastic work in cleaning and establishing first ascents all over the place.

But either through misplaced modesty or sheer ignorance of their own strength their ascents got recorded as 6C's and 7A’s and so the seed was planted. These sandbags lay at the foundation of all subsequent boulderers thoughts on grades and Wicklow became the home of nonsense grades and conversations such as: Sandbagger “Yeah, I worked that for 6 months but once you dial the body position it’s easy. Has to be 6C. A girl climbed it so can’t be 7A. My fat mate climbed it, can’t be 6C+.” Onlooker “But didn’t you flash a 7B every day last week in Font?” Sandbagger “Yeah, but what do THEY know about Font grades?!? They’d have been 6B at a push at home… they were just technical” Haa! Exaggeration? Yes, but you get the gist. Do grades matter? Not to the quality of the climbing or to the personal challenge each problem presents to the individual. But if they’re going to be used at all they should relate to the accepted standard at each grade and not be based of those initial bashful suggestions by strong early activists not wanting a rep as a grade whore. Am I a grade whore? Possibly. Or more likely I’m just displaying my OCD tendencies about something that doesn’t make sense from my experience and perspective.

 

 

A lot of areas have benchmark problems. North Wales for example. Popcorn Party, cave route, the gnasher - all benchmark 7A's. Crimpy, pumpy and a precise snatch. Jerry's roof, Bus Stop, Rock Atrocity - benchmark 7C's. Used as grade landmarks when grading new additions.

 

I think the harder problems are spot on the money in Wicklow. Most things 7C and above seem about right and have been confirmed by ascentionists. It's the 6C to 7A+ range that hides the best selection of quality Font 7B problems in Wicklow :) and this traces back to those early ideas that 7A's were at peoples physical limits.

 

For my money the following grades apply

 

Dark Angle Sit 7A

Chillax 7A

The Cherry 7B

2.4 Pascals 7B+

Afro Left 7A+ (harder for the short)

The Fin 7A+

BBE Sit 7B

Andys Arete Sit 7A+/B

White Stick 7A

Robots 7B

 

I think the shortspan and 27crags websites are great and useful tools in building a consensus of opinions and will sort things out anyway through increasing information availability, encouraging discussion and getting more people out into the boulders.

 

I'll hold my hands up to a fair few sandbags in my time too by the way. In hindsight they were a combination of not wanting to propose too high a grade for the bouldering population to downgrade and falling into the same trap of viewing myself as a weak boulderer. Probably my worst sandbag was Mother in ravens glen graded 6A in an effort to attract more ascents and opinions. Realistically 6C/7A if topped out along arete? but worth three stars all the same. I know, I know... hypocrite!! But I'm trying to own up to it and I admit it :) I'm learning and rethinking all the time...

 

Did I mention I love the bouldering in Wicklow?!? :)

 

Psyched!

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome

Awesome Walls Climbing Centre Dublin from Awesome Walls Dublin on Vimeo.

Our first promo - captures quite well what I've been working towards all this time :)

Path of Hands

We went out to the Scalp and did the first ascent of the left Arete. I tried the direct start but failed. Am still to fat and weak to climb anything truly hard. Path of hands boils down to one move. Could be HS or E4 but the move is 6b. Enjoy!

The Thing in the Forest

 

My entire days climbing was over after 6 minutes - felt brilliant! I first tried this route in January with Brian Hall and Reece. The psyche was high but on arriving to the crag the top half of the route was soaking - theres a puddle at the top of the crag that holds water and pine needles and created a kind of biomass soup that runs down the route. Rather than abandon our goal i abbed down the line and with J-cloths in hand i tried to dry off the obvious holds and check the gear. Once on the ground we tied in and began trying the route ground (in the lads case) up above pads. I figured out the lower crux and placed the gear but by the time i got the hooks in i couldn't feel my hands due to the cold, wet crimps. The next crucial sidepull was covered in slime and i came off onto the hooks. Seven weeks later it went first go. Beautiful line and amazing rock. Brian has it int he bag too but due to holding the record for the most consecutive days climbing ever for any Irish person his skin was paper thin and got demolished by the rough gabbro before he could send the thing. Next time :)

2013

Happy 2013!

 

Now that Awesome Walls Dublin is a reality I'm looking forward to starting from scratch and building up some fitness again. Caroline is back climbing and psyched too so everything is in place for a bit of progression on the rock!

 

Above is a short vid i made of Brian's first ascent in the Scalp. Nice way to spend a damp day :)

26 Days to Launch

Less than 4 weeks till we open the doors of Awesome Walls Dublin - PSYCHED!!!

12 Months

In the past year the following has happened:

I got married to my beautiful wife and climbing partner Caroline

We changed career

Packed in two full time positions teaching in Spain

Returned to Ireland

Started a business

Turned 30!

Bought a van

Caroline gave birth to our beautiful baby girl – Matilda

Wow!

At the minute I’m busy being a dad, husband and project manager; overseeing the construction of Irelands largest climbing centre – Awesome Walls Dublin. The excitement I feel for this is HUGE as it’s the one thing I’ve always wanted to achieve and now it’s finally happening. The down side is that as a result of wanting to give 100% to the three roles mentioned above I’m finding it hard to fit in climbing myself – sanity comes from knowing it’s a phase and that it will pass. I know from experience that I come back stronger and more psyched than ever after periods of forced inactivity. That said, we’ve been on two trips out west to the Burren and by my second trad lead there I was back to leading E5 again and it felt easy enough. I feel like I’m lining up dominoes and that once things are finalised everything should click into place to allow for more training, a return to fitness and more time spent doing what I love – being outdoors on rock or running. Enough of the waffle!

Time for some goals:

I’m 86.7kg – jaysus! My fighting weight of 79kg seems a long way away. There is an easy first target, break under 80kg before Christmas.

I’ve been doing a bit of bouldering and would like to do the following boulders: Computer World and Leftism.

At this stage I just want to squeeze in some E5 and E6 onsights – some time spent headpointing something harder would be nice but I’d only be looking at really safe hard trad meaning they’ll be physical and I need to shape up for that kind of thing.

I want to start racing again – if I can even get back to 4 or 5 easy runs a week and keep it sustained I’d be happy for now.

Rock Aplenty

A few nice first ascents from Glenmalure in Wicklow. Happy with the arete. It feels quite highball and with one pad I took ages to commit to the top out. Climbs lovely though - similar difficulty to Choc Ice and Alison Curtis and harder than So it goes right so probably around 6C+ or in Irish terms 3 Apples, 2 Oranges, a bite of Banana and a Carrot stick for good measure. Shelter is a great problem too, easy but lovely movement. Worth throwing your pad under it enroute to the higher problems or on your way back to the car.

Exploring Wicklow

Yesterday I had a day off. No running, no work and no climbing. A chance to catch up with all the other stuff. It ended with us going for a walk in Glenmalure and me finding and cleaning a lovely little overhanging prow. Nice to find something as easy as this with a definite flow to the movement. Plus it’s steep, pathside and in a beautiful setting. Shelter, 6A. Sit start on undercut below the roof and climb the good edges along the lip leftwards to good finishing moves up the mini groove. Class!