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!

The Robots

The Robots.

I dont like slabs. But this is a classic problem. Got me thinking what makes a classic problem? The movement feels good. The all-important setting. The texture and quality of the rock. The look of the line. The height. It keeps your interest. It allows progression to get you on the hook but won't succumb to thugery. It rewards understanding and strategy. And best of all, the crux is at the top and subtle enough to make you drop it a few times before the send. Magic!

Glenmacnass

Wow! Spent a few hours out there shredding tips and climbing some amazing lines. Thats the main draw of Glenmacnass in my opinion - lines. Aretes and prows. Obvious classic challenges with great landings. I hadn't been there since the first ever Irish bouldering meet. Did Tombstone arete, Smokey and the bandit, Le Joker and tried monkey burger, dice rib, and solidarity left and right. Slaped the top a few times but didn't stick it. 7a.

Anyone stressed or struggling to find motivation for life, bouldering, climbing should just walk up the valley and sit on the heather for a while. Beautiful.

Wild Wicklow

Guide book in hand I've been happily exploring loads of areas i never had the chance to climb at before. The clip above was from a 40min round trip to Lough Bray between the hail showers. I'd never done Choc Ice before and really enjoyed it. Little bit highball with great moves on slopers and friction for feet.

This last week I've had trips out to Dalkey, Mall Hill, Cloghoge and Carrigshouk. Sounds impressive but in reality some of those trips have just involved stomping around in the rain in my wellies susing out parking and approach paths and looking at lots of damp rock. But beneath the damp the lines look amazing - lots to do.

The morning spent bouldering in Dalkey was lovely. I hadn't climbed there in years and the place has changed alot but the atmosphere hasn't. It was like i never left the place. I had intended on just bouldering but once i pulled on i ended up soloing the old classics. Nothing harder than E2 but it felt great to be moving on rock again - known lines at a height. Felt great. One or two lines had these wierd moments on them. I had genuinely forgotten the sequences. All i knew was that i had climbed them before. I switched off and the routes just happened - like my body remembered what to do and i was just watching wondering what was going to happen next - really strange. Another nice thing was finishing up at Ivy Wall and managing the Ivy wall traverse in both directions and yepp direct - both of which i don't think i had ever done before. Sweet!

Ricky posted up his mega edit of Michael's first ascents around Wicklow - Irelands hardest problems from the Beta Coach - amazing!

Grades in Ireland

Accurately grading dynos, especially jug to jug ones is pretty pointless.
Do you think that irish grades are inaccurate compared to Font?

I totally agree about grading dynos - especially for the lanky. And yes, “So it goes right” is one of the more morpho problems I’ve done. It’s a 5+ if you can reach the flake, 6C+ if you have to step up using the micro undercut crimp for your right hand and impossible if you can’t do either. Great piece of rock though.

Before i go on about grades can I just acknowledge that I'm not claiming to be able to do anything about grades or that I could/would do anything differently. This is not a criticism, rather it is an outsider's observations and an honest account of my perception of things as I see them. I say outsider as most of my bouldering to date has been done in the UK, France, Switzerland and Spain. 

As for Irish grades – yes, I find them sometimes off the mark or at the very least, inconsistent at the minute between areas and styles. But that is only my personal opinion (which is all anyone can offer) and I acknowledge there are boulderers out there far more experienced and fitter than myself at present who may disagree. I think that’s to be expected with the lion’s share of the grading during the past ten years being done by each area's discoverer and main developers. With more time and increased traffic on the problems thanks to the guide they’ll all settle and come in line with each other. In general I think the Irish grades are stiff. In my mind that can be attributed to two factors.

The first one is easy – an overdeveloped cultural sense of sandbagging merged with a dark sense of humour. I remember Pierre writing a great blog about the Irish attitude towards achievement and I think this is reflected in the grades we give somewhat.

The second reason that I’ve thought about is the “Local factor” – basically Irish climbers climb at the same venue week on week and progress through the problems and grades there. Over time they repeat many of their previous projects as warmups and become local experts. They know the rock better than anyone, the style, conditions etc… Then they compare how hard they have to try to climb a 7A on home turf with how hard they try to climb a 7A in say Font. Completely different rock, style, conditions etc…  They may have to give 20 or 30% more effort to climb a problem of similar difficulty away from home but instead of acknowledging this they downgrade their home problems. So what takes 100% effort at home aligns with what took 100% effort on a trip away. It’s just not the case and it really does take time and hours upon hours of training on a specific rock type to be able to preform on it as well as you would at your local venue. Peoples 3 annual trips to Font don't make them on par with the locals - you may climb as hard as them, but you're trying a damn lot harder for the tick.

So I've critiqued but what can I offer as a positive counter balance to the above? Well the fact that at the end of the day grades are irrelevant. The point of bouldering is to perfect and enjoy the movement regardless of numbers - simply working something that inspires us regardless of reason. The rock in Ireland is amazing! The craic bouldering in Ireland or away with Irish is unbeatable. The grades will settle with time and through discussion. Look at the groove SS in Glendalough for example - it's already begun.