Category Archives: Event

Mountaineering Ireland October Get-together Sligo 2024

Many assembled at the Great Southern Hotel on Friday.  I was rescued from an historic tour of the town, (and hypothermia), by the arrival of Jack Bergin and Carol from Waterford, to the warmer recesses of Hargadon’s Bar. A pleasant evening in the hotel was followed by a day out on Kings Mountain on the extraordinary Annach Re Mhor.  We were a diverse bunch of climbers from Belfast, Sligo, Waterford and of course Colmcille CC. Most had not done it before, and it was as impressive as always.  We finished up Ireland’s shortest Via Ferrata, a broken decorators’ ladder out of the bowels of Alt Na Ceo. 

I went to the Q and A session at 6.30, so missed the Munster, Leinster Game. Didn’t miss much apparently- according to a Munster man of course. The dinner at night in the hotel was well attended.

The forecast was OK for Sunday morning, so we headed for Happy Valli crag, where Colmcille Corner was climbed, Ronan led ‘Higher In Time’, Peter Cooper’s HVS, Poltroons got a rattle, and Margaret Quinn got her money’s worth out of Snow White  (only after I had fallen off it!)- grade needs looked at Severe 4b methinks. It was dry and cold, but turned wet, as predicted, after lunch.

Good to see the club so well represented at an MI event, with the chair and Honorary Sec both there, and about 10 ccc members/associates in total. It was great to connect with Sligo Climbing Club in particular.

Clearly, climbing is thriving in NW Ireland.

Club Chairperson, Ronan Duddy climbing in photo below on “Higher in Time”.

IMC visit to Malin Head September 2024

The forecast was poor to dire. Even worse, there was a 2 day  Rave at the Seaview, so no climbing and no sleep either.

Margaret Quinn and I joined them on Saturday, at Port a Doris.  It rained on the way down but miraculously stayed dry pretty much all day, though it was windy.  We did a route on Toby Jug Wall, then Crack a Toa.  The exit still isn’t nice on this jem of a route, and consensus is that a bolted lower- off, (maybe 2 to cover the other routes) would be the answer.  Also, beware old abseil stakes, one of which fell to bits at the top of Toby Jug Wall.  There are Titanium bolts there now.  A welcome pint in Rosatos Moville followed.

On Sunday the forecast was better. At Malin Head David Walsh(Snr) had already put up ab ropes, so climbers were already active when I arrived at 10.30.  I was teamed up with Elaine by Phillip, and did Carbolic Crack, then Cutting Edge, but the seas were so big we didn’t ab down to the bottom.  The 100m ab rope had got washed into the sea and jammed, so it has been abandoned by the IMC, and we can have it.  It needs an ab to the bottom cut the rope and retrieve the rest.  Good condition, so it is!

We went to Malin Laundry East, where I volunteered Elaine to lead Niamh’s Route.  It was lethally slippy, and fair play to her for getting up it.  Niamh’s vengeance? All the routes here were wet and greasy from the sea spray.  We had coffee at the van and the parting of the ways.  All seemed happy with the weekend.

On Friday, Jack and I climbed Ballyharry Buoy.  Needed a bit of a clean for a photoshoot

Colmcillers at Fairhead Meet May 2024

Report from Ronan Duddy, Club Chairperson.

Photo taken by Hugh McC. Ronan (blue) on Lazarus, Emi (grey) on Pangur Bán.

Fiona and I attended the Fairhead meet for the first time this year, which ran from the 31st of May to the 2nd of June. Though we only camped for the Saturday night, we got a good variety of climbing done and met new people. It was a paid-ticketed event, hosted by the McBride family and organised by the Dal Riada climbing club. For us there were a lot of “not-
done-this-before” moments during the weekend.

Arriving on Saturday morning, we pitched our tent in a field belonging to the McBride’s family farm. There was the hustle and bustle of colourfully clothed people gingling about with trad gear on their hips and ropes on their shoulders; with tents, campervans and cars packed around the open field. The weather was sublime. Having got settled, we carpooled with our friends Emi and James over to Murlough Bay car park to attend the Fairhead boulder field tour organised by Rob Hunter and Veronica Lee. The walk into the boulder field was quite idyllic. Following the track down towards the sea and in front of the towering cliffs above, the trail eventually disappears into a sea of boulders. It was exceedingly hot and thronged with a horde of climbers exploring the boulders, like ants among bread crumbs. The amount of climbers was staggering.


Fiona and I haven’t bouldered outdoors before as we didn’t own any boulder mats. However, the level of excitement and enthusiasm from our fellow boulder climbers was infectious. Folks were very welcoming to let others use their mats to try a climb. Once one was attempting a climb, a cluster of human hands lurched outwards to spot one’s potential fall.  At times it felt as if there were over a dozen hands reached out from varying angles and places. The owners of the hands would shout encouraging statements to compel your journey upward. Aside from the vast array of hands, there were a vast quantity of boulder mats. These are required to protect potential falls at Fairhead given the hard jaggedy erratic-ness of the boulder field. There are plenty of places to lose an ankle as well. I cannot recall the names or grades of the boulders we climbed, as there was simply too much fun being had.

In the evening we attended a talk by Catherine Destivelle in one of the barns at the farm. Her talk was absorbing. She gave a general overview of her journey as a mountaineer, as well as her many achievements. She showed photos and footage of her adventures throughout her career, including her famous soloing feats which left the audience in awe. I believe the audience gave her a standing ovation. Fiona approached Catherine to sign her copy of her book, Rock Queen, and was well chuffed for the night. It was Niall Grimes, whom we had unfortunately missed on the Friday night, that encouraged Fiona to speak with Catherine. We complemented Niall on his Jam Crack Podcast and stated how often we listen to it on our way to new climbing adventures as it keeps us entertained!

On Sunday when queuing for a perky cappuccino from the McBrides wee coffee truck, I couldn’t help overhearing a younger group of climbers with southern accents talking about what they were going to climb. They were going to climb something at the Prow, maybe The Fence (VS 4c). This buzz was reflective of the mood throughout the weekend. There was so much exciting and lively banter floating about.

After my eavesdropping, I saw George C and Gerard O’S in McBride’s car park. It’s always nice to see familiar faces at a crag. They were heading to Farrangandoo, where we’ve never been before. This part of Fairhead is just west of the Prow and similarly requires an abseil. Due to the number of climbers at the meet, queuing for a climb was to be expected. We parted our ways as there was a fever to get climbing. Though Fiona, Emi, James and I left the camp site and headed for Farrangandoo sometime later because the fever hadn’t quite hit us yet.  As we walked over we could see perhaps half a dozen climbers hovering above an abseil. Seeing George belaying Gerard confirmed that we were at Farrangandoo. They had just finished climbing Lazarus (VS 4c) before heading off to the Prow to find a route less busy. George offered some valued info on the area with potential climbs for us which is always appreciated.

Our plan was for Emi to lead with James, and for myself to lead with Fiona. I recall myself  feeling queasy when thinking about what route we should tackle. Between the four of us we had a finite amount of gear, and because Fairhead is just so vertical, unforgiving and long, I didn’t want to run out of protection (who does?). George said “don’t psych yourself out” before he and Gerard headed to the Prow. Gerard also mentioned one way to get to Lazarus would be to abseil into the top of a gully and tie onto the abseil to belay from, given that it is a bit awkward to get to. Emi and I split the gear between us and headed down the abseil.

Reaching the base of the crag, Emi and James waited on their turn to climb Pangur Bán (HVS 5a). Fiona and I finally caught ‘go fever’ and decided to scramble up the incredibly steep grassy gully to gain the start of Lazarus, as it looked straightforward enough. However, as I was setting off, I could hear the voice of another climber speaking with Fiona politely saying something along the lines of “I don’t doubt his climbing ability but that’s a dodgy gully, be careful…” After climbing hesitantly three or four moves up this gully, looking around for any solid bits of rock to cling on to (and of course reflecting on the guy’s words), it dawned on me that I should rope up. The thought of soloing up steep, grassy and unstable rock for about 10 metres still gives me the shivers.

On belay, I climbed up the gully to discover Hugh McC beginning to second Velocette (VS4b). I wished him a ‘bon voyage’ while building a belay for Fiona. She climbed the gully and put me on belay, where we both agreed the gully was disgusting in concept and really shouldn’t be climbed. Abseiling down to the top of the gully would be a much better way to start the climb as advised. This coloured my ascent of Lazarus where I was convinced that I bit off more than I could chew. The ‘gully of doom’ experience, combined with an anxiety of llacking gear to climb the actual route, affected my mindset. I spaced out protection where I could and bumped up cams as I went. When at rests, I even went so far as to take out the previous bit of protection, bump it up above my current piece and reclaim the piece that was my most recent. “Just in case I need this later”, I thought… In reality I didn’t need it later and the climb was soon complete.

I belayed Fiona off a fence post (classy). This was also her first time using crack gloves. She loved them. We both agree that the gloves make the cracks a little more bearable, or accessible. I think this is because crack climbing is quite an un-intuitive style to learn. Gloves help. Fiona reached the crux of the climb, let out some Xena warrior princess battle cries and topped out. She collected five pieces of gear on her seconding which I couldn’t believe. A gregarious Italian climber named Mario congratulated me on this. Emi and James had also completed Pangur Bán which sounded like a good route. It’s meant to contain a good variety of climbing on it (face climbing, laybacks and cracks). We didn’t stay long after this and headed back home to reconvene with our civilian lives.

Overall the meet was great fun and a good social experience. It was nice to see so many climbers with such an enthusiastic and contagious desire to climb.

Climbfest 2024 at Malin Head

This year’s ClimbFest, was held from Friday 3rd May until Monday 6th May hosted at the Seaview Tavern and the main focus of climbing was at Malin Head. The venue was shared with a Camper Van Club and made the Seaview Tavern quite animated. The weather was good overall, and the tides states, swell and wind speeds were perfect for coastal crags in a spectacular setting.

Rather than providing participants with another T-shirt, the club published a guide to rock climbing on the Inishowen Peninsula. This guide book, called Inishowen 100 Best Rock Climbs, contains the top 100 climbs on the Inishowen Peninsula as selected by the Colmcille Climbers at the start of 2024. The guide celebrates the Colmcille Climbers’ Club’s twenty-five years as a Mountaineering Ireland Club. It follows the coastline, heading west from Port a Doris to Dunaff Head. Completion of all Inishowen 100 Best Rock Climbs is a challenge to any seasoned climber. The routes range in grades from Diff to E4, but mostly concentrate on the Severe to Very Severe grades. While Chapters 9 and 10 are dedicated to Malin Head, in reality anywhere in the guide was easily accessible from this year’s campsite area.

Route finding can be challenging at Malin Head as most of the faces are not immediately apparent from the shore. The area immediately below and just to the west of Banba’s Crown, called Banba’s Buttresss, provides lots of easy routes ideal for training and an introduction to rock climbing. Further west is Magdalen Wall, Washboard Wall, Laundries East and West, Fitzgerald Wall, and the Cauldron which all provide great climbing, and were a hub of activity over the weekend. The furthest west area, Sea Area Malin, is now no longer accessible, due to the landowner closing access with a view to rewilding the area.

Climbers started to arrive on Thursday and this allowed time to establish camp, set up abseils and top ropes. This year saw the return of Kent Climber, Tim King, and a contingent from North Wales under the leadership of Geoff Thomas. The North Wales team included Jayne Dalzell (the very important chauffeur), Liz Hewitt and Mel Hooper, who had been told how good climbing was in Donegal by Geoff.

The county Antrim, Down, Kent contingent arrived late on Friday morning and established base camp at the Seaview Tavern. It was a still, calm day with sunshine. They headed to Malin Head and started on Magdalen Wall, located just beyond Hell’s Hole. The wave platform was dry and the rock was warm to the touch; the tide was low giving excellent climbing. In such perfect conditions climbing on the Inishowen Peninsula is hard to beat. The two routes for the afternoon were Housemaid Direct, HS 4b and Tide Mark, HVS 5a. Friday evening around the campfire, with Alan Tees on his bouzouki guitar and Frank Nugent on vocals, saw a shift in emphasis from Trad Climbing to Trad Music.

On Saturday morning seven brave ‘Cillers’ journeyed to the beach for a ‘before-breakfast’ swim, lasting only five minutes in the freezing Atlantic waters.

The climbing started at the area just below Banba’s Crown called Banba’s Buttresss. This was an introduction to rock climbing session supported by experienced Colmcille Climbers—it allowed a sampler session for beginners of all ages. It was a great session giving many their first taste of outdoors climbing. The temporary fixed ropes allowed safe descent and top ropes were in place on a variety of lower grade routes. Alan Tees described the atmosphere as “damp with dry rock”. Further west and later in the day, The Cauldron Area was especially busy, with many climbers wanting to bag the classic routes Cutting Edge *** V Diff and the Prockagh Ridge ** V Diff.

The first ascent of Prockagh Ridge was recorded in 1939 by a group from the Youth Hostel Association of Northern Ireland (YHANI).

The weather remained pleasant but slightly overcast with favourable tides and low wind. Neil Dickson and Catrina O’Neill, who recently joined the Cillers, were at Magdalen Wall and were planning to do Carbolic Crack, before moving on to Laundry East to do Shipping News. Sligo Climbing Club members James Kelly and Laura McMorrow completed Galway Girl * S 4a.

Charlotte Azzopard, originally from France, but living in County Clare, had planned to visit Donegal but learned about the ClimbFest and decided to come along. Having completed Shipping News ** VS 4c, she described it as “a really nice crack”.

On Sunday Patrick Hughes and Mark Reynolds completed Rebel Yell HS 4b, doing it in 2 pitches. Andrew McClelland, George Beaumont, Tim King and Hugh McCann completed Claymore Crack, VS 5a. Fitzgerald Wall was very busy with routes such as Fine Gael, * V Diff and Sunningale, V Diff seeing much of the traffic.

Monday saw a change in the weather so some climbers elected to visit the Isle of Doagh in search of better weather. The approach from the Famine Village car park leads the climbers past some excellent bouldering routes, described in David Flanagan’s Bouldering in Ireland. The route for Monday was Sand Storm, VS 4c. The hardest part of the climb is the layback at the start followed by some bold climbing to the top. Afterwards there was time for some bouldering before the 2024 ClimbFest wrapped up.

 David S. Walsh

Photos  : Andrew McClelland and George Beaumont on Claymore Crack. Photo Tim King

Cutting Edge “Look Happy for the Tourists” and “Morning Swim” Photos David S. Walsh

Midsummer Gola Island Trip 22-24 June

Midsummer camping and climbing on Gola Island 22nd- 24th June.

Sabba is the boatman (phone: 0872245881), whose ferry departs from Magheragallon Pier, Bunbeg.  According to his facebook page here, boats leave 11.00 AM and 2.00PM daily, but he seems to post on the page regarding next day’s sailings. Best to ring him and check, as this may change due to tide and weather.

Anthony was planning to arrange a 7pm ferry crossing on the Friday night, check the CC Facebook page for info on that.

In additon to ropes and gear, bring food, plenty of drink and some firewood for the campfire, if you have any lying around.

Camp site marked on the map below.

Image result for gola island map