Well last Thursday night was Part 2 of our Winter Lecture Series and boy was it a good one !!!!
This time up it was the turn two of Ireland's Top rock climbers, Paul Swail and climbing buddy Andy Marshall,both from Northern Ireland to tell us all about their recent Big Wall Adventures in Yosemite National Park in California...
Yosemite is billed as 'an outlet for the energies of the world's most passionate and adventurous people. The duo experienced this first hand with high expectations, pain, elatedness and sheer exhaustion in order to realise the dream of a lifetime.
A fantastic crowd turned out for the talk with an impressive gang of young climbers and relatives of the Cork Youth Climbing Club in attendance and lots more other Advenure lovers besides.It's really great to see the Cork climbing and mountaineering community getting out to these lectures in such numbers and being inspired by the top class climbers. Paul started off by telling us all about their preperations for the Yosemite trip and what climbs were top of their "Tick List"!!!!
The day after arriving they decided to get straight to business and without hesitation jumped onto "Astroman", - one of the best long free routes in the United States !!!!.
When first established this climb was the domain of only the most honed climbers in the world. Today, still considered a Valley testpiece, Astroman has lost little of its stature or mystique. Climbers who have the skill and nerve to attempt Astroman will find tremendous exposure, flawless rock quality and mostly solid protection.
The climbing involves every technique imaginable from balancy face moves and boulder problems to sustained hand jamming and a squeeze chimney.
Well the climb spat them out due to heat,exhaustian and dehydration and sheepishly the retreated to the valley to lick their wounds and prepare more properly for the climbs ahead and with all the lessons learned from this unsuccsessful attempt!!!
Well one by one we were entertainingly told the tale of how each (and every!!) iconic climb on their list got "Ticked" and how over the trip they learned new and vital skills to give them the confidence to finish off their amazing trip with a successful ascent of the classic "Astroman"!!!
A truly inspiring and entertaining lecture which was so positively received by the attending crowd....
A special word of thanks to ALL of those who came along on the night and to Paul and Andy for making the trip down and for sharing their wild tales of exciting vertical Adventures....
Also a MASSIVE thanks to all those who donated prizes to the nights raffle which helped raise even more funds for this years beneficiary of the series :
"Cork Youth Climbing Club"....
A HUGE THANKS TO :
ALPINESPORTS..... http://www.alpinesports.ie/
DMM....... http://dmmclimbing.com/
ALPKIT...... http://www.alpkit.com/
WILDCOUNTRY...http://www.wildcountry.co.uk/
And also a MASSIVE THANKS to UCC Mountaineering Club
Looking Forward to Part 3 in the Series with UK Climbing Legend.....JOHNNY DAWES !!!!
This time up it was the turn two of Ireland's Top rock climbers, Paul Swail and climbing buddy Andy Marshall,both from Northern Ireland to tell us all about their recent Big Wall Adventures in Yosemite National Park in California...
Yosemite is billed as 'an outlet for the energies of the world's most passionate and adventurous people. The duo experienced this first hand with high expectations, pain, elatedness and sheer exhaustion in order to realise the dream of a lifetime.
A fantastic crowd turned out for the talk with an impressive gang of young climbers and relatives of the Cork Youth Climbing Club in attendance and lots more other Advenure lovers besides.It's really great to see the Cork climbing and mountaineering community getting out to these lectures in such numbers and being inspired by the top class climbers. Paul started off by telling us all about their preperations for the Yosemite trip and what climbs were top of their "Tick List"!!!!
The day after arriving they decided to get straight to business and without hesitation jumped onto "Astroman", - one of the best long free routes in the United States !!!!.
When first established this climb was the domain of only the most honed climbers in the world. Today, still considered a Valley testpiece, Astroman has lost little of its stature or mystique. Climbers who have the skill and nerve to attempt Astroman will find tremendous exposure, flawless rock quality and mostly solid protection.
The climbing involves every technique imaginable from balancy face moves and boulder problems to sustained hand jamming and a squeeze chimney.
Well the climb spat them out due to heat,exhaustian and dehydration and sheepishly the retreated to the valley to lick their wounds and prepare more properly for the climbs ahead and with all the lessons learned from this unsuccsessful attempt!!!
Well one by one we were entertainingly told the tale of how each (and every!!) iconic climb on their list got "Ticked" and how over the trip they learned new and vital skills to give them the confidence to finish off their amazing trip with a successful ascent of the classic "Astroman"!!!
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| Andy Marshall and Paul Swail after their one day ascent of "The Nose" |
A truly inspiring and entertaining lecture which was so positively received by the attending crowd....
A special word of thanks to ALL of those who came along on the night and to Paul and Andy for making the trip down and for sharing their wild tales of exciting vertical Adventures....
Also a MASSIVE thanks to all those who donated prizes to the nights raffle which helped raise even more funds for this years beneficiary of the series :
"Cork Youth Climbing Club"....
A HUGE THANKS TO :ALPINESPORTS..... http://www.alpinesports.ie/
DMM....... http://dmmclimbing.com/
ALPKIT...... http://www.alpkit.com/
WILDCOUNTRY...http://www.wildcountry.co.uk/
And also a MASSIVE THANKS to UCC Mountaineering Club
Looking Forward to Part 3 in the Series with UK Climbing Legend.....JOHNNY DAWES !!!!
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| Johnny Dawes...The Days of Grit and Lycra |
