FINALE TO OUR "VERTICAL ADVENTURES" LECTURE SERIES !!!!

Well last Thursday night was the final instalment of this years "Vertical Adventures" lecture series and what a fantastic way to finish with a thrilling and hugely inspiring lecture by Iain Miller of  www.uniqueascent.ie/  titled -  "SEASONS IN THE ABYSS"....

Nigel of Alpine sports,Piaras of KerryClimbing and Iain of UniqueAscent

Iain is a great guy and a gifted story teller and he gave a fascinating lecture which provided us with a blow by blow (no pun intended with reference to his wee inflatable dingy!) account of the logistics and meticulous planning involved in his many wild adventures and truly "unique" ascents off the breathtaking rugged Donegal coasts.




The main focus of this talk was Iains continuing mid life crisis, his uncontrollable addiction to fear and his love of pushing the boundaries of what a V Diff climber is capable of.
We heard all about the first Ascent of The Sturrall Headland at 750m long Ireland's longest rock climb.
We also heard the exciting tale of the first Ascent of Tormore Island, at 160m high Ireland's highest sea stack and of the 2nd ascent (41 years after the first and only other ascent) of the impressive Eagles Rock in Glenade, Leitrim, at 330m high and classed as Ireland's highest free standing tower.

  And if all of that wasn't enough he gave us a great account of the first Ascent of "Testament to the Insane", a new route up the UK's highest sea cliff as well as tales of lots more inspiring climbs besides!!! 

During these wild Adventures Iain has swam with bull seals, paddled next to a killer whale, met and spoke to an angel (after falling 20m off a sea stack into the sea), being blown out to sea in his Lidl dingy until he lost sight of Ireland , watched his climbing partner die at his feet and off course also had an outstanding amount of fun whilst being terrified and facing mortality!!! 


A MASSIVE thanks to ALL of those who came out and attended these events and in the process helped raise the impressive sum of €627 for this years beneficiary -
Cork Youth Climbing Club !!!
http://www.corkyouthclimbingclub.com/

 
 Again a  HUGE thanks to UCC Mountaineering club for all their assistance in hosting these events and also a kind thanks to ALL this years fantastic and inspiring series speakers - DERMOT SOMERS,PAUL SWAIL,JOHNNY DAWES and IAIN MILLER!!! 


We would also like to say a BIG BIG thank you to ALL those who donated some really brilliant prizes for the event raffles which helped raise even more cash!!! THANKS SO MUCH TO YOU ALL!!!
 



We are hugely grateful to the following :
KILLARNEY HOLIDAY VILLAGE http://www.killarneyholidayvillage.com/





AGAIN A Big thanks to Our equipment partner - ALPINE SPORTShttp://www.alpinesports.ie/




DMM http://dmmclimbing.com/






CASCADE DESIGNS http://cascadedesigns.com/region.aspx









Also a MASSIVE thanks to TheCorkNews and Mountaineering Ireland for again helping to promote this and ALL the other events in our lecture series by giving the talks space in their print..MUCH Appreciated!!!

http://thecorknews.ie/ 

http://www.mountaineering.ie/


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THE LEGENDARY JOHNNY DAWES COMES TO CORK !!!

Well the time had come and I was really excited to be finally be getting on with the job of hosting Part 3 of our "Vertical Adventures" lecture series. 
 
 
 
 
 
Last Friday night was the highlight of the series and I was absolutely delighted that we'd managed to line up one of the VERY BEST rock-climbers who has ever walked (and climbed) on this planet, a true idol of mine - the legendary JOHNNY DAWES!!!

http://www.johnnydawes.com/



Friday morning and we had some time to kill before our arranged afternoon Master-class session. After a hearty full-Irish we decided to pop over to Stephen Pearce Pottery, nestled in the lovely village of Shanagarry in East Cork to give him a tour of the work-shop where I do a wee bit of work when I'm not working in the hills and mountains.


After showing Johnny the process and the many stages involved in creating the pottery,it was time for him to have a go on the wheel and we were rightly impressed with his creations...
Well he IS bound to be good with his hands isn't he !!!!
Massive thanks to Ron in the pottery for his help and patience...Johnny loved it and is already thinking up possible names for his own little pottery venture... "Stone Monkey" or "Pebble Pottery" perhaps!!!

'Twas definitely a morning best suited for chilling and taking it easy with the rain absolutely lashing down outside...

Well that's the snow gone for sure now I sighed!!!



Mahon Beag in the Comeragh Mtns

Had been down the previous day to a Wintry Mahon valley in the Comeragh mountains of Waterford  scouting out the condition of a particular ice-fall I had hoped would shortly be coming into condition due to the cold snap. My optimism was well founded as it was indeed forming nicely but still needed a couple more days of these low temps to get it into decent climbable "nick"...

So much for that now I thought as the heavens opened up... 


After a spot of lunch we then headed into the excellent "Midleton Community College" climbing wall where 8 of us were to receive a coaching session from the master himself.Johnny gave us some excellent and unique testing boulder problems while at the same time throwing in some mad and you could say... "interesting" solutions .... !!!
It did take while to totally understand the concepts Johnny was getting at but when we did finally "get it", I think we were all rightly impressed with the progressive and dynamic pro tips which we had picked up from such a highly accomplished and inspiring climber...

Massive thanks to Midleton Community College for the use of their brilliant facility for our Master-class..It was the perfect venue for type of instruction Johnny was giving us...




Returned home with Johnny through the torrential rain and flooding to be welcomed by a a stressed out Mrs K who due to the extreme rainfall was forced to deal with a deluge of water flowing in our back door while I was away enjoying myself.... Ooooooops!!! Just had barely enough time for a quick bite before we headed out again through the wild windy night ,this time to Cork to prepare and get things ready for the evening lecture.

Arrived in UCC with plenty of time to spare, which is just as well as Johnny now realised that in the hustle and bustle and in our rush to get out the door so's we'd arrive early, he'd forgotten a vital power cable for his lap-top !!! A few panic phone calls and relief...a replacement cable was tracked down.

Finally, slightly later than advertised,the much awaited lecture got underway.

Admittedly it was a somewhat smaller crowd than what we had hoped for, due partly no doubt to the adverse weather, but still a good many had come along to hear Johnny speak on his first ever visit to Cork. I've no doubt that many of those who did make the effort to venture out on such a wild and horrible night felt both privileged and honoured to be in the presence of such a charismatic and inspiring climbing icon.

Highlight of the evening for me was seeing the footage of Johnnys ascent of his Welsh slate Master-piece  - "The Quarry Man".... Crazy stuff indeed!!!
 

KerryClimbing & Johnny Dawes

I can tell you now, it was a lecture like no other and one that I for one will remember for a long time to come!!! It was a real pleasure to hear him speak,to listen to his opinions and to hear his revealing and at times deeply personal account of his life and times and of course his many many ground breaking first ascents and pioneering climbs.



Saturday morning and Johnny departed early for Awesome Walls Climbing Centre in Dublin where he was due to give 2 more Master-Class sessions,this time to a travelling contingent from the Cork Youth Climbing Club who are the  sole beneficiary  of proceeds from this years series of lectures.Unfortuntely I was unable to travel but by all accounts the young climbers were highly impressed and inspired by both meeting and then being coached by the legend that is .....JOHNNY DAWES !!!

..

A MASSIVE thank's again to ALL of those who came out last night to hear Johnny Dawes speak as part of our "Vertical Adventure" lecture series .

Again a BIG thanks to UCC Mountaineering club for all their assistance in hosting these events...
Also a BIG BIG  thank you to all those who donated some really brilliant prizes for the evening's raffle which helped raise even more cash for this years beneficiary - Cork Youth Climbing Club. http://www.corkyouthclimbingclub.com/



We are hugely grateful to the following : 
KILLARNEY HOLIDAY VILLAGE http://www.killarneyholidayvillage.com/
 

 


 AGAIN A Big thanks to Our equipment partner - ALPINE SPORTS http://www.alpinesports.ie/




DMM http://dmmclimbing.com/






CASCADE DESIGNS http://cascadedesigns.com/region.aspx





MAHERS OUTDOORS http://www.mahersports.ie/




Also a MASSIVE thanks to TheCorkNews for again helping to promote this and ALL the other events in our lecture series by giving the talks space in their print..MUCH Appreciated!!! http://thecorknews.ie/


______________________________________________________________________

Looking forward to the final instalment in the series coming up on Feb 7th....

IAIN MILLER - "SEASONS IN THE ABYSS"

Following on from the success of last seasons brilliant lecture by Iain... We decided we just had to have him back!!!
The focus of this talk will be a continuing mid life crisis, his addiction to fear and pushing the boundaries of what a V Diff climber is capable of.

During these wee adventures Iain has swam with bull seals, paddled next to a killer whale, met and spoke to an angel (after falling 20m off a sea stack into the sea), being blown out to sea in his wee dingy until he lost sight of Ireland , watched his climbing partner die at his feet and off course also had an outstanding amount of fun whilst being terrified and facing mortality!!!

http://www.uniqueascent.ie/




 

BARKING MAD OR WHAT!?!? A NIGHT ASCENT OF A WINTERY HOWLING RIDGE....

 Had this post ready to go for a while but due to numerous reasons I'm only getting round to posting now!!! Ah well...better late than never eh!!!

Saturday 29th of December last....The time was around half 6 in the evening and I was browsing on the computer,bored with the same oul re-runs on the telly. The Christmas break hadn't been too bad really...It is what it is.... The usual snacking for the sake of it and endless Wallace and Gromit repeats but I was beginning to get cabin fever!!! I needed to get out...I was beginning to climb the walls and I needed to climb something else...anything..  

A post on Facebook showing a pic taken that day of The Reeks in Kerry - with snow!!!  Quickly check the forecast - cold and windy for the next 12 - 14 hours with warmer south westerlies and wet weather moving in...hmmmmm
I stared at the photo for a while and surfed the net for the next 30 minutes hoping to find a forecast which would discount this but not to be!  All snow and any remote signs of even a touch of Winter would be stripped by this time the following day.



Well a quick phone call to Richard and Dennis and a plan was hatched to head down that night and climb Howling Ridge by moonlight - sure even if there was no snow on it the mad cap excitement of a night ascent of it would more than make up for the effort.

A long exciting night ensued!!!  Our intention was to just move together roped up but we ended up pitching the whole route due to the "mixed" conditions with the one axe each essential and two axes even required on the crux sections.  Decent covering of snow on the whole route made this definitely a Winter ascent of sorts.  The strong south west winds which had been forecast never really gave us trouble as we remained pretty sheltered on the North face. A few gusts gave us blast now and then alright but nothing really to worry about.

Topped out under a stunning full moon at approx 8 am after leaving the van at Lisleibane at 11:30 pm the previous night.  As we walked ( or should I say staggered ) totally exhausted out the Hags Glen that morning we met lots of  fresh legged walkers making their way in and probably wondering why we were bailing out so early in the day !!!  The warm front had already stripped the North Face of much of the previous nights snow.

Back at the van - totally wiped - craving a mug of coffee and sausage sambo and unbelievably satisfied that our previous evenings attitude of "nothing ventured nothing gained" had us truly rewarded for the effort.










 

Part 2 of our Lecture Series - "PARK LIFE" with Paul Swail

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"!!!

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 !!!!

Johnny Dawes...The Days of Grit and Lycra

 

GREAT TURNOUT FOR THE LAUNCH OF OUR WINTER LECTURE SERIES...

Our series kicked off to an exciting start thanks to Dermot Somers who gave a very insightful and entertaining talk last night on his Alpine adventures and in particular his ascent of The Freney Pillar on Mont Blanc. 



Dermot Somers with KerryClimbing crew

During his talk he recounted the epic story of Walter Bonatti's nightmare attempt
to make the first ascent of the iconic Freney Pillar on Mont Blanc in 1961, which resulted in the deaths of 4 climbers in the party. He brilliantly redcounted that horrifiying tale in the context of his own ascent of the
pillar in 1981.









A huge thanks to all of you that came out and supported - there was a fantastic turn out and a highly entertaining and inspiring talk was enjoyed by an adventure loving crowd.

 
A massive thanks to all the help on the night from UCC Mountaineering Club who also very kindly provided the venue and we are hugely grateful to those that sponsored spot prizes for the raffle: 


Alpine Sports....Online equipment and Gear Store www.alpinesports.ie/  

DMM...Technical equipment
http://dmmclimbing.com/ 









Great Outdoors......Outdoor Store, Dublin www.greatoutdoors.ie/ 

Union Chandlery - Hillwalkers...Equipment & Gear retailer  www.unionchandlery.ie

 Cascade Designs.... Thermarest/MSR Manufacturers www.cascadedesigns.com/en/

             All proceeds from this series are going to the Cork Youth Climbing Club...
                                    www.corkyouthclimbingclub.com/ 







Also a huge thanks to TheCorkNews for helping so much in the promotion of the series 

http://thecorknews.ie/




_________________________________________________________



Can't wait for the next one....Paul Swails "PARK LIFE" Thurs Dec.13th.

Hear all about the crazy adventures of a pair of Irish climbers who braved the Big Walls of Yosemite National Park in California U.S.A.

During their epic trip, the Irish duo of Andy Marshall and Paul Swail conquered the 3000 ft Nose of El Capitan in a single push, taking just under 17hrs for all 33 pitches.
They failed and succeeded on Astroman, made a speedy ascent of the iconic Half Dome and many other classic climbs in the valley.
...




 

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. 

http://www.rockandrideoutdoors.com/

 

VIEWS WITH A DIFFERENCE.......

We are delighted to announce that our exclusive specially commissioned prints by the talented graphic artist
" Snooks Lee" www.snookslee.com will soon be available to purchase from our web-site !!!




"KERRY CLIMBER"

With a nice selection of 4 different cool designs to choose from, these amazing and very unique representations of the wild and rugged Kerry Mountains will be available in A3 size ( 420 x 297 mm).





"HOWLING RIDGE"

They are sold as posters but if mounted and framed these would look fantastic on any mountain lovers or climbers wall and would make a super Christmas gift for someone else or even for just for yourself !!!!





"A CLIMB ABOVE THE CLOUDS" - MacGillycuddy's Reeks.

We are in the process of setting up the facility to buy these directly from our web-site and should have this up and running over the next few weeks but we are glad to say that two of these posters - "KERRY CLIMBER" and "HOWLING RIDGE" will be available for you to purchase at any of our Winter Lecture Series events !!!
http://kerryclimbing.blogspot.ie/2012/10/kerryclimbing-winter-lecture-series.html  




"CORRÁN TUATHAIL 1039m"

 

 Posters do NOT contain the "www.KerryClimbing.ie" water-mark as seen on these images...

Copyright by KerryClimbing.ie 






 

Wonderful Wintery Weekend in Killarney

Last weekend I headed off with the family to Killarney.  We were staying in the Killarney Holiday Village which is gorgous little group of self catering houses beautifully laid out and in the perfect spot practically IN the Killarney National Park.......and there was snow on the hills....perfect!!!

Winter arrives in the Hags glen and Reek's

 We arrived on Thursday evening and the house was all heated up nice 'n' cozy.  We have been linked up with Killarney Holiday Village for a while now so it was great to finally stay there and enjoy its comforts for ourselves.  We were well impressed!!! The house we were staying in was extremely well kitted out with ALL the mod-cons and safe handy parking . Being the "superior 3 bed" it had tons of space,slept 6 and was located VERY close to excellent pubs (literally a 30 sec walk to the Oaks Bar), hotels,the INEC and only a 15 min walk from Killarney town centre. Absolutely superb place to stay and base yourself while enjoying and exploring this wonderful area.

Killarney's upper lake and the MacGillycuddy's Reeks

On Friday after a big greasy fry-up we had a late start and just before lunch headed for what was to be our 4yr old daughters first mountain - Torc!!! We walked up through the forest which was stunning in the rusty Autumn colours and once we got to the sleeper path she was off on a mission...to the top!!!  She kept getting reassurance that we could turn around if she was tiring but she was super determined and not a hope was she turning back!!! She practically ran up and at finally reaching the top was totally blown away ..... by the views and thankfully not literally!!! She could see far and wide over Killarney and beyond to the mighty snow capped MacGillycuddy's Reeks and also amazed by the fact that the horses and carts far below at Muckross were the size of ants!!!

Carrauntoohills North Face in Winter coat

Another nice evening of chilling out with the feet up and then early on Saturday headed for Cronin's Yard where I was guiding a group of 8 on Corrán Tuathail. 











 The 8 adventurous ladies booked the climb to take their minds off upcoming Pharmacuetical exam results. As we hiked in The Hags Glen marvelling at the wintery scene on the mountain tops little did we know that above temperature with the wind-chill was well into minus figures!!! Of all the days I forget to charge my camera battery.....NOOOOOO!!!!!

Well done ladies on Winter Kerry Climbing

Heavy snow showers all day along with very high winds made walking extremely difficult at times...Could have done with a pair of snow goggles!!!. The gang had to dig deep at times in the severe wild'n'testing conditions...





We managed to grab some shelter from the biting wind and an overdue break at the top of the Devil's ladder...After drinking a cup the girls then poured their flasks of warm tea over their cold hands to heat them up !!!

 

Snow on the Devil's ladder

Great to get a good snowy day so early in the Winter season...Lets hope this is just the beginning of a great season of winter climbing and mountaineering in the marvellous Reeks of Kerry........not to mention SCOTLAND ;-)


After a long cold day I was never so glad to reach Cronin's yard and relax with a delicious hot milky coffee... The weary but happy ladies departed for Dingle with plans for a night of hot ports, hot whiskys and any other hot drinks they could come up with for that matter !!!


I returned the short journey to the cosy Holiday home in Muckross ...

The following day Sunday we spent chilling out and strolling with our 2 excited dogs around Muckross lake and exploring the hidden twisting forest tracks and paths in the ancient oak forests. My mate Colm then arrived with his wife and 2 kids and no better excuse for another coffee and creamy bun in the super restaurant in Muckross.... this was the pattern of the day really...coffee..stroll...more coffee....another little dander...cake'n'coffee....stroll again.... and then on the road home....A truly Wonderful Wintery Weekend in the beautiful wilds of Kerry!!!!

The view up a Wintery Carrauntoohill