West Waterford Weekend....

Well the forecasted rain held off on Saturday for the "Curlew walkers"from Sligo.The walking club were on a  weekend visit to the sunny south East and the plan for day 1 was  to shake off the cob-webs and enjoy a nice relaxing guided few hours around the beautiful and always interesting Ardmore cliff walk...The 12 first time visitors to this wonderful area really enjoyed the nice'n'flat easy trail which took us to lots of historic and interesting sites such as Saint Declans well, the wreck of the "Samson" crane ship and of course the 10th century St. Declans oratory and impressive  10th century round tower..

After a stopping off for a relaxing coffee and some nice home baking in a we left Ardmore to go and visit the renowned Stephen Pearce Pottery in the lovely East Cork village of Shanagarry.The gang really enjoyed their full tour off this world famous pottery and even got a lesson on throwing pots by Stephen Pearce himself !!!A perfect and informative end to an ever interesting day....

Sunday we headed East from their hotel base in the historic town of Youghal  to the beautiful Comeragh mountains of West Waterford...None of them had walked or been to the Comeraghs before and the forecast was for nice bright sunshine all day with only light cloud!!! They thought Ardmore was amazing so I couldn't wait for them to see the Comeraghs!!!!!

Our objective for Sunday was the stunning Coumshingaun horseshoe....The group were blown away by the awesome beauty of the place...and all only a half hour walk from the main road.!!! A little cloudier than we had expected but some brilliant sunshine at times and a really great route...one of my favorites in the whole country in fact!!! We also took in the impressive coum of "Crottys Lake"...

A great weekend had by all on their first and hopefully not last visit to this wonderful wonderful area and range of beautiful hills...

 The Comeragh Mountains stretch diagonally across County Waterford from Dungarvan to Clonmel. They divide the county roughly in half. As mountains go they are not spectacularly high but they are rugged and interesting abounding in lakes, rivers, hollows, cliffs and rocky slopes. At the very summit of the range is a great bog which gave the mountains the name Monavollagh meaning turf on top but ...the name by which they are better known is The Comeraghs ( Na Comeraigh), meaning having many river confluences or Com Seangan ( pissmire valley also translated as hollow of the ants). Coumshingaun is perhaps the finest example of a glacial corrie or coum in the British Isles and for the most part is made up of a knobbly conglomerate rock type.

Blissful couple of hours in the Gap....

The rain has stopped so we're goin out to play!!!  Had planned on heading up North to Fair Head in county Antrim for the climbing "Meet" but never made it !!!! (Brownie points all used up!!!!) By all accounts the North avoided the deluge of rain the South of the country experienced....To make amends I luckily managed to get out climbing today in pleasant sunshine to the gorgeous Gap of Dunloe....AMAZINGLY the only party climbing on a perfect day...the stiff breeze even kept the midgies away.... Happy days....but I bet Fair head was a cracker......!!!!

While on the subject, one of the routes we climbed was a just that....a CRACKER !!!

It is a great  30 metre slabby wall leading to a tremendously exposed arete and a mad place to be....The snaking line of "P'U" E2 5b...Notice it had its first ascent in 1990 by the mighty "Gap" pioneer Aidan Forde and the even more infamous Paul Pritchard...U.K climbing legend...A man I truely admire greatly...

A Pritchard route...Nice one !!!






http://ppritchard.blogspot.ie/

Pritchard was born in Lancashire, UK, in 1967 and, at age 16 began a life of climbing. He soon moved to North Wales and that Mecca of rock climbing, Llanberis and ...by 1986 he was climbing the top grade of the day. He began a life of mountaineering that would take him to the Indian Himalaya, the Pakistani Karakorum, Patagonia, Baffin Island, The Pamirs, the European Alps and the American Rockies.
When he won the Boardman/Tasker Award for mountain literature in 1997, with Deep Play, he spent the prize money on a world climbing tour that found him in Tasmania climbing a slender sea stack known as The Totem Pole. It was here that all that he had known before was turned on its head.
On Friday the 13th of February 1998 a TV-sized boulder falling from 25 meters inflicted such terrible head injuries that doctors thought he might never walk or even speak again. Pritchard has spent his time since the accident in contemplation of the hemiplegia which has robbed his right side of movement and played tricks with his speech and memory.

However, he is still making a remarkable recovery and re-directing his life in continually inspiring and rewarding ways.
He has since moved to Tasmania, the place that did him so much harm, and is raising two children.
Always looking to the future, Pritchard story gives the message that life doesn't have to stop with the trauma of head injury or disability.
 
Just have a look at this and see!!!!! http://vimeo.com/30899616

A magic day for our Intro Rock Climbing in Dunshean Head, Dingle on Saturday in blistering sunshine but high winds ( on top anyway!).

Couldn't have had nicer weather for our Rock Climbing Course for a group of 6 from Galway. Well worth the spin from Galway to Dingle for some great vertical fun on the superb sandstone cliffs. What a location !!! Looking across the sea to the mountains of the Iveragh Peninsula definately had the "Wow" factor...

Dunshean, outside Dingle is recogised as one of the very best areas for climbing in Kerry!!! It consists of old red sandstone cliffs mainly of horizontal cracks with loads of climbs of various grades, all only a 15 min. walk from the road and a beautiful sandy beach...

If you fancy learning to Rock Climb in this, or any of the other fantastic locations we run courses then what are you waiting for?!?!?  Contact us.... http://www.kerryclimbing.ie/enquire.html

Water water everywhere....But is it safe to drink ?!?!

When out guiding people in the wilds and mountains I get asked alot of questions about all matter of things. One of the most common questions is...
   "Is the water safe to drink ?!?!?"....

In my own personal experience of years walking and climbing in Ireland I have never had a problem, and so generally my answer is... "Yes, it should be o.k...no prob....but the only way to be 100 percent safe is to not drink from the wild source at all".....
 And of course I always pass on the standard rules learned years ago in the scouts....
1. If drinking without filtering/boiling untreated water from remote streams - always have a cursory check up-stream for any sign of dead or decaying animals such as sheep!!!
2. If the water is running, it looks clean, and theres no farms or any other civilisation above it then most likely it should be o.k.
I have begun to look into this a bit more so that hopefully I can give a better and more informed answer....

 
The hard-fast rule has always been that fast flowing water above agricultural land is safe to drink. But the mountains of Ireland are full of sheep !!!!....And so this is agricultural land !!

The slightly worrying thing is how hard it is to find any reliable data on the purity of mountain streams.

Dead Sheep. In reality, the chances of finding a dead sheep upstream of you are relatively small, the same's true of  deer, rabbits, otter, dodos and so on, though there are plenty of horror stories out there about finding just that. It can happen though, it's just not as common as you might believe.

A safety first approach is to avoid drinking unfiltered or unboiled water from any source high or low. In more remote areas, like much of the Irish hills there seems to be a good chance that you'll be fine, however anyone who's been afflicted by contaminated water, will know that however remote the possibility, it's a genuinely nasty and, potentially, dangerous scenario.
An easy to carry and use precaution is a bottle with a built-in filter. If you do use one, be aware that even though the water inside the bottle is filtered, water on the outside could still be contaminated, so use it carefully.
If you don't or can't purify water, you can reduce the chances of contamination by never drinking from streams below agricultual useage – not easy where sheep are roaming the hills – by sticking to fast-flowing water sources and avoiding still bodies of water, by avoiding water close to camping spots and popular walking routes and in general, staying as remote as possible.
It may seem over-cautious, but i'd suggest the safety-first approach, that said, in more remote areas, chances are you will be fine by following the few basic rules.
The consensus (for Ireland anyway) is that boiling for AT LEAST 2 MINUTES  should kill most organisms that would cause problems such as :Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter jejuni,Yersinia enterocolitica,E.coli,Entamoeba histolytica,and the one in the news over the last few years - Cryptosporidium...

Giardia, E.coli etc...
One is that giardia is becoming more common in the Ireland and the UK, so while you may associate it with developing countries, it's actually possible to be infected by drinking contaminated water from a mountain stream.
Giardia cycsts can survive for months in cold water, making them a particular hazard. The parasite is passed on by contamination from faeces so in general, the higher and more remote the water source is, the less likely it is to be hazardous.
Then there's E.coli, a relatively recent arrival that colonises sheep and cattle being present in water and dung.

In a study in Finland,139 water sources of both rivers and lakes were analysed for 5 consecutive seasons between 2000 and 2001 for various enterpathogens and fecal indicators. Out of these 139, 57 contained a value of the above likely to infect humans!!!

In Scotland they are now having to deal with problems caused by the huge increase in wild camping in places like Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. The problem of human jobbies has now got so bad that small shops, tourist offices and park offices are to distribute free people bags which are like doggy bags but a bit bigger....

Sun Shiny day for our Intro Climbing Course in East Cork...

Well finally the sun decided to shine and doesn't it lift the spirits !?!? Today we had Ian from Cork and Andrew from Waterford and boy did they hit it lucky with the weather and enjoyed a fantastic day climbing on the wonderful sandstone cliffs of Knockadoon head...
Stunning views of Ballycotton Bay and Island with glistening seas and lovely warm rock giving great friction...The lads are heading off in 3 weeks to attempt Mont Blanc and so we had an intensive day of  tuition... 
Lots of subjects covered from abseiling to anchors, belaying to route grading, lay-backs to bridging....
Happy chappies after a mighty sunny day learning the ropes so to speak with but also enjoying loads of climbing!!!

Lots more Rockclimbing courses for all levels, day and evening, planned in Knockadoon for the weeks ahead and right through the summer!!! Check our "Planned Events" and email for further details and booking http://www.kerryclimbing.ie/enquire.html

Knockadoon is situated at  the western tip of Youghal Bay, and lies 8 km south of Youghal town as the crow flies. The rock is categorized as Gyleen Formation - sandstone, with mudstone and siltstone and, in general, is sound, with good friction and good gear placements. As with all sea-cliffs, the more open the rock is to the scouring power of the waves, the cleaner and sounder it is. The main type of climbing on offer is on slabs, with the occasional steep wall thrown in for good measure.

Guided ascent of Corrán Tuathail via Caher 28th April 2012

Congrats and well done to the "N.I Wild" crew from Co.Down....Really enjoyed spending my Birthday with you all in the Magnificent Mountains of Kerry.....A cool enjoyable day with an entertaining bunch of lads....

Forecast for the day was for sunny spells turning to  torrential showers in the afternoon - what we got was cloudy turning into a beautiful sunny afternoon.  Travelling via the Hydro Road our first objective was Caher,Irelands 3rd highest mountain standing at 1001 metres and a fine peak it is too!!! Morale and spirits remained high for this long slog despite always in the back of our mind the forecast for the afternoon of deteriorating weather!!!  Caher in the bag and the cloud beginning to lift (?!?) we headed off across the magnificent Caher/Corrán Tuathail Ridge.  Saying we stopped to take a few photos along here would be an understatement as I have never in all my days in the mountains witnessed a day being documented in both photo and digi-movie as this day!!!  Totally understandable I must add as  when the cloud lifted further the Reeks almost seemed to be showing off...This is a route of sublime wild mountain scenery and one of my personal favorites for sure!!!

FINALLY we arrived on the summit of Corrán Tuathail and the craic was mighty...more photos!!!  You meet all sorts on the top of Corrán Tuathail - in the past I have met stag parties dressed as Elvis, Santa Claus, Leather knee high booted fashionable ladies, wild men in wellies, 4 year old kids and lads with cooler boxes full of beer!!!  Oh and there is of course the resident summit Shrew.
Before we began our retracing our route to Caher 2 of the lads headed off with GPS in hand to find Irelands highest GeoCache-this is something I don't really "get" but they seemed overjoyed to to have "gotten" it!

As we headed back with ever changing views to Caher the cloud began to break and so, we took some photos!!! 
I said my goodbyes to the lads who were heading that evening to the mighty Kate Kearney's Cottage in The Gap of Dunloe for the craic, ceol agus bia !!!




Corrán Tuathail via Caher is a fantastic way to take in Irelands Highest!!!  Every time I'm asked to guide this route I get a little buzz of excitement...just a fantastic place to be!!! 

Winter Returns to Corrán Tuathail !!!

Winter well and truly returned to Kerry last weekend and added nicely to the challenge of our guided ascent of Corrán Tuathail....There was 3 tackling the climb via "O'Sheas" gully and boy did they really "Experience The Adventure" with KerryClimbing



....From below the white on the summits looked only a dusting but how wrong we were!!! As we exited the shelter of O'Sheas  and onto the Beenkeragh ridge we were quite surprised by the biting stiff breeze and the impressive covering of snow....The 3 gang were excited, amazed and delighted to finally make it to the highest point in Ireland in such unexpected wintery conditions..

Congrats and well done to Jay, Maria and Michael on their first and hopefully not last, ascent of this magnificent mountain...We descended by the "Zig-Zags" a nice easy gentle track which gave them stunning views as we dropped back down into the "Hags Glen" and made them fully appreciate the sheer scale of the mountain they had just climbed and the impressive route they had taken to the top!!!