Cheap Bouldering

I am sure by now most of us have heard about that recession bug. I am not quite sure how you catch it, but they told me that if I get it, I will have to save more and spend less. Apparently it affects everything from time schedule to regular income.... And there is no vaccin, but it looks like you can prevent it or at least reduce its effects by being poor. So here's a serie of tips that might help:

1) Get yourself a pull up bar or a finger board. It might sound expensive but think about it: UCD has probably one of the cheapest membership scheme: €100 per year plus €3.00 per visit. If you go twice a week for 1 year (40 weeks say), that's about 340 euro plus petrol. Now say you have bought a 60 euro fingerboard and you will replace one of your weekly wall sessions by a pull up session at home, this means you will now spend 220 euro in UCD and reduce your petrol cost by 2.

2) Reduce your travelling costs: stop flying to these awesome bouldering wonders abroad and enjoy more of the wonderful weather conditions of Ireland. Stop driving to Wicklow on your own every weekend and share petrol costs (actually that would be a excellent excuse to spend more time with my mates!). Stop driving to the wall, take up cycling, it will get you fitter (I know, I know, do as I say, not as I do....)

3) Recycle. You don't need that 20 euro brush kit from Metolius , recycle your old tooth brushes into bouldering brushes. You don't need the latest Patagonia pants, recycle your old casual Friday trousers into worn out bouldering pants.

4) Remember: you are in Ireland, not in Nepal. So what you need is neither a pair of Louis Vuitton flip-flops, not a pair of high mountain boots. Get yourself a pair of these:

They will cost you 15 quid and will do the job just as well as gaiters. For those who think this is a joke check the following pictures:


Now the following is for the sissies who have a nice soft baby skin which suffers a lot from these repeated attempts on Wicklow granite problems.
Most climbers know and have used the Climb On! Bar. That stuff is "a completely pure (synthetic & petrochemical free), powerful skin nourisher and first aid product to be applied to burns, cuts, scrapes, rashes, cracked cuticles and heels, tissue nose, road rash, diaper rash, abrasions, poison ivy...all skin problems. The 1 oz. Bar will last a month or more with daily use. The unrefined beeswax, unrefined wheatgerm oil, apricot kernel oil, grapeseed oil, vitamin E and essential oils with antifungal, antibacterial and antiseptic properties make Climb On! the MOST powerful skin repair recipe on the market." So they say. Problem is, that 1 oz. Bar (roughly 30 grams) costs about 10 euro.
There is plenty of other stuff around and I personnally have tried a wide range of products from the famous Neutrogena Norwegian Formula to the expensive Lancome intense restoring lipid enriched cream, and so far I found the best you get for money value is the Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula.This last one is "enriched in vitamin E with a soothing emollient base. Heals and softens rough, dry skin. Helps smooth and blend unattractive marks and scars. Tones skin. Ideal for deep moisturization, including overnight treatments. Widely recommended for stretch marks during and after pregnancy". Also highly recommended for climber's dry hands. You can get that butter thing in many shops or online and it costs only 6 euro for 200 grams.




So that's it for the saving tips.Finally to cheer us up in these doom and gloom times, here's a very inspiring blog about highballs. Hope you like it.