Glendo off-track

Bouldering in Gendalough, Co. Wicklow

The last time I was in Glendalough, the conditions were not exactly what one would called dry and sticky. So we had a bit of a walk around and I tried to assemble a bit of information on undocumentated problems that I knew of.

So freshly squeezed before the bouldering meet, here is a PDF including the location of some cool lines like the excellent Roadhouse and Mindgeback nicely executed by Rob Hunter in the Pieces of Glendo video.

To get you motivated before the meet and for those who have not seen it yet, here is the video:




They are a few other ones on Trial World.

Cul de Claire 2 – Frenchy 0

Yep, there was no connection made this weekend at the Cul de Claire, whether it would be French or not. The windy conditions which probably affected the sea spray in Doolin were perfect for inland bouldering. No excuse here. The place, usually quiet, was crowded with foreigners: me and Dawid Nowak. So for once I had a spotter, I will not even have an excuse for not getting that full roof traverse project. After having spent a couple of hours working the crux moves (translation: a bit of banter, a lot of smoking on the mat in the comfy warmth of the fleece and a couple of easy warm-ups), I made a couple of proper but unsuccessful attempts. This is what I love about projects; you just keep coming back and never get bored.
We also had a look around, as Dawid wanted to inspect the small crag. In a few places it looked like some cleaning had been done: some of the ivy had been cut and taken down: are there any routes being done there? There was definitely a path at the bottom of the crag but the sheep could have done this. More surprisingly in one of the smallest and easiest parts to climb we found this:
Is the Cul de Claire one of the oldest climbing venues in Ireland? Can anyone ask Calvin about this? He probably is the only one who can answer that.
Probably some pictures soon on Dawid’s gallery.

NEW YEAR IN CLARE (part 2)

Bouldering in Le toit du cul de Clare, Co. Clare

A small PDF bouldering guide to Le Toit du cul de Clare is available.

The rule no.1 for enjoying a peaceful married life is to make sure you please both mothers-in-law (unless you have successfully managed to disguise a murder into an accident). Mine being from County Clare, I usually spend Christmas in France and the New Year in Clare and the opposite the following year. This is a good way of enjoying all the good stuff from Christmas time, from Christmas pudding to foie gras. And this way I also get a chance to send my problems at the Toit du Cul de Claire (although that trickle cake can have a terrible effect on my belly weight). The place is only 15 minutes away, so I usually manage 2 or 3 sessions at Christmas.
This time I did not do any gardening, although there is probably another 3 or 4 lines that could be developed. I would also like to get rid of some of the small bushes covering the top edge: some of the lines could definitely do with a nice top out. But one has to get some climbing done sometimes to keep some motivation.

This time I decided that I would focus on the full traverse loop around the roof, linking Cold Turkey and the Grand Slam traverse. After a few tries it definitely came clear that the easiest way was to start on Cold Turkey because the deadpoint is easier going up than going down. After that there are a few jugs to campus along the roof lip. These lead you to the corner around which stands Munster rules (Grand Slam left). Campusing back down should bring me back on the long mantel traverse below the roof. I say "should" because the entire line is approximately 40 moves and I will need a little bit more stamina. But I am back there next weekend and hopefully I will have that line called the "French connection" by Monday. Video here:

I also did a bit of exploration in the Arra Mountains between Lough Derg and Nenagh. This time I had pre-checked on the aerial views from both google Earth and the OSI, and although some very interesting spots looked particularly similar to those of Glenmacnass, the place proved to be as beautiful and as boulder-free as the Slieve Bearnagh in East Clare. Next stop is the Silvermines Mountains in Co. Tipperary. If anyone has already checked the place, please do not tell me. I love a thrill of long boggy walks in the misty fog. It is the best way to enjoy a nice hot whisky by the range...

CHRISTMAS IN NORTHERN FRANCE (Part 1)

Most people drive home for Christmas. Being foreigner in Ireland usually means you will have to fly. Being French means you will usually fly not too far from a good bouldering spot. Unfortunatly I was born in the only county in France that does not have a single crag. Here's an example of what the highest crags look like round my parents place:


Yes. The French love their spuds too.

Bouldering at St-Vaast-les-Mello, Oise (60)

Anyway, this means that I usually have to do a bit of driving to the closest climbable crag: St-Vaast-les-Mello.

Being originally a chalk quarry, this place is not exactly the top of the range. To open a few routes, the locals started by chipping some holds (a french traditional climbing technique) into the blank faces of the quarry. But they soon discovered that chalk was actually softer that limestone, and that without superglue their new mono finger holds were transforming very fast into pockets and even jugs. Using that same superglue they decided that maybe they should stick some real solid holds to the chalky faces. I have a couple of these foot holds at home. I keep them as a souvenir of the fun we had in the place. Later they developed yet another technique involving glue, which I cannot describe here given the age of some of my readers.

So here is an old video of me and my bro bouldering in that awesome place one of the last Christmas holidays:

Bouldering at La Hottée du Diable, Aisne (02)

If I have a little bit more time I can push further to a much more beautiful place called La Hottée du Diable. The place is located between Chateau-Thierry and Reims, nord-East of Paris. It is extremelly similar to Font: beautiful sandstone boulders on sandy clearings in the middle of the forest. The place is obviously far less known than Font, the major reason being the size of it.

La Hottée is only a small outcrop of sandstone lost in the middle of huge Champagne vineyards. Neverless the place has a good collection of problems including some really serious ones and it will probably take me a few more Christmas holiday before to get wired on some of these lines... There is a good slideshow of the stones here.

So if you ever happen to be stuck in the Champagne region and that you are not too keen on visiting their cellars (after a few glasses, claustrophobia usually disapears), you can boulder off.

Catalan Granite

It takes an office Christmas party to get some outdoor bouldering done. Although I heard last weekend's conditions were pretty good, there was not many weekend opportunities for a good bouldering session lately. Since I was going to spend the weekend in Barcelona with my workmates, I thought I might as well bring my climbing gear in case I would get a chance to try some of the already renowned Catalan granite. It is not very close to the city but I only had to carry my Mythos and a bottle of water so it was easy enough to go around.

The transport in Barcelona is clearly well developed. They have an equivalent of the Dart which leaves from the city centre (Plaza de Catalunya) every hour and follows the coast to the north. For approximately 4 euro you get a return train ticket to Vilassar de mar the closest place to the main area: Can Boquet. From the train station you must walk west towards the hills. It takes approximately 30mn by train and another 45mn on foot. Can Boquet is definitely the main spot but there are also a few other areas closer and further and the locals seem to be very busy developing the whole area:

http://blogdgranit.blogspot.com/
http://blogdgranit.blog.com/
Forum

So as Arnie puts it: I’ll be back.

Epic spelling!

We all know that the French are "arrogant cheese eating surrender monkeys".

Since they do not speak English, one should not take any interest in their language - compared with the internationally reknown complexity of the English language, le français is a kind of proto-logos similar to the weird music you can hear at the so-called "world" section of your local retail shop, right?

This seems to be the attitude adopted by the editors of the latest issue of the Irish Mountain Log who managed the impressive achievement of placing 3 different spelling of the same French name, Fontainebleau, within a square inch of paper! (page 42 of the Winter 2007 edition).

Fair dues to them, this must be a record.

Admittedly, misspelling foreign names is not an issue in English speaking press, but we're talking expertise here: this is a climbing magazine, featuring an article on the world most famous bouldering spot.

Unless maybe it is unfair to claim that Fontainebleau is more famous than Fairy Head, Glendolugh or the Peek district (annoying isn't it ?).

After all, only a couple of thousand people climb in Font every weekend - probably a little more if you include the Cuvier...

Still, such a clear lack of effort could lead to a very tricky diplomatic situation.

You see, Fontainebleau is owned by the French, a concept that is alien to all these people who are still the subjects of such a great ruler as Her Majesty the Queen of England, Canada, Australia, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and so forth... And known to the French as la Reine des Rosbifs (much shorter, see!)

The French could therefore well decide to forbid the access to all non-french speakers. I can already hear them: "You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you!"

So the following are a few tips for editors of English speaking climbing press and online media platforms (although it seems that it would also be very useful to the editors of English speaking newspapers too):

1. French accents are like garlic, you only need a hint, not the whole bleeding bulb! Adding accents everywhere does not make it look more French. It just kills flavour.
2. Get yourself a computer with an Internet connection: this 21st century technological tool will give you access to an activity widely known today as surfing the web (ask your kids for help) and guess what? Computers and the Internet are equipped with smart French spelling tools!
3. If you decide to misspell, at least be consistent. Your English readers will undoubtedly forgive your lack of interest, but it is much harder to forgive your lack of common sense.

PS: Anyone who finds a mispell in this post, please refrain being too critical: French people are as touchy as they are arrogant.

LE BILBOQUET DU CUL DE CHIEN

Bouldering in Fontainebleau - Le Bilboquet du Cul de chien

In Fontainebleau last weekend, I climbed for the first time on the Bilboquet du Cul de Chien.

I sort of remembered being told, a few years, that it was "forbidden" to climb on Le Bilboquet because it was moving and about to crack.

And true enough, there does not seem to be much information about it on the extensive Bleau.info database or in the french bouldering website Zebloc.

Nevertheless a quick google search will show you a lot of pictures and videos.

On the boulder itself, there does not seem to be any of the usual color code you'd find all around the forest, but its handholds are as white are any other heavily chalked classic of the Cuvier.

So off we went, with the idea of doing a group photo on top of it (not very original I must admit).

But with two of us already on top of it and a third person climbing it, it started to shake - not a mad momentum, but we could clearly feel the vibes.

So here's an interesting physics exercise: given the three of us were about 200kg, would it hold the momentum generated by a fourth climber or is the threshold higher?

PORTRANE UPDATE

Declan Tormey added two little deadpoints below the lip of Wave washed in the Alley (lines 1 & 2). Although they were more than certainly climbed by Michael O'Dwyer back in 2001, there was no mention of them in the original information. They both are sit-start deadpoints from small crimps, probably 6b.


Line 3 is a variation of problem 16 in the alley: instead of going into the groove, one goes left on the blankish face with a nice top out on jugs (but hard to reach). 6b/c

Problem 4 is a old project of Kevin Cooper. It starts into Planet Earth, bridge back onto the arch, drop around the bottom of the Arch to finish onto the Ear. Probably ranging at 6c/7a.

There was a gap between Planet Earth and Stick it. This was filled up during the summer with a sit start to the big ledge. From there you can either akwardly climbed into the mini cave or dyno to the top jug above. 6a

Paul Harrington also mentionned a traverse (5+/6a) at the back of the arch. Again, these lines have probably been climbed before, but there was no mention in the original guide.

Finally it is worth noticing that the rock at Ground Zero is more dirty and polished than ever.

SMART MAPS

Another cool exploring feature launched very recently on the net is the Ordnance Survey Ireland Smart Maps. Unlike Google Earth the aerial definition is pretty good all over Ireland.

Here is what you get on Google Earth for Glendalough:


And here is what you get on Smart Maps:


And moreover the maps have a few extras. There 4 types of viewing:

• "environmental" shows you the basic features you would find on an OS map,
• "ortho" is a bare aerial photo,
• "Land reg" shows you the latest update of the land registry office (more info to come on that matter)
• "Wind report" (my own favorite) is a map of the average wind speed: for those who wonder about conditions, how fast a place can dry, which place is most likely to get midge infested, how exposed is Glenmac, etc. Here is the map of Ben's Font:

• 

By the way for those who still wonder, Cloghole seems to be the name given to the valley on the other side of Luggala hill (also Fancy mountain). But if one insists, Ben's Font could be called Cloghole river.

To browse the smart maps, you need to register first. It is free of charge and you do not need to provide many details. Once you are logged in, click on "browse maps". Again, please note all this information is protected by copyright.

Enjoy your exploration!

CLOGERHEAD

Dublin south side boulderers are clearly the luckiest given the proximity of Wicklow, especially when it comes to quick bouldering sessions. However those leaving on the north side can find the traffic very frustrating, and the only way around is getting up early. The recent discovery of Portrane improved this situation a little bit but let's face it, Meath and Louth aren't exactly blessed with good quality rock. Nevertheless since the introduction of the helicopter viewer, you can now explore the eastern coast of Ireland and it seems that there is a little bit more than one would expect. I spent a couple of hours exploring Clogerhead last weekend, and although the place seems more suitable for routes, there might be a little bit of bouldering too. Here are two nice problems worth mentioning:

1- K3, sit start 5+
2- Alice in Crimperland, 6b/6c

I will continue my exploration and hopefully more information should be available soon.

ACCESS:
From Drogheda, take the R166 toward Termonfeckin (sic.) In Clogerhead, leave the beach on your right and turn at the pub on the harbour road. There is a big car park passed Oriel harbour. After 2mn of walking, you should see the first rocks.