STONECUTTERS GLEN GUIDE

Bouldering in Stonecutters Glen, Co. Wicklow

The bouldering guide to the Stonecutters Glen is now available here.

As far as I know an onsight climb means you have never seen anyone on the route before, you have not heard any info or received any beta (which is hard these days giving the description you get in some guide books), you have clearly not toproped the route before or even inspected it with an absail. When you are climbing a route after having seen someone on it, it is called a Flash. A lead that you have actually worked out is a redpoint.

Now not so long ago (when I was still a sports climber, that is) an onsight was the base on which a grade was given. So if some route was given 7a, that meant onsighting it would mean that you would have climbed 7a, flashing it was 6c+, leading it was 6c and toproping it was 6b+. But this is sports climbing, I've been told the real trad thing is different.

Anyway when it comes to bouldering, these concepts become very subjectives, and grades are supposedly there as a pure technical info. How come then we are still arguing about adding a + between these 3 and 4 grades? Actually in some guide you can even find problems graded 4a+. And don't oppose me the "Vermine" example, I have also seen some V10+ in climbing magazines...

So anyway, I personnally think we should go back to the good old Font colour code, and I decided to give it a go. I can already ear some people saying "Hey, do you know that rockover problem in the Stonecutters? I think it 's definitly yellow, not blue!" You wish...

Anyway, any comments welcommed!

STONECUTTERS GLEN

The Stonecutters Glen is the real name of that not so secret Area 52. And since it is not that secret anymore, here is a bit of information on what is there. Please note that the following is just an outline and I will prepare a more detailed information for the update of Dave Flanagan’s Bouldering guide to Ireland in the next few days.

ACCESS
Park at the same carpark than Lough Bray, two kilometres south of Glencree on the military road beside the small quarry. Go up to the top of the small quarry and walk through the bog toward the Sugarloaf. Lough Bray should be in your back and Glencree on your left. After 20mn you will reach the Stonecutters Glen. The first main boulders you should come across are the egg and the split boulder.

EGG BOULDER
The Egg is the first big boulder you should come across. It has a very recognisable roundish blank slab (project) and a nice problem on its north side (right side on picture) involving a tricky top out on a round top: The egg. On the smaller boulder below is good sit-start deapoint that takes a few tries to adjust: Bloody clawmarks.


SPLIT BOULDER

Mickey’s traverse is still a project: it's the low traverse that follows the very round lip leftward from the corner jug. Warning: skin grater. Too little to late is the traverse that follows the top on the right.

ARETE

Upper on the valley stand two nice boulders. There’s been blood is the excellent arete shown on the video. It involves finger jamming, dynamic slaping and a high enough finish. There's also an eliminate version using the arete only (project). The boulder below has two nice lines: Bert's rockover is the right hand side corner of the roundish slab. Gorillas in the mist is the right side of the arete. The start is reachy and definitly easier when you are tall.

THE STEM

Brutal overhanging arête. Definitly the hardest line in the Stonecutters Glen. Rif Raf is the hard deadpoint from a crimpy rail on the right hand side.

BIG SLAB

The Big triangle slab at the top end of the valley is definitly worth a visit. The left hand side is Rock it : From the big bottom step rock over the arete to reach a good break higher and top out.
Soledad is the excellent middle slab: Tricky start without footholds then up the various rails. The right hand side arete is much easier.

There is approximatly 25 lines developed in total. The lower part of the valley was not explored as it does not seem to be of much interest. 

Thanks to everyone involved in the cleaning:
Tim Chapman,
Mickey 'the Dude' Nicholson,
Bernie O’Rourke,
Dec Tormey
& Sean Walsh.

Text and Info by Pierre Fuentes

Dublin, March 2008.

Info on Albarracin

Here's a little bit of info on Albarracin because some people asked me about it recently (namely Al, Chris and Michael), so that's for you guys.

The pueblo (well let's say it's a small touristic town) is a very beautiful place and there is plenty to see and do on a wet day. It is located on a hill and controls a turn of the river/canyon, which is why it always was a perfect place for a fortress.

Flying: Valencia and Madrid are probably the closest airports, but I flew to Barcelona-Reus with some wannabe-cheap airline, and it took me 4 hours driving from there to Albarracin. Besides the bouldering is not exactly in Albarracin. Although I'm pretty sure you could take the bus from either Valencia or Barcelona, that country is all up and down and walking to the boulders would be long enough. I therefore strongly recommend a car.

Accomodation: I stayed in the hostel de los Palacios . It was cheap enough and very comfortable altogether. But they are plenty of various accomodation including a campsite: follow the direction Torres de Albarracin, passing Tramacastilla and Noguera till you reach a crossing with Bronchales on the right: follow that road and once you reach Bronchales, there's a sign for the camping Las Corralizas which stands a 1km away in the trees. It is nowhere near the bouldering though, so if you want to go real cheap, camp by the boulders, don't tell anyone and don't leave any dirt (although it seems to be a local custom). Otherwise you can find a lot of places on the town website.


Season: It's inland Spain, so forget about any summer trip, it's far too hot. But it's high in altitude and the winter is not good either, it gets snowy and bitterly cold. Best season: March to mai and September to November.

Touristic information here, including a very handy map giving you details about hostels, bars, restaurants, camping, museums and so on...


Online topos/guidebook here:
http://norop.es/albarracin/cabrerizo
and here:
www.scribd.com/doc/27998/Crokis-albarracin
(I have a copy anyway if that link does not work)

More bouldering info on the following websites:

• http://www.climb-europe.com/spain/albarracin.htm
• http://www.albarrablog.blogspot.com/
  

There's been blood.

Last summer having been what it has been, some of that free time has been used to clean new lines in various areas. In the not so secret " area 52 ", some of the boulders are now starting to receive ascents and I am currently trying to put some info together. Here’s a video of my favourite line so far, a nice overhanging arete with a finger jamming sit-start:

More Glendo off-track

The conditions were excellent for the bouldering meet in Glendalough Saturday morning. Although by lunchtime, the mist was upon us, we had enough time to get some climbing done. After a tough warm-up on Dec's Pyramid, we moved to The Cherry: 10 meters behind it stands a nice face with a very sloppy lip. I tried to find it a few weeks ago but without success. This definitely needs to be included in any info on Glendo. Declan Tormey and I had already done the sloppy traverse and the stand start straight up 3 or 4 years ago, but Tim Chapman pointed out a sit-start was done by Barry O'Dwyer and that really tickles your body tension (if you have any, because in my case, my bum didn't take off the ground). More pictures on Mark Hand's gallery. An excellent boulder altogether with good landing which is not that common in Glendo. We also decided to explore the other side of the river and manage to climb a couple of new lines on seriously sharp granite, but the weather changed and it was time for Crumble.

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.