Old News

The Meet - Sat 8th May

From Left to Right:
Rai Farrell, Sandrine Journet, Niall Gault and Mike Mataisek.

Despite the iffy weather forecast and ominous looking clouds, a hardy bunch assembled in the Prow car Park for the season kick off meet. Twenty-two climbers made it up to the crag and everyone really did get stuck in, knowing that it was the best way to keep the chill in the air from breaking moral. Calvin Torrans and Eddie Cooper lead the way and strode off from the car park, leaving the rest of us standing thinking, "Jeepers we better get our fingers out here." Everyone split for their chosen routes heading for either the abseil at the Prow or the top of Mizen Star. There was none of the usual dallying around chatting, it was clear that everyone meant business, quickly gearing up before dropping in for their routes.

Calvin and Eddie attracted much admiration on their chosen route, Face Value. Despite a short period of drizzle Calvin didn't waver and strode onwards and upwards while the rest of us paused for a while to see if it would clear. Thankfully it did. Tim and I went for Salango and from the belays we had a great vantage point to watch Calvin and Eddie on that massive face. They're the first pair I have watched on that wall and it sure did look impressive, the two masters moving very confidently and steadily through their big 40m pitches. Inspiration indeed.

Salango, photo by Dave Corbett.

Mike Mataesik and Sandrine Journet headed over and chose to sit out the short spell of drizzle before tackling Cuchullainn. It passed and they got stuck in. Meanwhile, I launched up the first pitch of Salango. It was top quality; 20m of easy stuff before a short full on section using a combination of a lay away, thank you god jams and brute force, launches you up to good foot holds and the belay. Happy days, I was relieved I'd got my bit done, almost home and dry. I had a good look up and did think "Phew, the second pitch looks steep, and well hard." The big Timbo joined me at the hanging belay, we sorted our rack out and off he went. Four years ago, Timbo had lead the top pitch and he told me the story of flopping onto the ground at the top and swearing to never to go near the route again, but back we were. There were quiet mutterings of 'exorcising the demons' and such, but in the end it came down to the fact that he had forgotten just how brutal the climbing was, combined with his confidence boost after a successful bolt-clipping trip in France over Easter. After 20 minutes of trying to move more that 2 metres away from the belay, all the memories of the previous butt-kicking session on the route came flooding back. The guidebook happens to mention that getting around this first overhang is 'difficult' - what an understatement - no footholds (apart from your belayer's head), poor jams, awkward moves and this doesn't even count as the crux of the route! A further 40 minutes of inching up the 'steep, strenuous crack' saw Timbo one move below the easy ground that leads to the sensational final moves around the overhanging flake but by that stage Tim had lost the will to live - that wasn't the plan, he was suffering. Throat parched with thirst, stomach rumbling with hunger, unable to lift his arms above his head, never mind pull on them and dreaming of hot tea, good food and roaring fires, Tim kindly offered the pitch to me but I already knew the answer: down, down, down. So we bailed, pride bruised but relieved to get back onto terra firma. Tim says the story won't end there... he claims: "It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine" - that'll be a battle to be watched from the comfort of the top of the crag - not from that horrible hanging belay!

It did seem much warmer once down and we had the choice to dander up and retrieve the gear we'd left on Salango or climb out of something else. This was the much better option, gotta keep climbing, so we chose to do Aoife. Calvin and Eddie were already off Face Value and now doing Ocean Boulevard right beside Aoife; it was another good route to watch them on. What a team and a demonstration of how it should be done. Aoife was fun as half my rack was stuck up Salango, each time I wanted a bit of gear I had to look at the rack to see what gear I had rather than the cracks to see what was needed. Most interesting indeed. The first pitch of Aoife seems to have changed slightly, I think one of the large flakes at the start has fallen off, it didn't seem as I had remembered. If anything it is better, a fun pitch that got the blood pumping again. Calvin also noticed a big chunk had fallen off the top pitch of Ocean Boulevard , this was what had caused the rubble that had been found a while back on the belay of Aoife.

Niall Gault and Rai Farrell on Railroad.

During the day there were climbers shuffling around the crag all over the place. Niall Gault and Rai Farrell had a very wise game plan: Move quickly, keep climbing and keep warm. They had a great day progressing from Girona, to Hells Kitchen and after those they still had enough energy for Railroad. A wise plan indeed for when I got to the top of Aoife I had lost the drive, the nip in the air had got to me.

Over on the Prow John Paul Quinn and Jonny Conroy did The Fence while James Boyle and Pete Smith did The Black Thief and The Fence. Brian McAlinden was suffering from a bad stomach so didn't join them, he thinks it was something he ate, or it might have been a bad pint among the 10 he had the night before, it's hard to say. Jonny Conroy then teamed up with James Mehigan and they abseiled in for Blind Pew. James relished the gear on demand nature of the second pitch and had used this facility too well, depleting his rack to the extent that the only option was to belay on the ramp 10m below the top. As he told the story later it was clear they had fun.

Martin Sweeney and David Nowak also keep the momentum up during the day climbing Hells' Kitchen, then Railroad before testing themselves on the short but hard, Simple Minds. Dawid totally loved Railroad and was beaming from ear to ear as he told the story of taking a big whipper at the top. From the sounds of him he loved that experience more than the climbing itself and was chuffed to bits with it. Good one...

Richard and Rowena Baker and Ciaran Kinney arrived in the afternoon, doing Simple Minds before heading over for Girona. Ciaran joined them as they did Girona, by shunting up Chieftain along side, it doesn't get more social than that.

Tim and I finished Aoife and headed for the rucksacks for hot tea and more clothes. Relief. As we sat, we saw Mike and Sandrine top out of Cuchullainn. As they came towards us their expression said it all. You know that totally satisfied but totally knackered look. Mike says the second pitch is shear bliss, really nice rock and just such good climbing with bomber gear in an amazing position. The rumour is, it's the best E2 in Britain and it was all theirs and they knew it.


Eddie Barbour, complete with audience, strutting his stuff on Titanic.

Andy Marshall on Fáth Mo Bhuartha.

Eddie Barbour and Andy Marshall had arrived late in the day and abseiled in to do Titanic. Calvin, Eddie C, Tim, Dave and I had a great view of Eddie B, as he literally ran up the second pitch, climbing really strongly, lapping it up. The cameras were snapping away and that fired Eddie B up even more, literally jumping from one hold to the next. To say he was grinning from ear to ear when he got to the top is an understatement. The picture says it all. He loved it. It was now about 6pm but Eddie and Andy raced over to the Prow for Fáth Mo Bhuartha to finish the day. I think they had a good afternoon.

All in the weather was kind and the day went off well. Fair Head is the perfect venue for this type of social climbing. With the routes so close together and such easy access, it was great to share the stories with other teams about the routes that they had tackled. Once again a good few climbers chose to stay away, it seems this idea doesn't appeal to everyone. Those that did come really did bring the crag alive, the determination was there for all to see, all focused on pushing themselves to their limits but sharing together their love of the whole experience. It was a great day, and set the scene for the night ahead in Tom's...

Sun 9th May

On Sunday morning, looking out the window of the hostel didn't inspire confidence. The road was wet, it had rained during the night and the crag was blanketed with a thick layer of cloud. It didn't look good. As a result we all took our time getting up, sorting ourselves out with loads of tea, lethargically expecting to head off home soon after. But by 11.30am, it was looking better, the tarmac had started to dry and there was a slight chance the crag would be OK. So the plan was made to at least go up to the crag and scope out some routes, it might turn out OK enough to climb.

On arriving at the Prow car park it was total white out, low visibility, we were in the clouds, it was definitely cloud rather than fog. But the rocks in the car park seemed dry enough and we decided to at least take the gear over in the off-chance that it would improve. The closer we got to the Prow the denser the clouds got and standing at the top of the crag we couldn't view the sea at all. But on examination of the boulders at the top they seemed sort of dry, the rock might be OK to climb on. We all looked at each other, no-one quite wanting to make a move but sod it, we decided to go down and at least do a VS and see how it was. No-one rushed, compared to yesterday, the more time wasted the better. But down we went. It wasn't rock climbing weather, more like a Scottish winter in the mist.

Sunday morning and the weather was a bit ropey.

From left to right: Sandrine Journet, Mike Mataisek, Niall Gault, James Mehigan, Dawid Nowak, Martin Sweeney and James Boyle.

David and Martin went for The Black Thief which didn't look in good nick at all. It looked really greasy, but they did it anyway. Niall and I went down to do The Fence but on getting down the face routes looked dry enough, so we did Fáth Mo Bhuartha instead. A good choice, it was fine and we really enjoyed it, despite the conditions. James Mehigan and James Boyle dropped in for The Fence, but James wasn't happy at all, complaining that he hadn't brought enough friends with him. (Looks like there is a fair few on that rack there James) He bailed. This totally made Martin's day and he nearly bust his gut at the sight of James sitting at the bottom feeling a bit sorry for himself. Martin, rolling with laugher, stepped in to bail him out. Priceless...

Mike and Sandrine went down for Midnight Cruiser, another good lead considering the weather and the height of the route. Niall and I felt good and I suggested doing Revival. Niall floated up it, despite only having a single rope, this made it all the more thoughtful. On reflection Revival wasn't dry enough, it was all a bit damp and this didn't help as the climbing is delicate, not at all like most Fair Head routes. Niall was going well.

We all had beaten the weather, the thought of going down again didn't rouse up too much support, we were suitably satisfied, so off for the cars and home we went. It had been a good weekend...

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The Meet - Sat 8th May

Sun 9th May