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MAIL IN SOME NEWS

2007 News

In reverse order:

• The official opening of a new car park at the Ballycastle Descent Gully side of the crag, went to plan on Saturday 20th October 2007. This facility has been on the cards for a few years now and has taken a lot of effort and hard work, not to mention expense by Sean McBride the farmer who owns the land to make it happen. Thanks to his efforts, at last we can ensure that we're not getting in the way of the farming activities, something that has been a particular concern, due to the large numbers of climbers now climbing at Fair Head. The car park is big enough to park about 20 cars, is surrounded by stone walling, but is done in a way that you'd barely know it was there.

  On the morning, Sean laid on a tremendous spread of tucker for all present, which really hit the spot before everyone split for the crag. The weather was fantastic, a perfect climbing day. I'm not sure what everyone got up to but routes ticked included: Crusader, Hallowe'en, Darkness, GBH, Marconi, Railroad, Fireball, The Wrestler, Contortions, The Fence, The Black Thief, Midnight Cruiser, Fath mo Bhuartha and Hells Kitchen, to name but a few...

  On the evening, the Dal Riada AGM and slide show took place in Toms (The House of McDonald) in Ballycastle. That took a good 5 minutes and afterwards the slides show, provided inspiration to all, showing destinations as diverse as Uganda, Thailand and Australia, to name but a few. The Guinness flowed and there was banter a plenty.

  On the Sunday morning and with groggy heads, a slow start got people going to do: Crusader, Face Value, Track of the Cat, Mizen Star, Roaring Meg, plus a load of other stuff but I'm not sure what. Drop me a line to let me know what you got up to...

• Paul Swail and Eddie Barbour produced a new variation start to Calvin Torrans new route XL, on Monday 1st October. Paul says: " There is only about 15ft of new climbing but its quite hard, going at E4 (6a)" The description is on the new routes page. While they were up, Paul and Eddie also did The Stoat.
• Sean Vilanueva was up from 6th to 8th September and totally ripping the place up with Stephen McGowan. Get this for a tick list. The 2nd ascent of The Complete Scream, a free ascent of Men of Kernow and the 3rd ascent of A Bad Skin Day. Now that's a visit! Source - Team Geared up From there, Neil McQuaid reports:

  "Wednesday turned out wet but Sean had a look at A Bad Skin Day (E7 6c) before the rest of the rain set in. The next day it was still a little wet so Men Of Kernow (E5 5a,6a,6a,6a,5c+A0) was the choice of route. Stephen McGowan led the first pitch and Sean ran pitches 2,3 and 4 together before he went for the final pitch freeing it at 6a/b for what we think is the first time. The final pitch is a huge roof which looks impressive with we think only 2 previous accents.

  Later on Thursday Sean went for A Bad Skin Day after practising the moves on abseil, placing 2 sky hooks between the two pegs on lead he cruised up it for what is probably the 3rd ascent. [ Andy Marshall did the 2nd, I think.]

  Sean is well known for his previous (accidental) onsight attempt of The Complete Scream (E8 6b) where he broke the peg and ended up down-climbing only to find out then what the route was. With a score to settle, he spent some time practising the routes on abseil on Friday. Just as he was about to abseil one of his anchors popped as he was going over the edge and he took a 5/6m fall over the edge. Luckily the other anchors held and he climbed back to the top and debated if he was going to do it or not. With a little rest for a while nursing the chunk that he'd taken out of his palm on the fall then decided to give it one top rope before the attempt. He cruised up it so he got geared up and off he went.

  He cruised up it to the first piece of good gear and let a huge roar, now that he knew he was safe. Its said people around the corner on ‘Aoife' heard it! Apologising for the scream he flew up to the top finishing just as Stephen was getting worried that he was going to run out of rope (2m left on 60m doubles). He abseiled and cleaned the gear to finish off a great 3 days."

• Andy Marshall has been hard at it on Friday 17th August. Climbing with Ali Moles, Andy did the second ascent of Smashing Pumpkins, one of Eddie Coopers lines that hasn't had a second ascent for 15 years. Andy says; "fantastic for the grade, exposed climbing with a technical crux! A fantastic route by eddie with both pitches being of 3 star grade." Andy also established a new variation finish to X-Men, which starts from the large ledge at the top of the 2nd pitch of An Bealach Runda. Giving the variation the name The Wolverines Finish the pitch has a well hard move on it, and is bold to boot. See the message board for more details.
• It's been very busy over the last few weeks, plenty of people snatching an evenings climbing or long days at the crag. Big news is the 6th ascent of Above and Beyond by Ronan Druce, 2nd by Ricky Bell, on Sat 11th August. Ronan described the pitch as the best he's done at Fair Head, really standing out as a top notch outing. Ronan joins the elite band of Pat Little John, Eddie Cooper, Ricky Bell, Ebbie Barbour and Sean Vinnanueve who all have this mega tick to there credit. Sam Gordon's got another E5 under his belt, recently succeeding on The Wall of Prey the one to do if you aspire to the grade. Elsewhere everyone has just been enjoying the climbing, and feeding off the buzz that's around the place at present. All good...
• These continual showers have been stifling activity over the last 2 months, but it's good to hear folks are still getting up. Ben Gibson and John McConville went a quickie evening session at the Prow on Thursday 19th July on Fáth mo Bhuartha and The Black Thief. Ricky Bell and Ronan Druce were over doing the super clean Face Value and Squib was up with a new comer for Midnight Cruiser and The Embankment. As they all were leaving at about 10pm they met 2 guys from Manchester who'd just jumped off a plane, running towards the Prow to do Midnight Cruiser in the dark. Keen as Mustard or what!
• Later this year, the Castle Hostel is to be demolished to make way for a new development of apartments. This'll be a massive blow to the people of Ballycastle, who will also loose the vibrancy and colour, visiting climbers and tourists, breathed into this often overlooked town. Sad news indeed...
• Andrew Thompson, visiting there on the 6th July has been kind enough to sent us a few lines: "Got up to the head last friday afternoon for a spot of dry climbing! I'd only been up once before, and was with an african friend who lives in the uk, well, he did...i think he's toying with the idea of renting that wee cottage at the car park and seeing if theres any job opportunities in Ballycastle for a year!!!!!! Got a coupla routes done at the prow on the friday - Railroad and Marconi. There were bits of seepage about, but nothing drastic. Saturday turned out to be a fantastic day, once a bit of cloud cleared up. The sun then beat down on us from about lunchtime on. I'm glad I was wearing black! Ah... the warmth of it all. I was starting to forget what it was all about!!! We got Concubair and The Hustler done. Quality defined. Fantastic. Words just dont do justice to the climbing at this crag. Saturday evening we sat about supping cold beers on top watching the sun go down....and then to the chippie (beside macs house) for the best fish I've had from a take away ever!!! and all we could wonder was why all the young kids spent all their time driving up and down, and up and down, and up and down town in their fancy cars with shiny alloys and slinked back seats!!!! Drastic. Where's the imagination. Wwhat an awesome venue. Marnix is already thinking of canning a trip to Italy to come back over here!!!!"
• Andrew Cubbon and Howard Hebblewaite recently did Raglan Road and the second ascent of the variant second pitch. Andrew says the grade seems correct at E5 (6a) with probably only one 6a move, but some bold climbing in between. Also the pitch itself doesn't warrant 3 stars, probably more like one, possibly two for its 'out there' feel. The first pitch is a much finer pitch (definitely worth 3 stars) and all together I'd give the route three.

• Clare Sheridan has added a marginally easier, alternative start to Reilig on Sunday 10th June. The variation takes the corner up to the big roof then traverses out left below it, rather than directly up the wall. Reilig is expected to be a very popular line, as you can see from the photos the rock is immaculate!

• Ronnie Smith has clarified the length of the 2nd pitch of Scorpion after climbing it last year with Ciaran Kinney, ground up & no inspection. Ronnie says: "A superb route worth its' three stars and probably bottom end E3 but definitely E3! To clear up the issue regarding pitch lengths. The middle pitch is 48m (1m tie-in at each end = 2m) & 48m of superb climbing, great gear and sustained but not desperate! (I used my 50m ropes !!)" The route news page has been amended accordingly.

• Hot, hot, hot... The weekend of the 8th June was a total scorcher and a good few made it up to revel in the blistering sun. Tim Wilson and John Heron on the Friday night did The Hustler describing it as "out there". The big news of the weekend is that yet another new route has been established by Clare Sheridan and Calvin Torrans, which got an immediate second ascent by Ronan Druce and Ali Moles, all describing it as fantastic. It's next to their other 2 new routes close to Talking Heads, the route description is to follow. Andrew Cubbon's been constantly at it over the last few weeks doing loads of stuff, finishing this weeked off on Titanic. On the Sunday, Ronnie Smith and Angela Carlin did Cuchullainn and Hurricane, with Angela getting totally into the Fair Head thing by leading the top pitch of Hurricane. Ricky Young was up too, getting the mileage in with Geoff Somerville on Aoife, April Arête, Blind Pew and Girona. From the diary in the hut there's been loads of stuff done that doesn't make it on here, it's worth a stop over there to read that alone.
• The top pitch of Flying Lizards and Face Value was extensively cleaned by Geoff Somerville on Saturday 8th May. The Flying Lizards pitch often put people off as it looked manking (and it was) but now it's totally mint. This pitch is an amazing outing going up through 2 roofs with the bottom one being quite massive, so if E4 is a grade you aspire to and you've a strong partner to do the top pitch this one really should be on your ultimate tick list. I was blown away by the quality of both pitches, during the 4 hours or so they took to clean.
• Note: The proposal to split Fath mo Bhuartha into 2 routes has been binned. The original route allowed you to choose either, so the left crack should be referred to as just that - the left crack of Fáth mo Bhuartha.
• Kevin Stevens and John Stringfellow, both from Manchester had a great trip over the previous week. It's always great to hear what visitors think so thanks to Kevin for these observations:
  April - crack finish is defo the way to go, worth at least 2 stars and only just E1 (due to one awkward move in the groove)
  Aoife - this had a few ascents and we all thought it to be E2, hard climbing with a serious start but very good (didn't notice any evidence of rockfall from vicinity of P2)
  Equinox - climbed after the recent rockfall, everything seemed solid and sound.
  The Stoat - hats off to Clare and Calvin for cleaning this. The route is superb, one of the best we climbed all week, defo a 3 star classic, even better than Conchubair, first butch, then bold, top end E2. (some think E3)
  Face Value - what a fantastic route, best climbing experience of the week.  There is no long reach over the roof (John and I are both short). There is also no place for a small wire over the lip, but as soon as you stand up there is gear a plenty. The guide is a bit confusing; it omits to tell you to step right (rest and runners) after the roof before trending back left. I'd recommend at least 4 sets of Rocks 1-4 for P1.
• Nick Colton and Martin Kocsis at the end of their week finished with yet another 3 pitch line over in the Dark Forces area. The route description is on the new routes page though a few extra hints from Martin are: "The only really obvious part of the route is the initial corner and overhang...the rest is rather devious, at least until you're on it. The belay at the end of P1 is solid: friend 3/camalot 2 size and some larger wires. The 6b move on P1 is well protected. It is easy to abseil down the line to brush it or check it out beforehand. For the route name, AD 43, check your history books," says nick. Something to do with a dark force..."
• Friday 1 June, saw loads up, making great use of the super weather. The group of visitors, the BMC team, Nick Colton and mob, got out climbing every day over the previous week with a many a fine ascent among them, including The Mask, The Wall of Prey and Face Value to name but a few, plus they did all the trade route E2's. Angus Millar entered the E2 grade, on Mizen Star, Blind Pew and Conchubair, before heading over to the prow for Midnight Cruiser. The day way too short for him. Joanne Cousins and Steve raced up after arriving on a flight from Bristol at 6pm to have a go at that trad thing again, Steve doing Midnight Cruiser and Joanne The Black Thief. Ronan Rosendorf Druce and Andy Marshall have been up all week doing loads, again climbing every day. John Heron and Tim Wilson were up for the evening hitting the prow for Fireball and Marconi. And that's only Fridays news!
• By the way, The Stoat is totally mint! Way to go Clare and Calvin for cleaning it. A masterpiece!!!
• Clare Sheriden has put up a new 35m E3 (5c), Reilig, which starts from the big grassy ledge, half way up the crag and to the left of Stop Making Sense. Route description to follow.
• Andrew Cubbon, aka Squib, has cleaned the top pitch variation to Raglan Road. Squib replaced the peg, but it widened the crack, and may not be a good placement, so treat it with care.
• Yo ho, Ricky Bell's Ozzie mate, the 4th Earl of Warrnambool, the great Ronan Rosendorf Druce despite being regarded as a total Bludger by the swaggies back home, wacked out ripper ascents of Primal Scream and Hell's Kitchen Arête on Saturday 26th May. Ronan says: "Despite that Yobbo belaying, and this woop woop location, those are 2 berko routes. Totally Bonza. Nearly lost me clackers at one point, when this jumbuck bleated over the top as I was Larrikin with a rollie. Troppo, just so troppo..."
• On Friday 25th May, Angus Miller and Geoff Somerville headed up, to arrive in a rain shower. So into the Barnish Coffee House it is for some Malteeser cheescake, which fueled us up and allowed the crag to dry. Over at the crag, gale force onshore winds made the place totally baltic, not pleasant at all, but we headed down the Prow for Railroad, Midnight Crusiser and both variations of Fáth Mo Bhuartha. This was Angus's first time on the E1's at the Head, saying: "Aha, so that's what this FH climbing is all about, pump fest city!!!, love it :¬) "
• Felix Davey's been blasting the routes out, one of which was the 2nd ascent of The Grey Man, Ricky Bells latest addition to the Grey Mans Path. Felix even left out the friend placement, cause the stretch to lace it seemed worse than just going up! Nice one Felix... you is nuts!
• Despite showers everywhere, Tim Wilson and Mark McGladdery slipped in a successful afternoon on Tuesday 15 May. Mark says: "Tim cruised up Mizen Star and then dispatched The Embankment with ease - what a beautiful pitch - one of the best!"
• The meet on 4th to 7th May has been declared a total success with many new faces introduced to the vertical fun at Fair Head.
  
  Calvin Torrans says:
  "Thanks to everyone for the great turn out! Over 60 people made it up, on routes all over the crag, a good mix of keen first timers and regulars who gave lots of good info on the routes. Folks came from Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Kilkenny, Enniskillen, Galway plus there was Eddie Cooper's youth team, who need their legs breaking before they get any better. Was good to see so many women there, climbing together, so god is in his heaven. Here's a quick run down on the weekend: Howard Hebblewaithe and Ronan Browner climbed Thunder Road finding it dirty and hard. They also did the second ascent of our new route Lochlannach and thought it good, confirming the grade at E3 (5c, 5c, 6a). and finding the 6a pitch hard. Howard Hebblewaithe climbing with Joan Flannagan did Semaphore Signals. Paul Kiely climbed Hells Kitchen thinking it was hard for 5a, and then discovered he had climbed Equinox and similar happened to Felix Davey, who climbed Marconi thinking it was The Embankment! I believe Felix lead about 6 routes on the prow. There were steady streams of people up all the regular E3's, E2's and E1's and the traffic on Hells Kitchen traffic was none stop. Clare and I cleaned The Stoat.
  
  Brian McAlinden's perspective:
  "The meet was fantastic, great to see so many people up on the crag - about 60 or so, I would think. I arrived up on Friday evening with Damien O'Sullivan and managed to get a few routes in before the night was out. Topped out on Midnight Cruiser about 10.30pm in dusk conditions. Damo was seconding me on this and was feeling for holds at the top - good to be back : )
  
  Saturday started off nice and sunny with The Prow and Ballycastle descent gully totally rammed. Girona must have gotten a dozen + ascents in the 3 days of the meet. Queues where common! Saturday weather slowly deteriorated but most people climbed till around 7pm when showers finally hit the crag. Sundays weather was worse again but saw pretty much everyone climbing, watching the many showers shave the cliff and disappear either into Ballycastle or onto Rathlin Island. Loads done again with all the classic E2's on the main crag getting traffic. I did the 1st pitch of Ocean Boulevard before a shower came on. A great E3 and very climbable at the mo though a quick brush would put this in pristine condition.
  
  Mondays weather was windy with serious threat of showers but a hardy group headed onto the crag and most where starting routes when the rain finally came on. Proper heavy rain saw a lot of people get very wet. After that, the local cafe was well packed with most heading off down the road leaving Damo and I the only one's left. We hung around and took our chance to get one route in on The Prow between the showers :¬)
  
  Damo and I hung around until Thursday with 3 days of climbing with the constant threat of showers. Was windy and cold - very early March weather - and thus we just ticked some classics. Would have like to have done much more but the weather just takes it out of you. We never rested properly either as we where always trying to get climbing in as weather forecast always said rain coming - most of the time it held off, so we where properly knackered by Wednesday. Thursday saw the rain properly come on and thus ended our trip.
  
  One of the highlights was climbing Creeper. It's an E1 over beside Burn Up. Micky McCann & Squib cleaned it the week before (well done to them as it looked like a lot of work). We ab'd in as the first pitch is stinking. Good ab at top of route (Sephamore Signals in same place and its also very clean), would need a 60m rope at least. I did first pitch and it's climbing similar to Doldrum in that it's a classic old wide crack with lots of easier 'adventurous' climbing with some great positions. Crux is superb roof, 3D climbing with classic fist jams :¬)  We had 50m ropes and so I had to belay below the top (decent ledge). Top pitch was good as well. You might be able to do the climb in 1 long 60m pitch - would be close but I think it's possible. The route needs long quick draws and would eat hex's (I only had 2 and used them quickly). The climb is in pretty good nick but could do with another brush. We removed some more loose rock and I brushed some foot holds as I went :¬) Micky and Squib did a superb job but some more traffic and a stiff brush would make this a classic E1 at the head. I definitely think 2/3 stars for sure.
  
  All in all, a very successful meet  - and for me, was psyched to be back on the head after nearly 2 years away. The head is still the best crag I've climbed on - we are very lucky! .. if only the good weather had held on for another week :¬) "
• Over the weekend of 28 April, Micky McCann cleaned Creeper, a long E1 at the bottom of the Grey Man's Path and beside it, Kevin Power cleaned Semaphore Signals a powerful E4 with a long second pitch. Kevin and Micky then climbed both routes. If their at your grade stick 'em at the top of your tick list, as each are excellent routes that have been lacking attention for years. Great news...
• Calvin and Clare Torrans have established another new route starting just right of Viking. The first pitch follows Waist Deep in Alligators, then follows the crack to sloping ledges. Calvin says: "A good pitch, better than it looks and well cleaned." The 2nd pitch takes the deep crack up a right facing corner with excellent climbing. The 3rd climbs the corner of Roaring Meg to the long ledge, then up shallow left facing corner via the scabie wall to the small roof. This is climbed on the left to big flakes. Bring lots of small friends for this pitch, it's short but awkward and take care with the rock. Lochlannach goes at E3 (5c,5c,6a) with Clare climbing the first two pitches.
• Eddie Barbour has just blasted out a new E7 in the Grey Man's Path, before zipping back to uni. Yip, you read that right, E7. Strong as an ox and just fresh back from Buoux, Eddie describes the line as fierce french 7c+ climbing with good, but hard to place gear. There's a description on the new routes page and on the message board. Awesome!!!
• Well I never, what a scorching weekend! Saw climbers on Aoife, but dunno who? send us an email... it's all good to build the interest.
• Sat 14 April was a corker and Tim Wilson and Geoff Somerville again hit the Prow for yet more arm pumping training. Tim opted for a truly gritted display of dogged determination testing the mettle on a Mongrel Fox-Darkness-Mongrel Fox-Mongrel Fox-Darkness-Darkness-Darkness-Mongrel Fox combination! Between us we both are in total agreement that Darkness is an absolute top of the grade E2. It's as hard as Cuchullain and Phyrric Victory. After the war of attrition, Geoff did Fireball, before the pair of us, spent ages drinking tea stalling for time, both scared to go back down again! We were shattered! Bliss :¬)
• On Friday 13 April, George Carleton and Geoff Somerville headed up, for George's first outing at the Head this season. Between us we notched up The Fence, Mongrel Fox, Stone Mad and Odyssey, doing an alternative adventurous top pitch on Odyssey. Geoff says: "It's been ages since I've done Mongrel Fox and waaaaoooo... that's a route and a half. Steep and pumpy at the very top, totally awesome endurance training for sure."
• Niall Gault made a return to the head on Sat 7 April, after a series of extended trips away, bolt clipping all over the place, the most recent two being in Morocco and Spain. Climbing with Geoff Somerville the pair notched up Railroad, Energize, Fireball and Midnight Cruiser. Niall confirmed Energize as a deserving independent route in it's on right. The general consensus for the grade is a "low in the grade" E1 (5b). It's the perfect introductory Fair Head E1, as the gear is mega, the moves obvious, there's only one short strenuous bit, plus it's short at 24m! What more could you ask for...
• Felix Davey , Eddie Cooper, Anja Jones and Rachael Cooper went up on the 25th of March. Felix led the Black Thief, Energize, Midnight Cruiser and Fireball with Rachael seconding all of those! Felix says: "Excellent day, great weather and delicious ice cream, what more could you want!"
• Every route on the Prow had chalk on it on Sat 7 April, and the routes are in mint condition. Bliss...
• Ben Gibson and Jonathon aka "Gibby" Gibson made their first forte of the year up, on Thursday 5th March, notching up Fáth Mo Bhuartha, Midnight Cruiser, and The Fence in a quick visit. Ben says: "Man it's great to get the cobwebs blown out again. I'm sooo... stoked for more!!!"
• Saturday 31 March at the head was like summers day in Las Vegas, it was so dry and warm! Tim Wilson and Geoff Somerville hit the Prow for the usual “do the arms still work?” first outing of the year. Bliss. We managed to stave off the arm pump to do Fáth Mo Bhuartha, Midnight Cruiser, The Fence, Energize and Stone Mad. Ciaran Kinney was up too, doing his one man big wall thing, shunting up on Mongrel Fox, then Fireball, then goodness knows what next. Fun, fun, fun...
• The general consensus is that the left crack of Fáth Mo Bhuartha is deserving as a route in it's own right, so after checking with Dermot Somers it's been given the name Energize. It's low in the grade with bomber gear hence the perfect introduction to E1 at Fair Head. What's more it's such a clean line it'll be sure to be very popular.
• If you've a few minutes to spare over coffee, it'd be great if you could scan the site and email me anything you see that is amiss. Things like the New Routes page, the graded list, the 2nd Ascents Page plus the Route News page. It's all good...
• Some great news in from Calvin is that the variation finish to Hurricane done last summer was actually a first ascent after all. That means it now awaits a second ascent, promise, you won't be disappointed, it's got one 5c move and the rest is easy but the position is truly fantastic, with bomber gear on demand all the way. Thoroughly recommended...
• Calvin Torrans, Andrew Cubbon (Squib), Mickey McCann and Donald O'Connor, headed up on the 3rd and 4th February 2007. Between them they did loads of routes on The Prow and Mickey had his first play on Thunderhips saying; "without enough big gear that top bit was great fun". Over on Farrangandoo, Squib did the 2nd ascent of Belfast Cowboys, on sighting it too in great style, confirming the grade at E4 (6a). Now that's cranking...
• The days are getting longer, the rock is in good nick and and the word is a few people have been venturing up again. If it is sunny the conditions at The Prow can be perfect, so worth thinking about. Ken Lindsay was up recently and had a grand day saying it was dry and great to get going again. Apart from that little news is coming in, so drop me a line to let me know what's been going on.
• Inspiration. Here's a little ditto of what Fair Head addict Sean Villanueva has been getting up to. Patagonia Dreams. Something else!

If you've any other news old or new, mail it in...

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