tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41621798665798720202024-03-06T12:01:51.113-08:00Donegal Rock Climbing. Unique AscentWe specialise in providing exceptional outdoor adventure holidays, outdoor activities and mountain training with a difference. We offer a full range of courses and guided packages including hill walking, mountaineering, rock climbing, abseiling, coastaleering and sea stack ascents along the coast and mountain ranges of Co. Donegal in Ireland's North West.Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-66474711736822391622016-07-10T15:52:00.003-07:002016-07-12T05:27:49.851-07:00Free Soloing on Tory Island<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Tory Island Rock Climbing</h2>
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And Sho, as the summer wears on with its usual mix of tropical and not so tropical days, the current to do list was crying out for attention. Quite near to the top of the list was a rather cunning plan to free solo the landward face route on Centre Stack just off the north face of Tory Island. (Tory Island guidebook is <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/tory_island" target="_blank">HERE</a></b>) </div>
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<b>Centre Stack Film</b></div>
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Centre Stack (more detail <b><a href="http://uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/tory-island--toraigh-centre-stack" target="_blank">HERE</a></b>) was first climbed in 2009 by Phillip "Chuck" Stevens and Martin Boner, they climbed the full stack height arete running up the sea ward face in two pitches. The second ascent of the stack was in 2011 when Wolfgang Schueller and my good self climbed the slightly intimidating looking landward arete at Severe. It was then, in 2011, that a first thought that this route would make a superb free solo began to manifest itself.<br />
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Free soloing is quite simply climbing without any ropes or other protection, so for most part a fall will potentially be terminal. The moral of the story is you can not fall, which in turn focuses the mind onto the present in a way that very few other activities ever could. Of course, it is not without a bit of concern that you endeavour to play out in this manner.<br />
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<b>Overlooking the stack from the clifftops</b><br />
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Once the decision to free solo the stack was made it was simply a case of waiting for the weather, tides and sea state to all play ball and once the planets have aligned in a suitably calm manner then the games begin.<br />
On the Sunday in question I caught the 11am ferry from Magheroarty on mainland Donegal and travelled the 14km out to Tory Island, this meant I had to be back on the cliff tops on mainland Tory by 5pm latest to catch the ferry home. I have found that time is the key to gauging progress in all activities where concern can overwhelm. For me it is a mini internal relief valve as I always have a cunning timescale in which pretty much each stage is double the length it realistically needs to be, a bit like John Cleese in the film Clockwise. It is also a case of ticking as many unknowns as is possible before they become a problem. The case of a sea stack on Tory Island the greatest unknowns are sea state and weather, especially the amount of sea motion in the channel between the stack and mainland Tory. This 50m sea passage is prone to monster seas as it is open to west to north seas and off course being 14km west of Ireland in the Atlantic it is never easy to gauge from the mainland of Donegal. </div>
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<b>The short paddle out</b><b><br /></b>
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<b> </b>Arrived on Tory at about 11.30am and after an audience with The King and Moira ni Gallagher I headed across the island and at this point I was moving as quick as I could. Up to this point it was only an educated guess as to whether the sea channel to the stack would be crossable or whether there was too much west to north sea on. Once overlooking the stack from the clifftops it was game on, a bit of northerly ripple in the sea below but nothing to stop the mighty dingy on its voyage of foolishness. </div>
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<b>Looking up the route</b><br />
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<b> </b>A swift rigging of the 50m single from the clifftops to the storm beach below and I abseiled to the Tory mainland exit point on the house sized boulders below. It is only once the process has began that the sense of equilibrium can be achieved as it is all to easy to say, no i'm too scared and simply stop and return to the Tory Hotel to drink coffee with Moira. <br />
I inflated the dingy and made the short calm crossing to the base of the stack. Once at the base of the stack I decided to only take one of the 6om half ropes as weight and the overhanging start of the route made me feel a bit uneasy. This would also mean finding a second abseil point on the stack as a single 60 was going to mean two abseils from the summit back to sea level. This was a minor cause for concern but was vastly overshadowed by the weight of the second rope and the ever spiraling thoughts of falling. </div>
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<b>Climbing the route</b><br />
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And Sho, I began to climb, the first move of the ground is the hardest and makes you commit to a bit of a lunge for a flat hold. Once you reach the hold you bring your feet up to a small stance and begin to feel sick as you are now committed at 5 ft off the ground, 30 ft above the sea, 100ft from mainland Tory at the base of a 45m stack and below a 50m sea cliff surrounding you from the Tory side, which in turn is 14 km west of the Donegal mainland. You are, off course totally alone having told no one where you are or what you are doing except "heading out to Tory."</div>
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It is now, once you are committed to the climb that real mind games begin.</div>
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<b>Standing on the summit of Centre Stack</b><br />
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<b> </b> I climbed a couple more moves onto a good big sloping ledge, where Wolfgang took a belay on the first ascent, 7 years previous. From here I followed the easier angled cracks to a bulging overlap at about 25m above the sea. Climbing through this overhang is by far the most exposed part of the route and a couple of big easy moves on jugs takes you to a stance above the nose. Standing here was the moment I knew everything was going to be good, as the climbing above was nice Severe ground and I also now knew I could abseil in two pitches from the summit on the doubled 60m. </div>
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<b>The Toes of Balor</b><br />
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<b> </b>Sea stack climbing is an extremely foolish activity in which the consequence of getting it wrong can be death. Free soloing sea stacks is a mind bending game in which each and every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Alas the odds are also heavily stacked in the sea stacks favour with hundred of good reasons why this is a bad idea. The equal and opposite side of this is the overcoming of primal fear and loathing that comes from meeting and facing the inner you, your most tricky opponent. </div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com2Ulster, Ireland55.262685737041828 -8.207130432128906255.244590237041827 -8.2474709321289055 55.280781237041829 -8.166789932128907tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-75744919352699128312016-03-20T03:10:00.000-07:002016-04-07T05:21:41.078-07:00Ireland's Highest Tyrolean Traverse<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Tyrolean Traverse</h2>
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"A <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/tyrolean_traverse" target="_blank">Tyrolean Traverse</a> </b>is a method of crossing through free space between two high points on a rope without a hanging cart. This is used in a wide range of mountaineering activities: rock climbing, technical tree climbing, caving, water crossings and mountain rescue." Wikipedia<br />
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Over the years I've rigged a number of these traverses and have ensured the safety of approx 500 happy troopers at the step of the edge of a cliff moment to haul themselves along the thin semi-static above the void to the other side of many chasms.<br />
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The most public of these traverses was a couple of years ago on Berg Stack in south west Donegal, when a team of 12 international bloggers and journalists took a step off the edge. This was the first of the "wonder what is possible" traverses and opened the possibility some very scary locations.<br />
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<b>Berg Stack Traverse</b></div>
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And Sho, to the present day in an ever present quest I've been on the constant lookout for suitably outrageous traverse locations. The higher, longer and the more remote the better the location. There are currently 11 on a list in a descending order of foolishness. The first on the list is the highest location I have found in Donegal and required a day of uber sun and a willing team of gear carrying sherpas. :-)<br />
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Derryveagh Mountains</h3>
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Alas by their geological make up, the mountains of Donegal have very few suitable traverse locations as there are very few deep and steep sided gullies. An exception to this general rule is The Rocky Gap which sits at 590 metres above sea level on the west facing slopes of Drumnaliffernin Mountain at Grid Reference B933155. This huge and spectacular is home to outstanding grade 1 <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/winter_climbing" target="_blank"><b>winter climbing</b></a>, when off course winter visits Ireland. </div>
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<b>Tyrolean Traverse Film</b></div>
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And so, with the continued tropical sunshine a team of four set off on 16th March 2016 to rig a traverse across this high and lonely gully. In the house were Conall Ó Fiannachta, Conor Ó Braonáin, David Lee and off course my good self.<br />
We parked as close as we possibly could on the Doocharry to Churchill road which reduced the walkin to a 2 km uphill pathless amble up the granite slabs and heather. For a traverse of this span (70 meters) we were carrying a 200 meter semi-static rope, 32 HMS lockable carabiners, a full multi pitch rack and each of our personal climbing gear. The youngest two in our merry band of uphill plodders took it in turns to carry the 200m static rope which quickly became known as "the pig."<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;"> An hour or so later, we arrived a bit redder in the face at our intended launch point and began rigging the doubled 200 meter static across the void. This part of the rigging process takes by far the most amount of time. Rigging the static involved finding and placing 6 anchors at each side of the gully and equalising them to two independent points. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;"> A couple of hours later and with the rigging, tensioning, checking and re-checking completed all that was left to do was to step off the edge. Alas as this was my idea for a day out, I was first up to test the rig.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;"> There is nothing quite like stepping off a cliff with nothing but a couple of very thin strands of rope spanning a huge void in front of you. Once you are air borne and all the dynamic and static parts of the system are loaded it is simply a case of lowering your heart rate and hauling across the open air with massive amounts of exposure all round you. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;"><b>From Below</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;"><b>Gully View</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;"> To date this was the highest and longest tyrolean traverse rigged in Ireland and it has opened the door to the next potential traverse across a much longer span above the ocean. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;"><b>Air Time</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;"><b>Head of the Gully</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;"><b>Walking Home</b></span></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-86258809367948801292016-03-03T12:06:00.004-08:002016-03-03T12:06:45.073-08:00Dunaff Head Inishowen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
The First Ascent of Bothanvarra</h3>
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Living on the north
west tip of the Inishowen Peninsula is the 230 meter high Dunaff Hill. This
hill is hemmed in by Dunaff Bay to the south and by Rocktown Bay to the north,
which in turn creates the huge Dunaff Headland. This headland has a 4 kilometre
stretch of very exposed and very high sea cliffs running along its western circumference
to a high point of 220 meters at which it overlooks the sea stack <b><a href="http://uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/dunaff-head" target="_blank">Bothanvarra and Dunaff Head</a>.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gNw6wNKpqQQ/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gNw6wNKpqQQ?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<b>Bothanvarra Film</b></div>
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Bothanvarra is a 70 meter
high chubby Matterhorn shaped sea stack which sits in the most remote,
inescapable and atmospheric location on the Inishowen coastline. It sits
equidistant from the bays north and south and is effectively guarded by 4
kilometres of loose, decaying and unclimbable sea cliffs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was until the 24<sup>th</sup>
August 2014 one of only two remaining unclimbed monster sea stacks on the
Donegal coast.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was in 2010 when I
first paid a visit to the summit of Dunaff Hill and caught a first glimpse of
Bothanvarra. Alas this was on a day of lashing rain and with a pounding ocean
and so it was buried in a todo list of epic proportions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Inishowen Rock Climbing</b></div>
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Fast forward to
2013 and we were at Fanad Head to do a shoot Failte Ireland film and abseil off
the lighthouse. It was then that I saw the true nature of the beast from a
totally different perspective from across the bay and so it was game on. A week
later and as a troop of four we headed to have a wee look at gaining the stack
from the summit of Dunaff Hill by descending to sea level and a nautical
passage from there. On this visit it was very apparent that this was a beast of
a stack with major access and logistical problems but a lot was learned from
this attempt and several cunning plans were formed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In October 2013
accompanied by a couple of troops (Sean O'Keefe and Julia) from London we
descended the 200 meter high gully to the south of the stack to a monster storm
beach at sea level. It was then a 300 meter sea passage to the base of the stack
from here. On this occasion we made it on to the base of the stack but alas the
sun only arrived on the stack very late in the afternoon and alas the entire
stack was soaking wet and the climbing on the sea ward face looked very
involved. We retreated and re-ascended the gully as evening and rain began to
approach.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>At the base of the gully</b></div>
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In May 2014
made a fourth attempt at the stack, this time with Louise O'Connor, with a
slight change of plan we hammered in a stake and abseiled/scrambled down the
steeper gully directly facing the northern tip of the stack. We descended this
grotfest of a gully until about 20 meters above sea level alas with no sensible
anchors and with 20 meters of steep slime covered slabs to the hideous boulder
beach death drop below us we retreated. Again from this position just above sea
level directly opposite the stack there did not look to be any easy way to the
summit, which gave a mild note of concern. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And sho, after four attempts and having viewed all the
available approach strategies, a very cunning plan was hatched. </div>
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<b>Climbing Bothanvarra</b></div>
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It had by this time become very apparent from the previous attempts that
this was an Uber stack of epic proportions and it was now time to go it
alone. This is not as foolhardy as it may first appear as logistically and
practically being along on such an endeavour, as it reduces potential collateral
mishap but alas increases the commitment and fear factor to epic proportions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was now the
24th August 2014 and attempt five was underway, there was a 12 hour window of
less than 1 meter swell from the south west and winds were blowing off shore for
24 hours. This time I was accompanied by Aidan McGinley as a cliff top
photographer and the cunning plan was a circumnavigation of Dunaff Head by
small inflatable dingy to access the base of the stack and solo climb to the
summit. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We arrived at Rocktown Harbour, the bay to the north
of Dunaff and I immediately inflated the mighty vessel and set sail whilst
Aidan headed off up to Dunaff Hill summit. The sea state was nice and relaxed
as I paddled around the coast below the unescapable and extremely scary ever
growing sea cliffs looming above me. After about 30 minutes and about 1 and a
half kilometres of atmospheric paddling I landed on an offshore skerry approximately
200 meters to the north of Bothanvarra. From this sea level position the
stack towering above me looked very much like suicide as all round me on this
very exposed wee stance the entrance to Hades became a very real doorway to the
further. I decided to simply leave the stack summit to someone else as a rising
tide of fear was beginning to dull the real world senses to a point where it
was difficult to tell whether I was really there or simply in a dream having
already drowned on the sea approach in the last 30 minutes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Standing on the summit</b></div>
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I returned to
the boat and began paddling home through the channel between the stack and
land. It was then with a lightening bolt of total recall, a crystal clear
memory of a groove system running up the south face came to mind. I paddled
into a position approximately 150 meters to the south of the stack to view the
south face, YES the groove system was there and it looked a very real
proposition. Primal fear had now been replaced with endorphins of the highest
quality as I landed on the stack and hauled the boat and gear onto a most
excellent non-tidal stance. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The best way forwards from here was to simple freesolo
the ground above until it became necessary to employ the inverted gri-gri
climbing partner. The climbing was easy but very loose and just (and I do mean
just) the right side of terrifying. I just continued climbing up through a huge
hanging slab and bypassing monster roofs to my right, I found myself on the
huge summit ridge. A quick glance at my feet and there was plenty of rock to
create abseil anchors, the sense of relief was overwhelming. It was now a scramble
to the stacks highest point and I now knew I could safely get off the summit,
it was a bit like finding a hundred sets of lost car keys at once! :-)<o:p></o:p></div>
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A swift scramble along the summit ridge on to the
small very exposed summit. The summit ridge of Bothanvarra is an excellent 50
meter ridge scramble along a true knife edge with an ever growing sense of
exposure as the death drop either side of you increases to a 70 meter crescendo
at the pin point summit. As with all mountaineering objectives the summit
usually only marks the halfway point, but in the case of the unknown this
summit marked the end of the uncertainty.<br /></div>
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With hindsight the uncertainty on the outward journey was the most
intense I have ever experienced. Will I make the long unescapable sea passage?
Will I be able to climb the stack? Can I then get back down off the stack's
summit? These were three reference points of top end mental anguish which faded
upon reaching this summit.</div>
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<br /> This stack is the second last of the unclimbed monster stacks in Donegal,
with only one left and summer fading fast, looks like next year for a return
match with the fear.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-21145038564843481992015-12-13T05:17:00.000-08:002015-12-13T05:22:26.614-08:00Donegal Rock Climbing Guidebook 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
And sho, what seems like a lifetime ago when I first started out on this noble quest the Mountaineering Ireland Donegal Rock Climbing Guidebook 2015 is back from the printers and is on sale through Mountaineering Ireland. More information <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/rockclimbing_donegal_guidebook_2015" target="_blank">HERE</a></b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Donegal Guidebook 2015</b></div>
<br />
This is a select guidebook to County Donegal it contains over 1000 outstanding rock climbs found throughout the entire length and breadth of the county from Muckross Head in the South to Malin Head at the northern tippy toe of the Inishowen Peninsula.<br />
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The guide comprises 25 very different rock climbing areas these areas include Ireland's longest rock climb, Ireland's largest mountain crag, Ireland's highest sea stack as well as many more standard single and multi pitch venues above the sea, by the road, on the islands and in the mountains. Each area comprises descriptive text and an area map to ensure the ease of finding the location by any first time visitor. Throughout the book over 250 colour photographs have been used to help desc ribe every cliff and crag listed. This ensures that 96% the routes in the guide are shown on full colour photo topos with the photos that were taken from best angle/position and in optimum light so as to allow first time visitors to find their chosen routes. Each separate location is based on the online guide at <a href="http://uniqueascent.ie/undiscovered_donegal" target="_blank"><b>Donegal on-line guide</b></a> with each chapter in the book having an online counterpart. This allows more regular visitors to Donegal to explore further using these online more definite guides.<br />
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The guide starts at Muckross in the south of the county and follows the coast clockwise to Tory Island. Along this coast we visit several of the previously established and documented locations such as Sail Rock, Malinbeg, Gola Island and Skelpoonagh Bay. This coast is by far the most developed areas of Donegal since the previous guide in 2002 with large numbers of new routes and locations on An Port coastline, Cruit and Arranmore Islands.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Sail Rock</b></div>
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<b>Cruit Island</b></div>
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<b>Gola Island</b></div>
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After Tory Island the guide goes inland and starting in the Bluestack Mountains back in the south of the county travels north over the Derryveagh Mountains, Muckish and Crockanaffrin to finish on the Inishowen Peninsula. The main developments since the previous guide have been at Ballaghageeha Buttress in the Poison Glen, Crockanaffrin and at Malin Head.</div>
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<b>Bingorms</b></div>
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<b>Crockanaffrin</b></div>
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<b>Inishowen</b></div>
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The guide then finishes with a short four page chapter outlining the huge winter climbing potential of the county and developments over the last 50 years.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u-aIgKu-Q_s/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u-aIgKu-Q_s?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<b>Donegal Winter Climbing</b></div>
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<b> </b>What this guidebook will provide both first time visitor and more seasoned Donegal climbers is several life times of outstanding and in many cases world class rock climbing in some of the most beautiful places in Ireland.<br />
<br />
Iain Miller </div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Dunglow, Co. Donegal, Ireland54.951111427956207 -8.3639655518193254.93287342795621 -8.4043060518193187 54.9693494279562 -8.32362505181932tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-51910111076272647742015-11-03T16:27:00.002-08:002015-11-03T16:27:43.494-08:00Tororragaun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Ireland's Newest Climbing Location</h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Taking
advantage of the outstanding late summer in the last few days in western
Donegal, paddled out for a visit to the rarely visited Tororragaun
Island. </span></div>
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<b>Tororragaun Film</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Tororragaun is
a 22 metre high rocky granite island living in the channel between Gola and
Umfin Islands four kilometres off the Gweedore coast. The island is effectively
guarded on all sides by Gola Island quality Granite sea cliffs and off course
the potential for climbing new routes is enormous. Running through the centre
of the island is a huge, and I do mean HUGE, sea washed water spout. It is
difficult to imagine the size of this water spout but it would easily
accommodate a million tons of sea water at a time. During his visit Iain free
soloed (unroped) five new 60 foot rock climbs on the seaward face of the
island. These are the first recorded rock climbs on the island are in the
Tororragaun free guidebook is<b> <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/tororragaun" target="_blank">Tororragaun Guidebook Webpage</a>. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b> </b>This rocky outcrop has been on the to do list for a couple of years and only now with a shiney sit on top and an indian summer the new routes account has been open on its seaward face. :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> There is no fresh water on the island and pretty
much every horizontal surface is birded as this is home to approx. 500 nesting
pairs of Fulmar and a token amount of Gannet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Access to the island by sea kayak from Port
Arthur Pier at Map ref B798284 on the Gweedore Coast. Landing on Tororragaun is
not without a certain degree of rocky uncertainty as there are no easy landing
beaches, coves or recesses. The easiest landing is at the eastern tip of the
island onto rock sea level ledges. With a west sea running the island provides
excellent lee and this eastern tip has large non-tidal ledges for kayak storage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>Rock Climbing on Tororragaun</b></span></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-85248548123608669332015-10-12T10:18:00.002-07:002015-10-12T10:28:02.606-07:00Sail Rock. Donegal Rock Climbing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
And sho, as summer comes to an end it is most definitely time to catch up on the backlog of much neglected unedited U-tube films, footage, pictures blog posts and in general trying to document some of the 200 or so days out playing on Donegal's sea cliffs, sea stacks and mountains this year so far. It has been beyond an outstanding year but more of that in future posts.<br />
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One of this years <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/" target="_blank"><b>Unique Ascent</b></a> trainee Fionnuala Donnelly spent the middle of the summer seeking vertical pleasure on the Donegal coastline. On a sunny Saturday morning we paid a visit to one of Donegal's older and more established climbing venues to make an ascent of the classic VS Roaring Forties.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/svJdCxz2bHM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/svJdCxz2bHM?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<b>Sail Rock Film</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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Sail Rock is an outstanding 80m high quartzite slab in an excellent coastal location living in amongst the much poorer quality rock on the sea cliffs along the spectacular Slieve League coastline in the south west of Co Donegal for the free online guide <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sail_rock_guide" target="_blank"><b>click here to download.</b></a> <br />
The Slieve League area of Co Donegal has changed dramatically in the last year or two with the new improved access roads and the massive visitor footfall that Slieve League and the Wild Atlantic Way brings this to this area, it is now possible to drive very close to the crag and save the carrying of a 100 metres static abseil rope from the old car park.<br />
To find Sail Rock from the Slieve League access road, from the road keep looking towards the sea was you walk/drive along the road until you see the clifftop watch tower then simply follow the path from the road down to the tower, Once at the tower the summit of Sail Rock is but 50 metres to your east.<br />
Access to the base of Sail Rock is by either an abseil or by a very steep and quite loose alpine scramble down the ridge on the opposite side of the basin to the face. The abseil down the face is by far the best way to reach the base of the face and the start of the routes. Alas as this was not our primary venue choice for today and there was a sea stack in Mayo still laugh at us from across the bay we did not have our 100 metre static with us and so a descent of the ridge it was by default. </div>
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It took about 25 steep loose minutes to gain the cauldron at the bottom of the routes. We descended the loose aréte until approx 40 metres above the sea and then did an easy 50 metre traverse into the top of the bason and pretty much the start of Mainmast.</div>
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<b>Abseil down Sail Rock</b></div>
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<b>Access Traverse</b></div>
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<b>The Base of Sail Rock</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0WkjAx8OTD2nv9dbXIvRdMBoPa79GICI08SpOB4Sx7NDTnUXA42cr_w87R9Q97Ma0DX_kIAuGMi7Mp-0X6Bi1rPX0q1e1wHqrFQh-6Ltvs1SL4-NcPvpDaGD0d2fKZTShiSDuqgCZVBdQ/s1600/Looking+up+Sail+Rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0WkjAx8OTD2nv9dbXIvRdMBoPa79GICI08SpOB4Sx7NDTnUXA42cr_w87R9Q97Ma0DX_kIAuGMi7Mp-0X6Bi1rPX0q1e1wHqrFQh-6Ltvs1SL4-NcPvpDaGD0d2fKZTShiSDuqgCZVBdQ/s320/Looking+up+Sail+Rock.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<b>Looking up Sail Rock</b></div>
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<b> </b>Anyways on this occasion Fionnuala and my good self climbed Roaring Forties combined the first two pitches and savoured the last pitch especially the final 10 metre pull out onto the main face jugfest. </div>
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<b>Looking down pitch 2</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH_foFZaV2rNxs-6yJDwgeObiWEpoWXFIkBbWKSn_BWQZAueQb7lxEnIfdfvvCplFY0RMbkZOgoUWUotR-WzltNjI_f6q4mAE7KHfhYVXIKK8zUbel251rm8XVpkE0-_5JPr8_cpLLR_ci/s1600/Donegal+Rock+Climbing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH_foFZaV2rNxs-6yJDwgeObiWEpoWXFIkBbWKSn_BWQZAueQb7lxEnIfdfvvCplFY0RMbkZOgoUWUotR-WzltNjI_f6q4mAE7KHfhYVXIKK8zUbel251rm8XVpkE0-_5JPr8_cpLLR_ci/s320/Donegal+Rock+Climbing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Topping Out</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-10980099142270712992015-06-12T06:15:00.000-07:002015-06-12T07:22:12.613-07:00Stag Rocks Donegal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Living 7 kilometres of the west coast of Donegal are a tiny collection of three rocky islands known as Stag Rocks or simply the Stags of Owey. They live 2 km directly out into the ocean from the seaward side of Owey Island. The islands themselves are only 6 meters high on their summits and they are surrounded by semi submerged skerries which means they are normally surrounded by very turbulent water. This makes them a tad tricky to access as they are by any stretch of the imagination a long way from mainland Donegal.<br />
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I have had the idea to land on these remote outcrops for several years now but always seemed to distracted by slightly higher offshore islands when the seas wee calm enough to allow safe access. Anyways after several recces looking at different options and exit points from mainland Donegal. It became very apparent I needed a more sea worthy vessel than the ever faithful Lidl dingy. Step forward the Decathlon one person inflatable kayak and what better way to to have its maiden voyage than the Stags.<br />
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<b>Stag Rocks Film</b></div>
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<b> </b>Set sail from the far tip of cruit Island at the Owey Pier with a short paddle out to the lee of Owey Islands north coast. It was then simply a case of making the 2 km open sea passage out to the Stags. This sea passage took it seemed forever as the Stags never got any closer no matter how long I was paddling for. When I arrived at the Stags there was a touch of white water and the only sane place to land was on the NE tip of the North Island and after a wee bit of hesitation and bouncing about made a successful landing. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZmwN2Q9B6XUF_Q9tK53DK4Vkg7CYc-iGq73XiWm-9OoQq_qohp2z3iaBT3rIAts4MjjYqlawSOX3uLaJGMG2s33RHSUkrtIOb7rHJ1luxyvMrPE5vUvreNF3O9nVbR3Fzx-0nq7WbT27E/s1600/Mapped+Donegal+From+Stags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZmwN2Q9B6XUF_Q9tK53DK4Vkg7CYc-iGq73XiWm-9OoQq_qohp2z3iaBT3rIAts4MjjYqlawSOX3uLaJGMG2s33RHSUkrtIOb7rHJ1luxyvMrPE5vUvreNF3O9nVbR3Fzx-0nq7WbT27E/s320/Mapped+Donegal+From+Stags.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Donegal from Stag Rocks</b></div>
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It is safe to say this very rarely visited remote rocky outcrop is an outstanding place to be especially when the sun is shining in a bright blue sky. </div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Ireland55.068146002659894 -8.46908569335937555.059052502659895 -8.4892556933593752 55.077239502659893 -8.4489156933593748tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-65681363520975118552015-06-01T00:38:00.001-07:002015-06-01T01:42:59.512-07:00Donegal Rock Climbing 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Story so far in 2015..........</h3>
So far in 2015 it has been a very mixed bag of weather and sea conditions with a 3 week tropical heatwave at the start of April to the thunder storms and the near return of winter in mid May. But no matter what the weather brings we have been out to play pretty much every day, with visits to every main climbing location in Donegal so far this year and all, I hasten to add, in glorious sunshine. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T4D50FeRuS0/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T4D50FeRuS0?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<b>Owey Island Rock Climbing</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlg0RuirPeVtSPp8Qkg0HbMcz5VgZL5UmsVsU6c2yOPSdXoE7X8lIfIVZ14ihyl6mOt57QzlBjENEGDJkqDBs46BjqtuhShUlihSKzq-Y7l83QUIZd4uU8NhX-oZULfLj1zak94LS6A9W/s1600/Wave+on+Blade+-+Copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlg0RuirPeVtSPp8Qkg0HbMcz5VgZL5UmsVsU6c2yOPSdXoE7X8lIfIVZ14ihyl6mOt57QzlBjENEGDJkqDBs46BjqtuhShUlihSKzq-Y7l83QUIZd4uU8NhX-oZULfLj1zak94LS6A9W/s320/Wave+on+Blade+-+Copy.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/owey_island" target="_blank">Owey Island Rock Climbing</a></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQw85iwgwNzkbH9K_LT5ajAYrOmlAZ725oVhyphenhyphenLCAMKt7SmlDqx2oRSMFz3WW-V_4ZlOxZDcIT2Z0RGHHGz9J2i5XCMntH5ZxFuMkcZF70d508ruGczPJ02LK4Nw5cn4aZiZhgZMaen82py/s1600/Tory+Island+RockClimbing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQw85iwgwNzkbH9K_LT5ajAYrOmlAZ725oVhyphenhyphenLCAMKt7SmlDqx2oRSMFz3WW-V_4ZlOxZDcIT2Z0RGHHGz9J2i5XCMntH5ZxFuMkcZF70d508ruGczPJ02LK4Nw5cn4aZiZhgZMaen82py/s320/Tory+Island+RockClimbing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Tory Island Rock Climbing</b></div>
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On a wee visit from the U.K. Ian Parnell, Ben Wilkinson, Jon Winter and Henry Jepson made hay while the Donegal sun shone with visits to Owey Island, Sail Rock, Lurking Fear and Cruit Island. With new routes by the Holy Jaysus Wall on Owey and Lurking Fear Stack, the sea and the weather played ball.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitB0jE8Zvd7JeNdhYVtAnPV51o1Qb6ZbyiVS0ZaTI3-UWEy4Refi_bXxzTrbIx_Xn4gOUfO_SQ9f7GXhQeKPQpzhQ7ZBwkczHwjEnr1WH57TCe42dnkfh8HUL6rCzj7i6WyQchpR2SDqiw/s1600/Cnoc+na+Mara.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitB0jE8Zvd7JeNdhYVtAnPV51o1Qb6ZbyiVS0ZaTI3-UWEy4Refi_bXxzTrbIx_Xn4gOUfO_SQ9f7GXhQeKPQpzhQ7ZBwkczHwjEnr1WH57TCe42dnkfh8HUL6rCzj7i6WyQchpR2SDqiw/s320/Cnoc+na+Mara.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sea_stack_guide" target="_blank">Cnoc na Mara trio</a></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEism70-lgL-2kjUYD-LEC3n5IfZYUWjDDrsJToi-FSg2i35dBrpIrhO8jtovJG381FXKRX3x-SeyvQk4WbfnEConDTEcxE5eSI1KSN_FhxLqBU266c51YlDMEU5hNy_WqpenewEa5xXjWx6/s1600/Donegal+Sea+Stack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEism70-lgL-2kjUYD-LEC3n5IfZYUWjDDrsJToi-FSg2i35dBrpIrhO8jtovJG381FXKRX3x-SeyvQk4WbfnEConDTEcxE5eSI1KSN_FhxLqBU266c51YlDMEU5hNy_WqpenewEa5xXjWx6/s320/Donegal+Sea+Stack.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
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<b>Lurking Fear Stack</b></div>
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<b> </b>No visit to to the cliffs of SW Donegal is complete without a look at <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sail_rock_guide" target="_blank"><b>Sail Rock</b></a>. We arrived mid afternoon and after an abseil rigging and a 100m rope uncoiling session two teams were at the base of the face. Ian and Ben going for Mainmast and Jon and Henry nipping up Roaring Forties.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHb1szevqKFqWcDMLqZj7smqPxurmjOfXOr-xmwnku0XmEpcGbZ6kiYDZaaTtOoNABqFUGcRRb_M3rAQRJ5aCxwmNPyackhnwrDZzcQPN4pyjoo-LQPm-SA8hHoYjfFYKdRb-R_83VReow/s1600/Abseil+Sail+Rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHb1szevqKFqWcDMLqZj7smqPxurmjOfXOr-xmwnku0XmEpcGbZ6kiYDZaaTtOoNABqFUGcRRb_M3rAQRJ5aCxwmNPyackhnwrDZzcQPN4pyjoo-LQPm-SA8hHoYjfFYKdRb-R_83VReow/s320/Abseil+Sail+Rock.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
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<b>Sail Rock</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNq5HSfqMBBsQZZ4aWX6XNuczaW4iX8QWO4_Ao5wHIeb5leh6Qg75Qk42m9E8C-FEgHoS4GP474E_jGgdaFC3Rx_OuJhlSqpbNnoyNaik49fOOcdNZAWNIcZaw9tAQpg0ewGtt3Ech-FZ/s1600/Finish+climb+Sail+Rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNq5HSfqMBBsQZZ4aWX6XNuczaW4iX8QWO4_Ao5wHIeb5leh6Qg75Qk42m9E8C-FEgHoS4GP474E_jGgdaFC3Rx_OuJhlSqpbNnoyNaik49fOOcdNZAWNIcZaw9tAQpg0ewGtt3Ech-FZ/s320/Finish+climb+Sail+Rock.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<b>Sail Rock in evening sun</b></div>
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<b> </b> In classic bouncefest fashion and with a modicum of mild concern five different stacks have been climbed fourteen times so far in 2015. A considerable number of mainstream climbing press have had forays into the shady world of sea stacks climbing. It is an entirely different sport taking people onto sea stacks whom you know are going to publish their thoughts in well read publications. Taking someone who has never climbed a stack before (and in most cases never climbed before) onto a nautical summit through white water rage and into the pits of hate is a bit of a mind blower and it never ceases to be enormous fun.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWaNGPNxN3Psa0OareZfQFWRdhiA5nXgx-YIymV2LOgDlMxvwSNWonfLzPdRAAgQ21gEvHj-9JuUvke7pv5xdh7CwCRR81Qo0MOdhd1ZD__JGYb_zuNKGnuSQ9Nn7tp590do3i4_-atrJx/s1600/Sea+Stack+Climbing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWaNGPNxN3Psa0OareZfQFWRdhiA5nXgx-YIymV2LOgDlMxvwSNWonfLzPdRAAgQ21gEvHj-9JuUvke7pv5xdh7CwCRR81Qo0MOdhd1ZD__JGYb_zuNKGnuSQ9Nn7tp590do3i4_-atrJx/s320/Sea+Stack+Climbing.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<b>Sea Stack Climbing</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyfHdUkuOKI7e47mUi7HP13_Kd7Dig6rznYPa0dE0Y0M3bprot_Oghlbr4F_PSJ4T2Gz9JzKeIUHatyjcPHIEJOevlOJ0vzcROW5V1Lpzdl3xrJupc0yUge_w6Jp8ofX-OCEUmeSoSV-Re/s1600/Sturrall+Headland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyfHdUkuOKI7e47mUi7HP13_Kd7Dig6rznYPa0dE0Y0M3bprot_Oghlbr4F_PSJ4T2Gz9JzKeIUHatyjcPHIEJOevlOJ0vzcROW5V1Lpzdl3xrJupc0yUge_w6Jp8ofX-OCEUmeSoSV-Re/s320/Sturrall+Headland.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The Sturrall Headland</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTFwBTaDTZTRDXyCGJqJ-HU5HlG1TmIVeOeMOBJXRocDazSGZrKMeJ8g9AFKrWSlhdJbb7FXlYLX4Zl0FgeM9cafwQOMDRCgWuXcTTzPR9wK9xDEFhJ00Z4mLmgxIQQ3YSL69bNJ3U7zM/s1600/Donegal+Sea+Stacks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTFwBTaDTZTRDXyCGJqJ-HU5HlG1TmIVeOeMOBJXRocDazSGZrKMeJ8g9AFKrWSlhdJbb7FXlYLX4Zl0FgeM9cafwQOMDRCgWuXcTTzPR9wK9xDEFhJ00Z4mLmgxIQQ3YSL69bNJ3U7zM/s320/Donegal+Sea+Stacks.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<b>Donegal Sea Stack</b></div>
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Off course, sea stack climbing is not all about The Pits of Hate and Davie Jones Locker it also has a much lighter side and when Gaia and Neptune allow, a day out on a nautical summit will be a most relaxed affair with close encounters with many sea creatures in their natural habitat and a visit to your inner self. </div>
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<b>The End's of the Earth Sea Stack</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbwRdN-zDwNIE1HacEQynWClkks7LMhm8KPSfIJsqgVg0mjF3lkhnsKsRW43j7S8dc3GBSKQ-YxUKRJqfhQlCmrCbIh3sMlwd9NrI1864Of86DEAk73P9w6rvdVj6zEmxXXPGhYbEAXFr/s1600/Sea+Stack+Summit+View.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbwRdN-zDwNIE1HacEQynWClkks7LMhm8KPSfIJsqgVg0mjF3lkhnsKsRW43j7S8dc3GBSKQ-YxUKRJqfhQlCmrCbIh3sMlwd9NrI1864Of86DEAk73P9w6rvdVj6zEmxXXPGhYbEAXFr/s320/Sea+Stack+Summit+View.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Sea Stack Summit View </b><br />
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When not out playing I currently spend far too much time lying under a laptop editing the future Donegal Guidebook. A couple of months ago I thought it was finished alas my knowledge of publishing matters was sadly lacking and as it turned out there was still much to do. Where Dave Flanagan and myself are at the moment is we have approx 2/3rds of the book complete. As it is a select guide and covering the entire county what crags and routes to include was always going to be tricky but that is done and what we are doing now is all the nitty gritty editing that I did not realise had to be done. :-( Below are a couple of screenshots of finished pages, <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/gola_island_guide" target="_blank"><b>Gola island</b></a> and <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/muckross_guide" target="_blank">Muckross</a></b> as random samples.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfNwPoNdj0DfIgDsAapBqxaeCZuBnv-a__-7o80PJljiMDxGIn4tAHS4fKZ-BnoamwVk5Ss0NRygU-smEMOQeEkbEKLepbsNxdJgRKnAujS_NnhAGCuNVtFr2TNWS-jkXn_W7Ob4bokz4/s1600/Donegal+Guidebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfNwPoNdj0DfIgDsAapBqxaeCZuBnv-a__-7o80PJljiMDxGIn4tAHS4fKZ-BnoamwVk5Ss0NRygU-smEMOQeEkbEKLepbsNxdJgRKnAujS_NnhAGCuNVtFr2TNWS-jkXn_W7Ob4bokz4/s320/Donegal+Guidebook.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Donegal Guidebook Screenshot: Gola</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYptqRDc9RvzFqWGMmw6uYCGToIW3Ous5Ov_ScDsNE7u7vtPyh-Jl2giqsrcJSu987eDADMEeR7hWQxGBaJHADi8Th5gNqJ8JhUEaMvd7cVbPzVJbPzwypgniCfrgzW4mLuTJNk6-bJsLO/s1600/Donegal+Guide+Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYptqRDc9RvzFqWGMmw6uYCGToIW3Ous5Ov_ScDsNE7u7vtPyh-Jl2giqsrcJSu987eDADMEeR7hWQxGBaJHADi8Th5gNqJ8JhUEaMvd7cVbPzVJbPzwypgniCfrgzW4mLuTJNk6-bJsLO/s320/Donegal+Guide+Book.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Donegal Guidebook Screenshot: Muckross</b></div>
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<b> </b>One of the great ironies of writing a guidebook is that even before it is published new crags and new routes are being found and climbed, that there is simply not room to include in a select guide to the county. So in essence you spend an evening editing a crag and the next day you go out climb a new route thus making your previous nights editing out of date. :-) Below is a couple of shots of Beyond the Ends of the Earth Crag, the first being a new two star route climbed with a couple of America visitors to the county last week. I95 take the centre line up the highest part of the crag at about 30m long and graded Hard Severe.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijoR-aoW4n37BpKhgAWzY7GsRNYaKvIL7cUDrFciKAWn66-1-3vEPym-YbNPUkXTFZPmMvjrgUr8EmlE_OU7dxqB7oSfcBE36znRKajFpd97R9qrw0JDXbffCuPghTmN5tbATpPToyNI4p/s1600/Rockclimbing+Donegal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijoR-aoW4n37BpKhgAWzY7GsRNYaKvIL7cUDrFciKAWn66-1-3vEPym-YbNPUkXTFZPmMvjrgUr8EmlE_OU7dxqB7oSfcBE36znRKajFpd97R9qrw0JDXbffCuPghTmN5tbATpPToyNI4p/s320/Rockclimbing+Donegal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Donegal Rock Climbing</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUrtf6I7wzrUxMIsPabOB7X9BjHUOtSPSNHOaw-oQEytTYA0ByCdJDwL8rpkyQyZIoJsVFpty82vJ1dtu17269XVLx05mFirQ-Yimf9GFScBPGeVMvKo8A_T3Oj3Mt-9DOGAmC0U-bsviy/s1600/Rock+Climbing+Donegal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUrtf6I7wzrUxMIsPabOB7X9BjHUOtSPSNHOaw-oQEytTYA0ByCdJDwL8rpkyQyZIoJsVFpty82vJ1dtu17269XVLx05mFirQ-Yimf9GFScBPGeVMvKo8A_T3Oj3Mt-9DOGAmC0U-bsviy/s320/Rock+Climbing+Donegal.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<b>Donegal Rock Climbing</b></div>
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Living in such a fickle climate so close to the Eastern Atlantic it is always a case of good prior planning as to where to play out on the almost endless vertical mediums found around Co Donegal. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzcokysBwQtGTauUZLTNmyuEXySXEumJPHDmg5ovA_TX3LOT9wwO0fKpUotdUbEx4NaNy8G4m6uknhPGa2ISe9y5gPT-aKVZfhJ7a_bgtRAjCfAEWwtMZaKt5ySWerSS8FT8YnTGIONRDO/s1600/Muckross+Head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzcokysBwQtGTauUZLTNmyuEXySXEumJPHDmg5ovA_TX3LOT9wwO0fKpUotdUbEx4NaNy8G4m6uknhPGa2ISe9y5gPT-aKVZfhJ7a_bgtRAjCfAEWwtMZaKt5ySWerSS8FT8YnTGIONRDO/s320/Muckross+Head.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Sunset at Muckross Head</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-81112163769234141972015-03-02T09:30:00.000-08:002015-03-03T05:02:21.957-08:00Donegal Rock Climbing Guidebook 2015 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
update from <a href="http://iain-miller.blogspot.ie/2015/02/donegal-rock-climbing-guidebook-2015.html" target="_blank">9th Feb 2015 Donegal Guidebook 2015</a></h2>
<div>
And sho, following on from the above post and where we were at three weeks ago, there has been a change or three to the original cunning plan.</div>
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The Donegal Rock Climbing Guidebook 2015 is now a 352 page select guide to the entire county and covers every uber classic route from Muckross Head to Malin Head. What has been done is to take the two volumes I edited over the winter and which weighed in at near 700 pages and dissect them into a single select guide. (for information on the two volumes see above link)</div>
<div>
This has been done and we are now at the getting my amateur Indesign bothering guide to a proper publisher for the transition to a book. Step forth Noble Brother Dave Flannagan and <b><a href="http://threerockbooks.com/" target="_blank">Three Rock Books</a>, </b>Dave is now on board for a wee bit (lot) of Indesign wisdom and has been signed by Mountaineering Ireland to get this guidebook to a printer friendly state. </div>
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This is a massive relief to my good self as I took the production of this project as far as I could and without the necessary further publishing skills I always knew a dead end was in sight.</div>
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What Dave and myself are currently doing is sorting each chapter at a time. The routes, crags and content is all ready decided with the guide now having 5 distinct chapters (from South to North) and each chapter split into localised areas. This is off course, the fine tuning stage and it is this attention to detail that makes or breaks a guidebook. Below are a couple of screen shots from the five chapters and gives an idea of where we are are at present. :-)</div>
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The five chapters are: </div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
South Donegal</h3>
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<b> </b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/muckross_guide" target="_blank">Muckross Rock Climbing</a></b></div>
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<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
South West</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitn6LCjZsKWau6s0yB1BKMrimDXS-pvH6D7zXSoQ3lvtbIVplikVEMr4LNwvo_PkqxgxN8z5bPuORUNBA1Z42aqMH5lGrjbpAvKU2ZcP6H0nAbmiVlHoReBruzWMsr5YEBTcD0kIUg01JX/s1600/EotE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitn6LCjZsKWau6s0yB1BKMrimDXS-pvH6D7zXSoQ3lvtbIVplikVEMr4LNwvo_PkqxgxN8z5bPuORUNBA1Z42aqMH5lGrjbpAvKU2ZcP6H0nAbmiVlHoReBruzWMsr5YEBTcD0kIUg01JX/s1600/EotE.jpg" height="225" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sea_stack_guide" target="_blank">End's of the Earth Crag</a></b></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
West</h3>
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/owey_island" target="_blank">Owey Island Rock Climbing</a></b></div>
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<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Mountains</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbB8aQhoQzdAl_HzHLfiocN-v9oJjZ4vZRGILuCiZOpkHpxLunNN6Ha9TxN-0nEUvnUHZi7Yx1m8ZD9W82jEcHx5vMLyNN7I9mdw9vqu0X5E-TfF8jHdLIkFirv5mko69ysgdGCa5vTTHw/s1600/Bingorms+Guide.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbB8aQhoQzdAl_HzHLfiocN-v9oJjZ4vZRGILuCiZOpkHpxLunNN6Ha9TxN-0nEUvnUHZi7Yx1m8ZD9W82jEcHx5vMLyNN7I9mdw9vqu0X5E-TfF8jHdLIkFirv5mko69ysgdGCa5vTTHw/s1600/Bingorms+Guide.JPG" height="82" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/bingorms_guide" target="_blank"><b>The Bingorms</b></a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
North</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeok_OxOFwa1o-Q1KmHC3DZ0vVxdXrCwjzEyx0Qap40pgiWUvyTuOIkijLN3NkGJUO88B_PDoWtNdpWNmh_OiytVVCxGKNUFajc3nyn-XrM9kkilyDdmElU1HYGPOrOSPLGx3qwF32sxP/s1600/Cnoc+an+Affrain+guide.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeok_OxOFwa1o-Q1KmHC3DZ0vVxdXrCwjzEyx0Qap40pgiWUvyTuOIkijLN3NkGJUO88B_PDoWtNdpWNmh_OiytVVCxGKNUFajc3nyn-XrM9kkilyDdmElU1HYGPOrOSPLGx3qwF32sxP/s1600/Cnoc+an+Affrain+guide.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/cnoc_an_affrain" target="_blank">Cnoc na Affrain</a></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmR6r9MZcXULTQrb7rhBc2ivFwGQ57YCDW2W2AOl0WolWAjqwV7tSqJnANEHM719cIj-5ORn26raxmxHWZreGIWqIP6EVDyemwa03r9UTvk_Croh7zWuV3a8nOrWWdqwuvdPgjwhhof6E/s1600/Tory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmR6r9MZcXULTQrb7rhBc2ivFwGQ57YCDW2W2AOl0WolWAjqwV7tSqJnANEHM719cIj-5ORn26raxmxHWZreGIWqIP6EVDyemwa03r9UTvk_Croh7zWuV3a8nOrWWdqwuvdPgjwhhof6E/s1600/Tory.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Tory Island</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-48777450325789284632015-02-09T12:25:00.001-08:002015-02-10T08:15:22.998-08:00Donegal Rock Climbing Guidebook 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVaN28xtUA7INz341IfX8gk7HORkXTjo5hz2VKScMqvjWzyN6dTDKo_5fRE0S4Ww6d0eiYJ7NGDsDmeTecwCZZKNLXi-7Yx-Ih8Byc4D5HdCBnYKuIJ0pqnwRul-KAOV64Ot04AnzSUDP4/s1600/Guidebook+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVaN28xtUA7INz341IfX8gk7HORkXTjo5hz2VKScMqvjWzyN6dTDKo_5fRE0S4Ww6d0eiYJ7NGDsDmeTecwCZZKNLXi-7Yx-Ih8Byc4D5HdCBnYKuIJ0pqnwRul-KAOV64Ot04AnzSUDP4/s1600/Guidebook+cover.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Donegal Guidebook 2015</b></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<b> </b>The future volume 1 Rock Climbers guidebook to Donegal is currently in it's final stages of proof reading and grammar correction, to say it has been a bit epic getting the project to this stage, would be an understatement of biblical proportions. Gathering the new route information from lines completed since the previous guide involved 100s of e-mails and PMs to many different climbers mostly following vague rumours and whispers. This information was used to build the free on-line PDFs for each section and location found around the county, <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/undiscovered_donegal" target="_blank">Donegal on-line guide</a>.</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Due to the vast and dis-connected nature to almost 3000 of the recorded rock climbs in Co. Donegal it was necessary to first decide how much rock to actually put into a guidebook. It eventually made sense to produce two guides each detailing two very separate climbing mediums and locations.<b> </b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Volume 1</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The first guide covers Belshade to Tory Island by simply following the coastline clockwise and jumping on and off and island or three. This volume covers vast areas of new locations, crags and islands. Having been heavily involved in the development of many of these areas it made the process both very easy and very difficult to decide what to include/exclude. For example, having met an angel at the base of a remote sea stack on a solo first ascent mission, does this influence the inclusion of the stack in a guidebook? Thankfully this stack provides a world class rock climb, so the decision to include was an easy one to make.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rtl1ythnovo/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rtl1ythnovo?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>An Bhuideal Sea Stack Film</b></div>
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<b>Volume 2</b><br />
In the second guidebook we travel inland and visit the uplands of the county in both summer and winter. With visits to Ireland’s largest mountain crag and Ireland’s longest ice climb both of which live in the Poison Glen in the Derryveagh Mountains. We then head north over Errigal and Muckish Mountains to Kerrykeel. Our final destination is Malinhead at Ireland’s most northerly point on the Inishowen Peninsula.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroTqDS-WIjY7d7-rZ9rFDaMi-nvBnf71lRn_x3hb60nZNaZIvVsW4uvzye26rL9BaNvm86S1xiU3K-n4QUjrjmrp8XxTrHcyvXujza20-s8fa1wbBlV4E-rBj2SFBkHQ3dGDzR29heHvN/s1600/Muckross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroTqDS-WIjY7d7-rZ9rFDaMi-nvBnf71lRn_x3hb60nZNaZIvVsW4uvzye26rL9BaNvm86S1xiU3K-n4QUjrjmrp8XxTrHcyvXujza20-s8fa1wbBlV4E-rBj2SFBkHQ3dGDzR29heHvN/s1600/Muckross.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Muckross Rock Climbing</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Owey Island Rock Climbing</b></td></tr>
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<b> </b>Volume 1 covers a vast collection of areas on many different mediums, starting on the established two mountain granite venues in the Bluestack Mountains, Belshade and Eglish Valley. We then simply follow the coastline clockwise to Tory Island. The locations around the coast of South and West Donegal contain a perfect mix of previously published venues such as Muckross, Gola Island and Malinbeg. Over fifty percent of the guidebook is previously unpublished information on locations and routes such as Ends of the Ends Crag, and the Slievetooey Coast. Where perhaps the largest change in routes from previous Donegal guides are on Cruit, Owey and Tory Islands where development since the previous guide has been a bit prolific. These sections are much larger by a country mile than any of the previous guidebooks to the county. And finally there are off course the sea stacks, with far too many climbed stacks to possibly ever put into a standard and sensible sized guidebook. What I simply did was choose a good selection of outstanding and in several cases world class sea stack climbs from Diff to XS from all along the coast and islands. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Gola Island Rock Climbing</b></td></tr>
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In the past year or two, three Irish guidebooks have been published one was in the form of an App to Donegal created by me. (<a href="http://thesend.co.uk/apps/donegal-rock-climbing-guide.php" target="_blank"><b>Donegal rock climbing App</b></a>). It was most definitely a wee experiment in Irish guidebook writing and several parts of it are recreated in a slightly different format in these two hardcopy Donegal Guidebooks.</div>
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The next was the Fairhead guide, edited by Craig Hiller and Ricky Bell. Craig being a professional photographer and Ricky being Ireland's best rock climber, their guidebook raised the standard of Irish guidebooks considerably. It was the first to use all colour double page spread topos and it was also the first to be edited and indesigned by the authors and not a publishing house.</div>
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Then came Dave Flannigan's select Guide to Ireland, a huge undertaking to not only choose but to fit all the best rock climbing in the country into one book. It raised the already high bar set by the Fairhead Guide up a notch or two and currently sets the standard for Irish climbing guidebooks. It should be noted Dave had already began raising the Irish guidebook standards in 2009 with his first guidebook "<a href="http://threerockbooks.com/index.php/bouldering-in-ireland/" target="_blank"><b>Bouldering in Ireland</b></a>."<br />
With "Rock Climbing in Ireland," currently setting the Irish guidebook Gold standard, any guide coming out now at a lower standard is alas doomed to fail. With this in mind I returned to many venues around Donegal at different times of morning and evening to get the best crag shots. It is the modern crag shot topos and clear directions to the crag that make a guide user friendly to the first time visitor to the areas described.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ends of the Earth Crag</b></td></tr>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Ireland55.08937178977164 -8.3633422851562554.94395128977164 -8.68606578515625 55.23479228977164 -8.04061878515625tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-59581768657807014222015-02-06T15:45:00.000-08:002015-02-06T15:45:09.138-08:00Winter Climbing in Donegal, Ireland.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Winter climbing conditions in Ireland are a reasonably rare commodity with the ever present south west trade winds stripping all Jack Frost's good work from the mountains in an alarmingly short time. With the majority of Ireland's mountains being of a more modest height than their Scottish counterparts and being subject to the same freeze thaw cycles as Scotland, the thaw cycles can be a lot more devastating to the néve and fat ice build up.<br />
What is required for good winter conditions is at least five days of at least minus 5 at night with daytime temperature hovering about +3. Two further requirements to create good conditions are a good freeve prior to the first snow dump to allow the turf to freeze. It is quite rare for Donegal to get several big dumps of snow which create a complex snow pack. It is much a more regular occurrence for Donegal to get one large snow dump and then consolidation occurs to this single snow mass.<br />
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For more information check the Donegal Winter Climbers guidebook, <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/winter_climbing" target="_blank">Donegal Winter Climbing</a></b><b>.</b> <br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u-aIgKu-Q_s/0.jpg" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/u-aIgKu-Q_s?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<b>Winter Climbing in Donegal</b> <b>Film</b></div>
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Anyways, when winter does play ball in Donegal the mountains are transformed into a winter mountaineering playground. The north faces of Slieve Snaght, the Poison Glen, Errigal and Muckish being the prime winter climbing venues. These faces are predominantly very wet places during the summer months with this seepage in the winter months providing the perfect amount of water for good ice build up.</div>
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Below are a few wintery pictures of Donegals mountains over the past few years, every winter has been very different from the previous year. Some years there is an abundance of snow and very little freezing temperatures and other years it freezes so hard and quick that no snow falls and streams freeze at source and no ice cascades form.</div>
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<b>Errigal from Slieve Snaght</b></div>
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<b> </b>The above picture shows the view from the summit of Slieve Snaght looking north towards Errigal. The gully in the foreground contains a shade over 6 meters of snow drift. We attempted to sleep the night in a snow hole, which took hours to dig out, alas the thaw came a few hours earlier and the roof collapsed as the sun set. We walked home off the hills in the dark.</div>
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<b>Looking across the Poison Glen to Slieve Snaght</b></div>
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From the summit of Maumlack looking across the Poison Glen to Slieve Snaght, the alpine faces of the Poison Glen were in pristine winter condition with near 1000ft of compact néve in the gullies and the two falls transformed into near complete multi tiered cascades.</div>
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<b>The Aghlas from Dooish Summit</b></div>
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<b>Grogan Mor Plateau</b></div>
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<b>Ice climbing on Muckish</b></div>
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<b>Errigal above very dense cloud</b></div>
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<b>Sunrise walking on winter mountains</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-65339104581246827052014-09-24T05:13:00.002-07:002014-12-24T17:26:12.242-08:00Tormore Island, Ireland's highest seastack<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The most outstanding summer weather continues towards October and with the first ascent of <a href="http://iain-miller.blogspot.ie/2014/08/dunaff-head-inishowen.html" target="_blank"><b>Bothanvarra sea stack</b></a> last month I kind of thought that was the end of the foolish nautical activities for 2014. But no, a very prolonged period of uber calm allowed a 4k ring of confidence to project from the west coast of Ireland for a 16 hour period. The contents of the ring was a less than 1 meter swell and a huge wave period and so a free ascent of Tormore Island was pushed to the very top of the to do list.<br />
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<b>Tormore Island Film 2014</b></div>
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Tormore Island is Ireland's highest sea stack and stands at 148 meters above the mighty Neptune. Access to the base of the stack is a very involved affair and on the stack's first ascent in 2008 we used a RiB and a 250 HP out-board engine to gain access, story of this ascent is <b><a href="http://iain-miller.blogspot.ie/2013/08/tormore-island-irelands-highest-sea-stack.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </b>This ascent of the stack with noble brothers Pete McConnel, Alan Tees, Peter Cooper was a most excellent day out alas with hindsight the use of an internal combustion engine to reach the stack began to niggle.<br />
As time passed a very cunning plan to remove the use of motorized nautical transport was devised and I soon realised that the most perfect sea and wind conditions would be necessary to allow safe passage.<br />
The island sits in a very exposed location in one of the most remote stretches of coastline in Ireland. Around the landward side of it's base live a collection of skerries and stacks which cause a great deal of white water violence and potentially great concern for any would be mariner.<br />
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<b>Tormore Island from south</b></div>
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<b>Tormore Island from the north</b></div>
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<b> </b>And sho, after having spent the last 8 years playing out on the coastline around Tormore, I had a very cunning plan to access the landward channel of the stack using,off course, the trusty inflatable dingy and no outboard engine.</div>
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Joining me on this rather foolish quest was noble brother Leman Lemanski and with an unsociably early start we were walking into Glenlough Bay across the dark sky bog. As always with all cunning plans of this nature you never know if your nautical calculations are correct until you first sight your intended the sea passage, and lo upon our arrival at Glenlough Bay, the sea was very well behaved indeed. :-) </div>
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<b>Tormore from Glenlough Bay</b></div>
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<b>Glenlough Bay</b></div>
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<b>The Land of the Giants</b></div>
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<b>Landed on Tormore Island</b></div>
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The weather and sea were in absolutely perfect condition with a very long and low wave period and pretty much no hint of white water anywhere. We sorted the dry bags and set sail from the landward side of Southern stack and paddled directly across the mouth of Glenlough Bay. on passage we bumped into sea kayakers, Valli and her pal just before entering the realm of the giants. The landward channel of Tormore comprises a small cauldron of outstanding natural beauty surrounded by the giants of Tormore, Hidden Stack, Cobblers Tower, Cnoc na Mara and about a dozen other semi submerged skerries. Under normal sea conditions this wee cauldron is a white watered pits of hate and a suicidal place to be paddling but today it was the entrance to the further. </div>
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We paddled through the flat calm cauldron and landed on the landward side of Tormore. A swift racking up and we were off upwards. The cunning plan was to follow the original route of 2008 and as I had made a return in 2013 with noble brother Aidan McGinely the belays at the tops of pitches 1 and 2 were in tip top condition. </div>
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<b>Looking down pitch 1</b></div>
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<b>Looking up pitch 2</b></div>
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The first two pitches of the route take you approx 80 meters up the stack and to this point the climbing is more mountaineering than technical rock climbing. At the top of pitch two we were standing on a grassy ledge clipped to a couple of equalised pegs, above us loomed slightly harder and more technical rock climbing. The next 40 meters of climbing is by far the most technical on the route with spaced gear, suspect rock and huge grass cornices to play on. This took us to a huge grassy ledge in the middle of nowhere and high above the sea. </div>
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The views from this stance are outstanding with the most remote and beautiful coastline in Ireland beginning to stretch from horizon to horizon. Alas above us is another 60 meters of climbing to the summit with 40 meters of it being unprotected vertical grass. </div>
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<b>Glenlough Bay from Tormore Summit</b></div>
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<b>Tormore Island</b></div>
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<b> </b>And so, standing on the summit of Tormore Island at 148 meters above the ocean, 500 meters from your nearest point of mainland Donegal, 20 odd kilometers from the nearest main road and over looking the distant edge of the further. It is impossible to express in words a location that few even know exists and only five have ever stood. A summit in which the ground nester reign supreme and the transient world we exist in is a far and distant memory. </div>
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<b>Tormore Summit view</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Co. Donegal, Ireland54.763462732778322 -8.69155883789062554.745136232778322 -8.7318993378906242 54.781789232778323 -8.6512183378906258tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-49786365935180173852014-06-23T05:03:00.001-07:002014-06-23T05:07:18.597-07:00Donegal Rock Climbing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Summer has arrived in Western Donegal with a vengeance, blistering sunshine, flat calms seas and a multitude of nautical summits to be stood on. We've been out to play pretty much everyday and this months highlights include a vertical kicking on a potential new route in the Poison Glen, a new route on <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/an-bhuideal" target="_blank"><b>An Bhuidea</b>l</a> sea stack, several visits to Owey Island to collect photographs, 4 other sea stack summits and a day out filming for German Television.<br />
I've finally finished the paperback version of the Donegal Guidebook, 1000+ routes and 200+ photo topo's compiled, edited and sorted. All sections are currently complete with one more big push out to Owey Island to get the last three remaining seaward face crags. :-) All that really remains to do then is to populate the topos and sort out the scenery and action shots and we are off to the printers. HURRAH!<br />
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Anyways, went for a wee play with Louise O'Connor to the outstanding An Port Bay. The cunning plan was simply to once again stand on the summit of <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/an-staca" target="_blank">An Staca</a></b>. This 23 meter sea stack is known locally as Búd an Diabhil (The Devil's Penis) was first climbed in March 2011 by a superb route up the seaward face. A couple of anonymous climbers climbed a bold route up the landward arete the following year and since then the stack has been pretty much left alone. </div>
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<b>An Staca Film 2014</b></div>
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Sitting at the end of a 20 km winding b list road and living in one of the most remote locations in Ireland is An Port. This little known and very isolated road end is outstandingly beautiful and residing either side of it is a truly excellent collection of gothic leviathans in the form of 36 very isolated and mildy scary sea stacks.<br />
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<b>An Staca Film 2011</b></div>
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Access to An Staca is by a swift 500 meter paddle directly out to sea from the road end to land on the landward side of the sea stack. The normally tetchy Atlantic Ocean was like a mill pond was we gently paddled out to our nautical oasis.<br />
We racked up in the shadow of the stack in baking sunshine with the rock under our bare foot being almost too hot to stand on. At a modest grade of VS 4C the sea ward face route begins with very easy stepped climbing with a slight increase in steepness with every move. This takes you to a niche just below the summit, alas between you and the summit is a big steep bulge and off course the 4C move. With my good self at the sharp end it was with several ups and downs and a bit of a grunt to arrive on the summit. Louise off course, floated up the route and wondered what all the fuss was about. :-)<br />
A most outstanding climb, location and summit, the last time I stood on this summit the stack was surrounded by 20 footers and a modicum of white water. The two films above show the difference in a calm and a bouncy day out sea stack climbing. </div>
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<b>An Port Bay, Donegal</b></div>
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<b>Launching the mighty vessel</b></div>
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<b>Landing on the sea stack</b></div>
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<b>The view from the base of the stack</b></div>
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<b>The Summit</b></div>
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<b>The view from An Staca Summit</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-28256480946619666342014-05-19T11:09:00.002-07:002014-06-23T05:04:18.523-07:00Glenlough Bay Donegal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Living in one of the most remote locations in Ireland is <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/glenlough-bay" target="_blank"><b>Glenlough Bay</b></a>, this huge raised shingle storm beach (An Clochán Mór) stretches for over a kilometer along the base of an amphitheatre of 250 meter high scree and sea cliffs. Easiest access is from An Port road end but an equally scenic way to the bay is by the nearly reclaimed by nature footpath into the two ruins at the east end of Glenlough. These ruins are where Dylan Thomas spent some quiet time over the summer of 1935, during his stay he wrote a collection of his best know works.<br />
" Ten miles from the nearest human being and as lonely as Christ." were the words of Dylan on his stay in Glenlough.<br />
Anyways, Glenlough Bay is a most outstanding location and from an exploratory rock climbers perspective it contains a huge amount of climbable rock. :-)<br />
The current rock climbers guidebook to this area is <b><u><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sea_stack_guide" target="_blank">HERE</a></u></b>.<br />
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<b>Glenlough Bay Film</b></div>
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The safest access to the beach is by descent down a huge funneled gully at the southern end of the bay. This gully is pretty much steep heather and scree most of the way, with a short rock slab at half height. As you walk along the cliff tops from the Cnoc na Mara viewpoint, the descent gully is approx 300 meteres from the view point. During the descent simply keep following the stream until you are approx 50 meters above the beach, from here trend right and follow the sheep track onto the beach. </div>
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<b>March 2013</b></div>
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<b> </b>Glenlough bay contains five major sea stacks including <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/tormore-island" target="_blank">Tormore Island</a>, </b>Ireland's highest sea stack. Tormore stands guard at the southern end of the bay and dominates this stretch of coastline from An Bhuideal to Glenlough. At the northern end of Glenlough lives the two most remote climbing locations in Ireland, "The End's of the Earth Crag" and "Beyond the End's of the Earth Crag." Both of these quartzite sea cliffs sit in very exposed locations and get hammered in big west to south west seas. <b> </b><br />
<b> </b>The End's of the Earth Crag is the huge stepped slab at the far north of the bay. Access to the base of the crag is by a short exposed scramble and an easy angled abseil down "Groovy Gully" at the seaward side of the crag. By far the best time to visit this crag is during huge South West motion as the entire crag is protected from sea motion by a huge roof below the slab.<br />
Just to the north of Glenlough lives "The Beyond the Ends of the Earth Crag," a near vertical wall of immaculate quartzite. Again this crag is best visited whilst it is under very heavy sea conditions to feel the full effect of Neptune and the forces of nature. </div>
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<b>Access Gully to Glenlough</b></div>
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<b>Donegal Sea Stacks</b></div>
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<b>View from the summit of Tent Stack</b></div>
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<b>The Land of the Giants</b></div>
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<b>Glenlough Bay beach</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Ireland54.763363692061084 -8.671903610229492254.754202692061085 -8.6920736102294924 54.772524692061083 -8.6517336102294919tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-40416424162492252472014-04-09T03:51:00.002-07:002014-04-09T03:54:43.298-07:00Arranmore Island. The Lighthouse Stack<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Arranmore, (Árrain Mhór) Donegal's largest and most populated island provides a huge seaward face of outstanding sea cliffs and monster sea stacks. From Stac an Iolar at the islands south west tip to Torneady Point at the north west point this 10 kilometre coast line provides a very wild rock climbing location.<br />
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<b>The Lighthouse Stack film 2014</b></div>
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<b> </b>Over the last few weeks we've made three visits to Arranmore with a view to several cunning plans. The first of which was simply a revisit to the summit of The <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/arranmore-island-lighthouse-stack" target="_blank">Lighthouse Stack</a> at Rinrawros Point. This superb 50 meter sea stack sits below the spectacular lighthouse at the southern end of the Giants Reek Cauldron. First climbed in July 2009 then again in Aug 2010 and in keeping with these first two ascents it would have been rude not to solo the stack for a third time. </div>
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<b>The Lighthouse Stack Film 2010 </b></div>
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<b> </b>And Sho, armed with clifftop photographer Aidan Mc Ginley and Oscar we took the early morning ferry from Burtonport with <a href="http://www.arranmoreferry.com/" target="_blank">Arranmore Ferry</a> company. A swift drive across the island and we were once more overlooking the abyss at the Rinrawros Lighthouse. </div>
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The cunning plan for the day was to climb the landward Arete of the stack, this 85 meter long route climbs the very obvious ridge on the stack. This climb is one of the best Diff graded rock climbs in Ireland, with tetchy nautical access, an adventurous location, considerable exposure, immaculate rock and a general sense of commitment.</div>
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<b>The Lighthouse Stack</b></div>
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The first task at hand was to gain the base of the stack, alas the southerly winds had arrived 12 hours earlier and the south facing cliffs around the stack were bouncing a wee bit white. After over an hour of seeking the best exit point I was finally afloat and immediately headed straight out to sea to avoid the inshore whiteness at the base of the cliffs. A 300 meter paddle took me the the channel around the stack and once more to be dwarfed the giants.</div>
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<b>The sea passage to the sea stack</b></div>
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<b>Base of the Sea Stack</b></div>
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<b> </b>Once in the channel between the stack and the land the sea calmed it's self greatly as I was now in the lea of Arranmore Island and landing on the stack was a simple step off. A swift change of attire and it was now simply a case of following the jugs and immaculate rock to the summit of the stack. The line take the soaring landward aréte and provides considerable exposure as you ascend the knife edge aréte. </div>
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<b>Climbing the Stack</b></div>
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<b>Sea Stack Summit</b></div>
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And so, once more onto the summit alas during this time the southerly winds had increased and the sea and my mainland exit point were under attack from the legions. A 500 meter paddle along the innaccessible coastline to the south of the stack was necessary to arrive at the mini harbour built for supplying the lighthouse in the days long before regular ferry service to the island.</div>
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It is now at this juncture that the proceeding become a wee bit surreal. Inland of the harbour is a huge 80 meter long sea arch and as I was afloat anyways decided to paddle through it. On the return journey through the arch I met a naked Italian swimmer who looked very much like Jesus. :-) An outstanding end to an outstanding day. :-)</div>
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<b>Jesus in a Sea Cave </b> </div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Ireland55.016508579590287 -8.560409545898437555.007404079590287 -8.5805795458984377 55.025613079590286 -8.5402395458984373tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-91260387989053666852014-03-16T14:52:00.001-07:002014-03-16T14:52:42.180-07:00Ireland's Remote Places<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Spring has arrived in Donegal with a blast of glorious sunshine and without further ado Louise O' Connor and my good self made two swift visits to "<a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/beyond-the-ends-of-the-earth" target="_blank"><b>Beyond the Ends of the Earth Crag</b></a>." The first of these visits was on a day of uber bouncy south west seas running and alas the crag was taking green and white to walls and roof of the cave at the back of the crag. We abandoned any cunning plans and went and visited an old friend along the coast, "<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/the-unforgiving" target="_blank">The Unforgiven</a></b>" sea stack now has a new and slightly less emotional exit point. :-)<br />
The second visit to the crag resulted in equally bumpy sea conditions BUT seas were running from the west and allowed us to abseil into the cave at the back of the crag and climb a superb 40 meter high line traverse across the wall, all in glorious sunshine. "Exposure Explosion" is an excellent traverse line with superb juggy rock throughout the climb. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/bD9coYnWmDk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>Exposure Explosion film</b></div>
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"<a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/beyond-the-ends-of-the-earth" target="_blank"><b>Beyond the Ends of the Earth Crag</b></a>" is surely a prime contender for the most remote rock climbing location on mainland Ireland. It sits approx 5 km from <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/an-port-road-end" target="_blank">An Port road end</a> </b>and the walk in is along the wildest stretch of coast line in Ireland. I have been playing out on this area of coast since May 2008 and have made over 500 visits to the sea cliffs and sea stacks living along this coast, it really is an outstanding place to be. I have never failed to have fun on this coast in all my visits in fact it gets harder to leave and return to the real world on every visit. <br />
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<b>DJ Locker Traverse film</b></div>
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The above film shows the first visit to this remote sea cliff as Peter O' Toole joined in the nautical action for a 70 meter low level traverse above an equally tetchy ocean. The climbing on this route is of the same high quality as "Exposure Explosion," but being much closer to the sea it is prone to much more nautical action as the above film shows.<br />
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<b>Glenlough Bay</b></div>
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<b>Beyond The End's of the Earth</b></div>
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<b>View from the crag</b></div>
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<b>"Exposure Explosion" the route</b></div>
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<b>Peter O' Toole on "DJ Locker Traverse"</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlGZeNMHy-M08WokCCgl9le2TdT_qnFVoRJN1K-Qe_AlpLZJL0GonD0nyzE9ndqL73XGa2LNjdQruQM0bnVQRngSNO3YTOo79X4OPOfQrqg5ZyKT6BgispxGkQyghX1XRZS7Cs1m6vLzQi/s1600/Donegal+Rock+Climbing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlGZeNMHy-M08WokCCgl9le2TdT_qnFVoRJN1K-Qe_AlpLZJL0GonD0nyzE9ndqL73XGa2LNjdQruQM0bnVQRngSNO3YTOo79X4OPOfQrqg5ZyKT6BgispxGkQyghX1XRZS7Cs1m6vLzQi/s1600/Donegal+Rock+Climbing.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b> Louise O' Connor on "Exposure Explosion."</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Ireland54.768761057817891 -8.668298721313476654.764181057817893 -8.6783837213134767 54.773341057817888 -8.6582137213134764tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-24192553593010231972014-02-18T09:39:00.000-08:002014-02-18T23:40:26.533-08:00Winter Climbing in Donegal, Ireland<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tz3C7kKpCJM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>Winter in Donegal film</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHAoSfl87NUzO9esdCE4HVs4mxrekwW0QtyuYLvRHWnZpIb7avu1-ezWRv0Nrecl0GbUWMgglYikzlO07Dj6DCgxqokA41ZjsUP3aiSum0huNsAkYHIDV1UyRrp1dTvXq-11YeAResOCY/s1600/Muckish+North+Face.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHAoSfl87NUzO9esdCE4HVs4mxrekwW0QtyuYLvRHWnZpIb7avu1-ezWRv0Nrecl0GbUWMgglYikzlO07Dj6DCgxqokA41ZjsUP3aiSum0huNsAkYHIDV1UyRrp1dTvXq-11YeAResOCY/s1600/Muckish+North+Face.JPG" height="83" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Muckish North Face</b></div>
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Ideal winter climbing conditions in the Donegal mountains are a rare beast indeed, requiring a prolonged mix of freeze/ thaws cycles and a good couple of dumps of snow. Alas with the relative low altitude of Donegal's highest summits and their very close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean the prevalent conditions in the uplands are greatly influenced by the North Atlantic Drift and it's warm and wet air stream.<br />
What this all means is, if the correct climactic conditions occur to allow frozen cascades of ice and gullies filled with pristine néve then it is case of, get out and play, because tomorrow it may all be gone.<br />
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<b>View from the start of the climb</b></div>
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After several e-mails back and forward to Noble Bother Laurence Glynn (Larry), we finally got an alignment of the planets and a small weather window to allow winter to make an attendance in County Donegal. </div>
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After a week of heavy snow and several nights of minus temperatures, the hills of he county were beginning of show great signs of being winterized. </div>
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<b>Pitch 1: Arrive at the gully</b></div>
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<b>Base of "Gully of the Gods."</b></div>
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<b> </b>We met early Sunday morning and we sorted our climbing rack and headed to the North Face of Muckish Mountain. By our weather watching and calculations the center of this north facing corrie would contain suitable refrozen frozen snow and good winter climbing.</div>
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This was Larry's first dabble with winter climbing and as we parked the van at the old mine working at the road end, the North corrie of Muckish looked extremely atmospheric and thankfully very winter indeed! :-) </div>
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<b>Pitch 2, in the Gods proper</b></div>
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<b>Winter Climbing in Ireland</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1yUVMiu4Gz_b9EPZnoWUNCnA0Jq_vc-Nyt5fjtjaM_mJAMX1yY4A61lo1RNHtHjKmNcXFhh0lSG2y_-V-ASr4xcAWOAx9b65CVjR2KrwJDKMEYCNUZHre9FLYd5kF7sCubaH64w1FP1ME/s1600/IMG_0816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1yUVMiu4Gz_b9EPZnoWUNCnA0Jq_vc-Nyt5fjtjaM_mJAMX1yY4A61lo1RNHtHjKmNcXFhh0lSG2y_-V-ASr4xcAWOAx9b65CVjR2KrwJDKMEYCNUZHre9FLYd5kF7sCubaH64w1FP1ME/s1600/IMG_0816.JPG" height="156" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Muckish Mountain view</b></div>
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We parked the van at the lower roadside parking and headed up into the corrie. Underfoot the snow was showing great signs of consolidation and all ground water was frozen solid. We headed straight up the centre of the corrie as this allowed us to see into all the gullies on both sides of the corrie. What we were looking for was the most complete and thickest tongue of néve running down the best looking gully. </div>
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We decided on and headed straight to the base of "Gully of the Gods," a superb grade I/II gully running up the back of the corrie. Approx 40 meters below the start of the gully we roped up and rigged a belay as the steep ground around us had a light covering of windslab and several runnels indicated previous avalanche activity. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgicQWLGQIJcs8LXH0cy6_46X4DX5JTUHA0yKIcxsKcYnaG81l-OhqZmQFD4EaMyZG-uRChetZArvNBmIFEmxwgKYpwZc4bOHW2eADLWiFVPBo3P1UZUR9ztNOl_a5soeNG3Ejbx1XnSx8u/s1600/Winter+Climbing+Ireland.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgicQWLGQIJcs8LXH0cy6_46X4DX5JTUHA0yKIcxsKcYnaG81l-OhqZmQFD4EaMyZG-uRChetZArvNBmIFEmxwgKYpwZc4bOHW2eADLWiFVPBo3P1UZUR9ztNOl_a5soeNG3Ejbx1XnSx8u/s1600/Winter+Climbing+Ireland.JPG" height="112" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Mid height in the gully</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7GCI8mx20ma99rDyPSKUp3zUB1W9Q3eCdTgeBy5J1S7ivNERnkxenZn-xydD62prIX5OqXv1lNHs-RVw7eSuuFQDBQLufTIwp2qhGDV25-Wc-UFJE2Fo-rKYb76dLHzIoi49duj0cfmcu/s1600/Donegal+Winters.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7GCI8mx20ma99rDyPSKUp3zUB1W9Q3eCdTgeBy5J1S7ivNERnkxenZn-xydD62prIX5OqXv1lNHs-RVw7eSuuFQDBQLufTIwp2qhGDV25-Wc-UFJE2Fo-rKYb76dLHzIoi49duj0cfmcu/s1600/Donegal+Winters.JPG" height="149" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Mid Height in "Gully of the Gods."</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmJrnW-QeAKPfp2yTVITuk9wNsuuWhgFdliuDXcYn7ENQN1Rcm35NAF03G6a6O89F2Hxnc5EU4pu9P9W_QR-Mv0To_MCvFGOT28Ms6sAhIJ7KueHujB5ulyHZeT9xKMAfrsD5c4nnvvEI2/s1600/Winter+Climbing+Donegal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmJrnW-QeAKPfp2yTVITuk9wNsuuWhgFdliuDXcYn7ENQN1Rcm35NAF03G6a6O89F2Hxnc5EU4pu9P9W_QR-Mv0To_MCvFGOT28Ms6sAhIJ7KueHujB5ulyHZeT9xKMAfrsD5c4nnvvEI2/s1600/Winter+Climbing+Donegal.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>100m up the route</b></div>
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<b> </b>Once in the gully proper the snow firmed to become solid néve and the ground steepened to give perfect grade 1 climbing on perfect snow ice. We continued to pitch the route in 30 to 50 m pitches and the higher we climbed the better the néve became. he final 40 meter pitch was solid néve which allowed us to climb on front points and axe picks, the finest type of winter climbing there is. </div>
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It is one of the great joys of winter climbing to be on a steep face of solid snow with you held in place by approx 4 inches of metal, one inch on each foot and hand, all the time with a 500 meter steep drop at your heels. :-) </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKhXOu2_VP0-XDf3TjRiXHcNSREwSbQL5TTh8zGmk_y-TrC_hNaqeAOM7jcFP6_QfS70MO300mWd56d0_LAyUquQk245mJtiOGGKc1q9KUdTGdEGJq5SsXUfTWtApe5Y0OG833bQDy_t9/s1600/Laurence+Glynn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKhXOu2_VP0-XDf3TjRiXHcNSREwSbQL5TTh8zGmk_y-TrC_hNaqeAOM7jcFP6_QfS70MO300mWd56d0_LAyUquQk245mJtiOGGKc1q9KUdTGdEGJq5SsXUfTWtApe5Y0OG833bQDy_t9/s1600/Laurence+Glynn.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Larry arrives at the final belay</b></div>
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<b>Topping Out onto the summit Plateau of Muckish</b></div>
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<b>Winter climbing in Ireland</b></div>
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Whilst Larry and I were at play in The Gully of the Gods, Adam and Patrick Tinney climbed a new grade 1 gully to the right of the chunky tower and the "White Reverence" Face. This excellent looking gully is the most obvious on this side of the corrie alas it is prone to catching any sunshine that is going and is prone to a quick thaw and disappearance. Nice one gents!</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/winter_climbing" target="_blank">Donegal Winter Climbing Guidebook</a></b></h3>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Co. Donegal, Ireland55.112157313991496 -7.985412580892443755.0394373139915 -8.1467740808924436 55.184877313991493 -7.8240510808924437tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-89435063217880364992013-11-20T12:12:00.001-08:002013-11-20T12:25:50.689-08:00Donegal rock climbing guidebook<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
And Sho, the quest with Donegal's rock climbing guidebook continues, we are currently approaching 2900 recorded routes though out the county. I have sub dived the entire county into 21 sub sections each with it's own free downloadable PDF guide. As it stands at the moment 17 of these 21 sections are live on the <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/" target="_blank">Unique Ascent website</a></b> and available to download free. The remaining four sections await good weather and calm seas to get suitable topo photographs, Owey Island's seaward facing cliffs are being particularly nigglesome. :-(<br />
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And on to phase three in the cunning plan, I am currently editing a short film for each of Donegal's 21 main rock climbing locations, each of the films will be approximately 3 minutes long and will show as much of the location as well as the climbing as possible.<br />
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<a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/crohy_head" target="_blank">Crohy Head Guidebook Download</a></h3>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/EEoWmBz8gt4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>Crohy Head Film</b></div>
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<b> </b>Crohy Head is an excellent wee location on a huge forgotten peninsula just to the south of Dungloe. Aidan Mc Ginley, Louise O'Connor and my good self played out there on several occasions over the summer adding another dozen or so new routes to four new crags. The most surprising routes were two 30 meter lines of the main crag at the far end of the good rock both routes went at very modest V.Diff but in a spectacular location. This whole section of coast is prone to monster seas and very much like <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/malinbeg_guide" target="_blank"><b>Malin Beg</b></a> offers excellent wave battered climbing.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRa_2t1YviiFW3J0oK6QSB6nKoAcdwmgGvD1kSRcSjt8wSuB3t5bZVCQA_WxD8UIHFX4TOQKmAaWEFJ_eC2E8Cd7iwpNr0ggOtdyGmkburgMvGF_CpK0HBwA1GAuLEyiVaMARaq75GA0cE/s1600/Main+Wall.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRa_2t1YviiFW3J0oK6QSB6nKoAcdwmgGvD1kSRcSjt8wSuB3t5bZVCQA_WxD8UIHFX4TOQKmAaWEFJ_eC2E8Cd7iwpNr0ggOtdyGmkburgMvGF_CpK0HBwA1GAuLEyiVaMARaq75GA0cE/s320/Main+Wall.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Donegal Rock Climbing,</b> <b>Crohy Head Main Walls</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPFwudteVbjmtLa2f-JjddJjmkHEnYTvV4ZIcZMhqEeYC06gtpSvYXBITdZ2_bjzN5WgfdUmJDBC5G2IKy2Bp00u6sWlmhd8lEdFeoTZ_1nHD0ZYirj2wOjPyXCn-rMKsfvd1Ps_H-_hGM/s1600/Zawn+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPFwudteVbjmtLa2f-JjddJjmkHEnYTvV4ZIcZMhqEeYC06gtpSvYXBITdZ2_bjzN5WgfdUmJDBC5G2IKy2Bp00u6sWlmhd8lEdFeoTZ_1nHD0ZYirj2wOjPyXCn-rMKsfvd1Ps_H-_hGM/s320/Zawn+1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Zawn 1 Topo</b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/cruit_island_guide" target="_blank">Cruit Island Guidebook Download</a></b></h3>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/BuWWRDMZx6Y?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>Cruit Island Film</b></div>
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The ever dependable Cruit Island has very quickly become the most popular climbing venue in Donegal and new routes now tickling into E grades are continuing to be sent in by visiting climbers. The are currently over 370 routes on the island on 34 separate crags. What makes the island such a dependable locations is many of the crags are facing different aspects and with a tiny bit of nautical knowledge it is possible to climb under almost any sea states and motion. None of the crags required any cleaning prior to any first ascents thus the crags are permanently cleaned by angry winter seas. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3a7K1dOB7t5UsJPGpQ2aJa8rJKgAzbdgAA2BMHMqx3mjPp05G412y1FtNonIakiNhLN9kKpLgrhhFxoM2SpEFwmivmIEVy_H9JgOel9c1Kx3_ZwXC5kCUdlGO7K3Fj_uUXzrv5KMeiP2/s1600/Cruit+Island.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3a7K1dOB7t5UsJPGpQ2aJa8rJKgAzbdgAA2BMHMqx3mjPp05G412y1FtNonIakiNhLN9kKpLgrhhFxoM2SpEFwmivmIEVy_H9JgOel9c1Kx3_ZwXC5kCUdlGO7K3Fj_uUXzrv5KMeiP2/s320/Cruit+Island.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Cruit Island Rock Climbing</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUjomnVrh6OcMOn6GBRbOjK0o3ZsToPe1q9v-B66SbCrnXY-2HVmfvhjdUPejfdasjeGqYGq7Na_TVodwXxys9WpTdwNxgR5xmBHInqdExufFRAyLxv12t2RwhyIeIaHv31ki360_LwrQ/s1600/Cruit-map.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUjomnVrh6OcMOn6GBRbOjK0o3ZsToPe1q9v-B66SbCrnXY-2HVmfvhjdUPejfdasjeGqYGq7Na_TVodwXxys9WpTdwNxgR5xmBHInqdExufFRAyLxv12t2RwhyIeIaHv31ki360_LwrQ/s320/Cruit-map.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Cruit Island rock climbing map</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sea_stack_guide" target="_blank">Donegal Sea Stacks guidebook download</a></b></h3>
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<b>Donegal Sea Stack Film</b></div>
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<b> </b>This year on Donegal's sea stacks was spent visiting many old friends and introducing a large collection of people to the edge of the real world. Three new stacks were climbed and 12 new routes added to existing stacks, perhaps the most important find was a new unclimbed 130 meter high sea cliff in, by far the most outrageous location in Ireland. Alas the cliff is prone to monster green and the easiest looking route looks mildly terrifying. The cliff also contains the mother of all exit points and so a very cunning plan to climb and jump off the edge of the real world begins to take hold. :-)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfihKt4ofb9vdVZyNJkGTK2oThe112pKFOem1JJF0xqosNLOPvDx93dsK5WpjP4N8Aqd-Pra4Aj8L0LbH5qCUwV2h8JTtCMnQcb5vO1lo6f7P_EDM98KBXXjRPfv5Zp_x4pUGpj1FJRAb/s1600/Sea+Stack+Climbing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfihKt4ofb9vdVZyNJkGTK2oThe112pKFOem1JJF0xqosNLOPvDx93dsK5WpjP4N8Aqd-Pra4Aj8L0LbH5qCUwV2h8JTtCMnQcb5vO1lo6f7P_EDM98KBXXjRPfv5Zp_x4pUGpj1FJRAb/s320/Sea+Stack+Climbing.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Sea Stack climbing</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YuSqkjiekt1MX6W3HmaXlB4fT5MVhxCeeJBiHOp_KyTGsn3gWrhFg2Izli6iE-2R9nAOAlAFu0lik6ybbUYDxpTQmUfgE0d5nxad_cLmzjFYsGzDa_uqvC6wumtwlw3UYywlBIeZNONO/s1600/The+Land+of+Giants.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YuSqkjiekt1MX6W3HmaXlB4fT5MVhxCeeJBiHOp_KyTGsn3gWrhFg2Izli6iE-2R9nAOAlAFu0lik6ybbUYDxpTQmUfgE0d5nxad_cLmzjFYsGzDa_uqvC6wumtwlw3UYywlBIeZNONO/s320/The+Land+of+Giants.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Glenlough Bay Sea Stacks</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR4vwJrQYTOnbxQZEFDF6sW914ttTOvuuzvDKQqbPjVkdfqr9HVyNJPRA6YybroliPof3rAisLhpZn5DzaKmSCTPbHXSwpAb2J7GjiFV99GnUSn2FA5d3QJe3Cg9WS6XYbR3PS2wMp7MRD/s1600/Gull+Island.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR4vwJrQYTOnbxQZEFDF6sW914ttTOvuuzvDKQqbPjVkdfqr9HVyNJPRA6YybroliPof3rAisLhpZn5DzaKmSCTPbHXSwpAb2J7GjiFV99GnUSn2FA5d3QJe3Cg9WS6XYbR3PS2wMp7MRD/s320/Gull+Island.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Gull Island Sea Stack</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/bingorms_guide" target="_blank">Bingorm's Rock Climbing Guide</a></h3>
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<b>Derryveagh Mountains at their very best</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/owey_island" target="_blank">Owey Island rock climbing Guidebook</a></b></h3>
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<b>End of the Summer on Owey Island</b></div>
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The above film was shot on a day I had intended to circumnavigate the island in the wee dingy, alas overnight monster green appeared from the West and simply getting to the island was a bit of a mission and involved a wetsuit. :-) Owey is top of the list in the spring for a visit and a circumnavigation to get the sea ward facing cliff sorted. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ6AF6R8W8eF4iOkXvPfguKeuHNsSIScFPIgnGNMgS-uOPo3-MsQrOLK8b3lPCFlKFN24XVateYZf99BkUzkKR5-hW53mnWbAVowerSHXnruVSiUmop5G0_XZlpWzmyb1yjPs6dwPZbLFk/s1600/Owey+Summit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ6AF6R8W8eF4iOkXvPfguKeuHNsSIScFPIgnGNMgS-uOPo3-MsQrOLK8b3lPCFlKFN24XVateYZf99BkUzkKR5-hW53mnWbAVowerSHXnruVSiUmop5G0_XZlpWzmyb1yjPs6dwPZbLFk/s320/Owey+Summit.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Mainland Donegal from Owey Island</b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/glenveagh_guide" target="_blank">Glenveagh National Park</a> </b>is next on the list for a short film with only two more locations to be visited and editing begins. :-)</div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-55597524505729829672013-11-06T14:33:00.001-08:002013-11-07T01:14:44.456-08:00Donegal Summer 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It has just turned November and I am finally in agreement that summer is over in Western Donegal, BUT it has been a most outstanding and very long summer. The Rosses summer officially started on the 28th of February and finally came a rain soaked halt on 25th of October. During this extended period of blue skies well over 150 people have stood on the summits of a shade over 100 sea stack summits along the coast of Western Donegal and pretty much all of them had no previous outdoor climbing experience. Hurrah! :-)<br />
The bulk of the visitors to <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/seastacks" target="_blank"><b>Donegal's sea stacks</b></a> came from all four corners of America, with another large proportion coming from Canada, a small portion came from mainland Europe inc the UK and a tiny portion travelling from all over Ireland.<br />
This blog post is a small selection of the you tube films we posted over this summer from around the coast of Donegal.<br />
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<b>Glenlough Bay on 28th February 2013</b></div>
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<b> </b>The summer kicked off at Glenlough Bay on February 28th with Josie McGee, Glenlough Bay is Ireland's largest raised shingle storm beach and is located in one of the most remote places in the country. Our cunning plan was to make an ascent, probably the first of Ulsters highest free standing tower. Cobblers Tower is a 110 meter high spike of land connected to mainland Donegal by a very loose knife edge ridge, alas a mildly tetchy Neptune and a 40 meter white water sea crossing meant we paid a visit to the summit of Tent Stack instead.</div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/aCUw_P_Sl4Y/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aCUw_P_Sl4Y?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aCUw_P_Sl4Y?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<b>Donegal's Highest free standing tower</b></div>
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Made a return visit to Cobbler's Tower with Noble Brother Steven "Jock" Read and this time with an UBER calm sea paddled around Tormore Island from the Entrance to Shambhala to land at the base of the north face of the tower, we scrambled up the north face to a very insecure and mildly scary summit.</div>
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<b>The most remote place in Ireland</b></div>
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Made a return visit to Pyramid Stack with Andy Cronin, this very remote archipelago lives 300 meters out to sea from the base of the 1000 foot north face of Slievetooey. It sits approximately 22 kilometers from the nearest main road, 5 kilometers from the car and in a very inaccessible location open to both west and north sea states. This was the 2nd ascent of the stack the first ascent being a solo affair back in 2008.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/NSUL74fHJh4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>Slieve League Sea Stack</b></div>
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With the sea so calm and with Ireland gripped in the middle of a heat wave it would have been rude not to go for a wee visit to the sea stack at the western end of the Slieve League massif, this time with noble brother Des O'Connor, (no, no thee Des O'Connor) access to this stack is by a 500 meter paddle out to sea from Silver Strand at Malin Beg, one of Ireland's most beautiful beaches. </div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/s3ZtlI_ebx4/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/s3ZtlI_ebx4?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/s3ZtlI_ebx4?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<b>Cnoc na Mara</b></div>
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Cnoc na Mara, Ireland's most popular sea stack had six ascents this year including an ascent by 15 year old Jake Scollay from Scotland and Steven "Jock" Read. This 150 meter route has now been climbed by over 25 people in the last five summers, not a massive amount of people but still makes it easily Ireland's most climbed sea stack. :-)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicuxr4OUDxWz-8-uhv8IjKQ4OnTKWv7wp47OKUoUc4qsY_i4_Ic7vlu9QYCLGdmHZ6HjaIxh41BAoO8GDzB0dBYS9WkCezdDfMVbKnuPGlCrdfzXHkuw3bThG-WwrjL5wDGJOFZKE_s2gv/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicuxr4OUDxWz-8-uhv8IjKQ4OnTKWv7wp47OKUoUc4qsY_i4_Ic7vlu9QYCLGdmHZ6HjaIxh41BAoO8GDzB0dBYS9WkCezdDfMVbKnuPGlCrdfzXHkuw3bThG-WwrjL5wDGJOFZKE_s2gv/s320/008.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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<b>Luke</b></div>
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<b> </b>In the midst of these nautical misadventures young Luke was born, arriving safe and sound into the world a week early. :-)</div>
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<b>Beyond The End's of the Earth Crag</b></div>
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We opened a new crag slightly further away from the real world than "End's of the Earth Crag," climbing with Peter O'Toole (no, not thee Peter O'Toole) and a very angry Neptune this excellent single pitch venue provides a very atmospheric place to place where solitude is guaranteed.</div>
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<b>Owey Island on 24th October 2013</b></div>
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<b> </b>A final wee explore was a solo trip out to Owey Island with the last of the summer sun forecast to disappear in the evening of the 24th of October, it would have been rude not to go out for a look.</div>
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<b>Donegal Summits</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-32991798634749042512013-10-17T01:48:00.002-07:002013-10-17T02:04:31.927-07:00Inishowen Rock Climbing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The county of Donegal currently plays host to over 2800 rock climbs on pretty much every rock climbing medium that Ireland has to offer. From overhanging mudstone, multi-pitch mountain crags, uninhabited islands and off course, nearly 100 Sea Stacks, I tend to think of the rock climbing available in Donegal as Ireland in miniature. The Donegal on-line guide gives details of all these different climbing mediums and locations in 20 free PDF guidebook downloads, <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/undiscovered_donegal" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a></b>.<br />
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The peninsula of Inishowen in Northern Donegal is in rock climbing terms, Donegal in miniature, with a huge collection of climbs and locations around its coast. From the stack and sea cliffs at Leenan Head, the slabs, corners and cracks at the ever popular Malin Head (Ireland's most Northerly point) along the coast to Culdaff and down to Kinnego Bay. The current Inishowen climbing guidebook is available as a free PDF download <span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/inishowen_guide" target="_blank"><b>CLICK HERE</b></a>.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/RwvPDYVpY8Q?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>Dunaff Head rock climbing film</b></div>
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Residing on the west coast of Inishowen lives the huge Dunaff Head, this headland is 210 meters at it's highest point and covers an area of approx. 4 square kilometers. Running along it's north face is a very impressive and slightly imposing sea cliff. Alas being a north facing cliff it sees very little direct sunlight and is thus very vegetated and is prone to feldspar leaching. It is in essence a huge wall of loose hairy sea cliff, very impressive to look at but alas not so impressive to climb.<br />
Living approx 200m out to sea from the base of this wall is a superb 50 meter high sea stack.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3mM33-yVmessrvODHdqIF7XyR9X7r5XvY5Q3e2do9kKbtq0yoqKwD4AFLjqZOVtHje3yWFSyHR3joZ9OgOu4vQqB1N5hDwopyV_7Py07KTeJjTVidYlbsil3BawfvtJyKasjbK9a3sN3/s1600/Inishowen+Sea+Stacks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3mM33-yVmessrvODHdqIF7XyR9X7r5XvY5Q3e2do9kKbtq0yoqKwD4AFLjqZOVtHje3yWFSyHR3joZ9OgOu4vQqB1N5hDwopyV_7Py07KTeJjTVidYlbsil3BawfvtJyKasjbK9a3sN3/s320/Inishowen+Sea+Stacks.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Inishowen Sea Stack</b></div>
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<b> </b>And Sho, a swift E-mail from Sean and Julia, who were across in Donegal on a short break from London, it was descided a wee play out on the Dunaff Head sea stack would be a suitably adventurous activity. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZqOv_UqYjQwMUAgfZL_orC2GK3sJ34vtcGJy1RFsu5o_8nfDEjYun8savTxTTfTYhJz_xKL-FApZyLC8R_nndgSPhylXv8qwgh0uGjqUpRYf__wpoo_DDZwjvsA_26-EhkR1GcKtDAxnn/s1600/Dunaff+Head.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZqOv_UqYjQwMUAgfZL_orC2GK3sJ34vtcGJy1RFsu5o_8nfDEjYun8savTxTTfTYhJz_xKL-FApZyLC8R_nndgSPhylXv8qwgh0uGjqUpRYf__wpoo_DDZwjvsA_26-EhkR1GcKtDAxnn/s320/Dunaff+Head.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Julia on the storm beach</b></div>
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Access to the stack from the surrounding cliff tops is an emotional affair, which involves descending the huge full crag height gully to the south of the stack. This 200 meter long gully descends steeply passing down through one 60m near vertical section below half height. We descended through this steep stepped section on a tensioned back rope using each other as anchors. This part of the gully was loose, wet and very overgrown in places and it was with a hint of relief we lowered down the final steepening and onto the boulder apron below. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgODDnNi8zM9seJD1o3TlSJkCPa-Kt2or3nCpHSkrT1HqYy55oeki3S0_2VlzPAQRdbc25DKuD-sGXQg5sajEO3rvDn7Wrw23e_Kg5tWrwC13Omv1mXmh1bwWahDxOJpEtKfIU6SQU_C6D/s1600/Dunaff+Head+gully.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgODDnNi8zM9seJD1o3TlSJkCPa-Kt2or3nCpHSkrT1HqYy55oeki3S0_2VlzPAQRdbc25DKuD-sGXQg5sajEO3rvDn7Wrw23e_Kg5tWrwC13Omv1mXmh1bwWahDxOJpEtKfIU6SQU_C6D/s320/Dunaff+Head+gully.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Sean at the base of the gully</b><br />
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We continued to descend down the gully apron and the more we descended the larger the boulders became until we were approx 30 meters above the sea. Below us the boulders were more the size of houses and stacked in a way by Neptune that there was no easy way down to sea level. We made a very convoluted path through the boulders to a huge flat topped house sized boulder at approx 10 meters above sea level.<br />
A swift inflation of the wee dingy and one by one we made the 250 meter crossing to the sea level platforms at the seaward side of the stack. This is a very remote, isolated and committing place to be standing as stretching either side of us for at least a kilometer is the 200 meter high walls of Dunaff Head's north face. The sea had gone from being flat calm to a half meter swell from the North West and the winds were now blowing at 19 knots. A deep depression was moving in from the North West and with it an inch of rain was forecast for the following day.<br />
Due to our location and the height of the facing cliffs this stack does not get very much direct sunlight, especially in mid October, and so it was still very damp and very greasy. We worked our way around the sea level platforms and made to boat journey back to the bottom of the gully. Landing the boat was now a tad move complex as the boulder beach was now surrounded by slightly annoyed white water. A suitable harbour was found to the south and a short coastaleer later we were back at the base of the outstanding gully. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoibVg6Tbjp5WsUZgfSpntLh4laFM4Dv6B_3PwdfA29vJlvk9VIxnoWD3DNcGmS0B3BLJJbJvF21XusPxrSZmNCda_XOI744ZtY4crwR-Nut9d5OQKupQqpBM1e2qto20jaoZmX7K4K-gh/s1600/Donegal+rock+climbing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoibVg6Tbjp5WsUZgfSpntLh4laFM4Dv6B_3PwdfA29vJlvk9VIxnoWD3DNcGmS0B3BLJJbJvF21XusPxrSZmNCda_XOI744ZtY4crwR-Nut9d5OQKupQqpBM1e2qto20jaoZmX7K4K-gh/s320/Donegal+rock+climbing.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Back on mainland Donegal</b><br />
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<b> </b>An hour later we had re-ascended the gully and were standing on the clifftos once again overlooking the sea stack. As always nature has the last laugh as it had now been over 8 hours since we had left the car and this was the first time we had been in sunshine all day. It had of course been blazing sunshine on the summit of Dunaff the whole time we had been climbing. :-) It was at this point that the sun finally hit the stack. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLN11j1JAcOIEM9YTyna-4HasbhS5ULkWblDa8HcRS0TMdsJODJ1QbbFbf-FS9S1DF-uZOQUWqrK_DMjp42BZ7Ny8hfefVSyvde0lKu8XhJhb9IwDEA8ZCWyn_7d3WDubvGpdlvZ6THZ71/s1600/Inishowen+Rock+Climbing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLN11j1JAcOIEM9YTyna-4HasbhS5ULkWblDa8HcRS0TMdsJODJ1QbbFbf-FS9S1DF-uZOQUWqrK_DMjp42BZ7Ny8hfefVSyvde0lKu8XhJhb9IwDEA8ZCWyn_7d3WDubvGpdlvZ6THZ71/s320/Inishowen+Rock+Climbing.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Re-ascending the gully</b></div>
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<b>Evening Sun on Inishowen</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Ireland55.286936501025266 -7.518218960613012355.214552001025268 -7.6795804606130122 55.359321001025265 -7.3568574606130124tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-82383122748844385802013-10-01T12:35:00.004-07:002013-10-01T12:45:35.492-07:00Fanad Head Lighthouse<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Fanad Head Lighthouse Abseil</b></td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;"> September has been an extremely busy month with everyday bringing a new place and a very varied selection of slightly foolish activities. With a 15 day tour of the coast of Ireland taking 11 international visitors up all the highest summits in the country. Another 7 days were spent private guiding, taking a couple of gentlemen to the summits of several mildly scary sea stacks and another few days spent preparing a young trooper for their first visit to the greater ranges. September has been a truly excellent end to an excellent summer in the vertical world of the North West.</span></div>
With a call from Fáiltre Ireland last week it was a visit to <b><a href="http://commissionersofirishlights.com/cil/aids-to-navigation/lighthouses/fanad-head.aspx" target="_blank">Fanad Head Lighthouse</a>. </b>The cunning plan was to do an interview for the TV cameras and abseil off the outside walkway at the top of the lighthouse.<br />
The forecast was a tad breeze blowing 30 knots from the east but thankfully no rain was on the cards and sunshine had been ordered for about 1pm.<br />
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<b>Fanad Head Lighthouse Abseil Film</b></div>
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It is always a tad surreal to be playing out under the ever watchful eye of a film crew. This is third time this year doing this type of thing under such scrutiny of the lens. The trick is to arrive early, get everything set up and in this case do the abseil before anyone else arrives. As when the film crew arrives there is always a flood of preparatory questions prior to them switching the cameras on. BUT much more importantly it also means you do your first abseil with its customary moment of mild concern as you weight the rope over a 30 meter drop and "Elvis entering the building," is not captured on film. HURRAH!</div>
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Anyways, 6 abseils and an hour long interview later, job done, it was duly noted that Oscar the dog also regained his crown as Donegal's most filmed dog. :-) </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Fanad Head Lighthouse</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Inside Fanad Head Lighthouse</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Fanad Head Lighthouse Abseil<br /><br /><br /></b></td></tr>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Arryheernabin, Co. Donegal, Ireland55.276392172184877 -7.631498336268123255.275261672184875 -7.6340198362681235 55.27752267218488 -7.628976836268123tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-60560046087926802112013-08-27T13:25:00.000-07:002013-08-30T14:56:16.752-07:00Donegal Rock Climbing. Gull Island<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Living at the base of Slievtooey's north coast in one of Ireland's most remote and isolated locations, there lives a 100 m high flat topped island. The island sits approximately 6 KM from Maghera caves to the east, 8 km from An Port road end to the West and 4.5 KM from the nearest place to park the car to the south. Whichever way you approach <b><u><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/gull-island" target="_blank">Gull Island</a></u></b> it is a long way across open, unpathed and rarely visited uplands.<br />
Access to the raised shingle storm beach which separated the island from mainland Donegal is by a 100 m steep grass / loose rock down climb and scramble.<br />
This marathon walk in and careful descent of the surrounding slopes takes you to an outrageous location as you stand on a huge horseshoe shaped raised shingle storm beach surrounded by a majestic back drop of the 300 m high sea cliffs of Slievetooey. <br />
But it is what stands out to sea in front you that instills your first rushes of primal fear. The landward face of gull Island is quite simply an enormous 150m aréte of near biblical proportions. Standing at the base of this aréte tying into your rope and preparing to climb is where your internal battle with your inner demons begins. Inversely it is also what makes this type of adventurous rock climbing in potentially very serious locations one of the most foolish and rewarding activities it is possible to participate in.<br />
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<b>Gull island Rock Climbing film</b><br />
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It was in April 2009 that I made the first of many visits to this island, in attendance on this first visit was Martin Bonner and Andy Mcinroy. At this time both Gull Island and stack behind it were unclimbed. Our intent on this first visit was to climb the 80 m high twin summited sea stack off the seaward face of Gull Island but alas due to Neptunes rage and us being scared we opted for the "less chance of drowning "option of the landward aréte of Gull Island.<br />
Martin and myself climbed this monsterous aréte in three very dangerous feeling pitches. We used three pegs at the top of the first unprotected 45m pitch and placed an abseil stake on the summit and backed it up with a cairn. All in all an excellent and mildy terrifying day at the end of a rope.<br />
The original route description I gave Gull Island kind of speaks volumes of the type of climbing ans situations involved.<br />
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Gull Island XS 5a 145m<br />
Pitch 1: 50m 4a To the left of landward aréte climb the soaring corner crack until the grassy rake. Traverse upwards and right to gain the aréte proper. Two good gear placements in 50m, fall and you will die)<br />
Pitch 2: 50m Climb the aréte by a very atmospheric scramble and up the jenga tower to the perched boulder at it's summit.<br />
Pitch 3: 45m Crimp left and up superb rock and continue to the summit by your easiest convenience. <i>Iain Miller, Martin Bonner 24/04/09</i><br />
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Many thanks to our cliff top voyeur Andy Mcinroy, Andy's Photographic site is <b><u><a href="http://www.andymcinroy.com/">HERE</a></u></b>.<br />
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<b>Gull island, Donegal</b></div>
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And sho, with these rather worrying memories lurking in my head it became time for a return visit to Gull Island and it's landward aréte. In attendance on this occasion were Aidan Mc Ginley and Louise O'Connor, both Aidan and Louise have been doing work experience with <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/" target="_blank">Unique Ascent</a> over the summer as part of their FAS outdoor instructor course. And what better way to finish a work placement than a visit deep into the Realms of Chaos.<br />
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<b>Storm Beach at the base of Gull island</b></div>
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<b>Pitch 1</b></div>
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And Sho, Gull Island round 2. We left our homes at an unsociably early hour in the morning and had a clandestine meet up and car share in Ardara to our real world exit point on the south face of Slievetooey. It was a misty, wet and pretty miserable two and a half hour walk over Slievetooey to the cliff tops overlooking Gull island and <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/satan" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Satan</a>.<br />
A swift abseil over the 100 m high edge and we pulled the Ab rope and scrambled / down climbed onto the huge storm beach. It was indeed the scary place that I had stored on the back shelves of memory as we racked up and prepared to climb. Louise and myself were to climb whilst Aidan was our photographer.<br />
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<b>Pitch 1</b></div>
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I led pitch one very carefully digging about for any meaningful gear placements and with a modicum of relief reach the tri-peg anchor at the top of the 45 m pitch. In total seven gear placement alas only three of them would have held even the smallest of falls and up came Louise.<br />
At the top of this pitch, 45 m above the storm beach we crouched on the 10 cm mud ledge as a passing shower paid a brief visit. <br />
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<b>Pitch 3</b></div>
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On pitch 2 due to the instability of the 15 m jenga tower, I built another peg belay on solid terra firma and Louise joined me for tea and tiffin.<br />
Pitch 3 is the beast in the back garden as you edge your way higher and higher above excellent gear amidst a sea of uncertainties. This pitch has a vast selection of unpleasant charactaristics which include a crimpy slab and an overhung jug haul to the salvation of a huge flat topped summit and it is a most outstanding sumit.<br />
Louise and myself had a wee wander around this football pitch pitch sized summit and all too quickly we began the descent.<br />
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<b>Crux Moves on Pitch 3</b></div>
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<b> </b>The descent from the summit of Gull Island involves two 50 meter abseils and a wee bit of guile and rope trickery in the middle section and we were back on the beach.</div>
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with the addition of the peg belay at the top of pitch 2 and the digging about for gear placement I have altered the route description to allow for a more up to date idea of what an ascent of this stack involves.</div>
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Gull Island E1 5a 125m</div>
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Pitch 1: 50m, 3a. To the west of the landward aréte climb the huge corner crack until it terminates. traverse right and ascend the ramp to gain the aréte and a tri-peg belay. (3 good gear placements in 50m, fall & you will die)</div>
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Pitch 2, 25m. Continue up the aréte by a very atmospheric scramble to the big block overhang at the base of the boulder field. (2 peg belay)</div>
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Pitch 3, 50m, 5a. Climb the stack boulder field to the two big boulders perched on top. Crimp left and ascend to the summit through the two rock bands</div>
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<b>The summit of Gull Island</b></div>
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<b>Rock Climbing is not a spectator sport?</b></div>
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<b>Gull island Panoramic</b></div>
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Fear is not a negative emotion, fear is an understanding we have nothing to fear.</div>
Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Gull Island, Co. Donegal, Ireland54.778738263506916 -8.602948877960443554.774159263506917 -8.6130338779604436 54.783317263506916 -8.5928638779604434tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-88654854807461902282013-08-15T12:43:00.002-07:002013-08-15T14:03:58.650-07:00Tormore Island, Ireland's highest sea stack<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There are few places on Earth that can compare to the surreal nature of the coastal architecture that surrounds <b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/tormore-island" target="_blank">Tormore Island</a></b>. This island sits at the southern end of <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/glenlough-bay" target="_blank"><b>Glenlough Bay</b></a> at the far western tip of the Slievetooey coastline in South West Donegal.<br />
Living approximately 300 meters out to sea from the storm beach at the Entrance to Shambhala, resides this huge island/sea stack. At about 160 meters high Tormore Island is Ireland's highest sea stack and it stands guard over a truly outstanding collection of sea stacks and towers in this very inaccessible and mildly scary location. Surrounding the sea approaches to Tormore are the 100 meters high <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/cnoc-na-mara" target="_blank"><b>Cnoc na Mara</b></a>, <b><u><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/lurking-fear" target="_blank">Lurking Fear</a></u></b>, <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/hidden-stack" target="_blank"><b>Hidden Stack</b></a> and the 100 meters high Cobbler's Tower. <br />
This really is a surreal place of giants, the routes to the summits of the giants are all in the <b><u><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sea_stack_guide" target="_blank">Donegal Sea Stack Guide</a></u></b> and this guide only really scrapes the surface of the climbing potential of the Donegal coastline.<br />
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<b>A paddle around Tormore Island</b><br />
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<b> </b>Access to the base of the Tormore involves a 3 kilometer clifftop walk from the An Port road end and a 250 meter scramble down to one of two storm beaches at sea level. It is possible to access sea level from both The Entrance to Shambhala storm beach and An Chlochán Mór storm beach below Glenlough Bay. Each of those exit points for the sea crossing present it's own set of potential marine difficulties and both are very dependent on a specific set of nautical conditions and tide phases. Each of these two sea passages are of course equally emotional.<br />
From sea level it is then a 300 meter sea passage to the narrow channel separating Tormore Island from Cobbler's Tower. Cobblers Towers is Donegal's highest free standing tower and is connected to mainland Donegal by a series of suicidally loose ridges and collapsing minor towers. What this essentially means is the approach and possible escape from the labyrinth surrounding Tormore is by sea passage with no sane over land entry/exit points.<br />
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<b>Commitment to the task in hand is the key</b>. :-) </div>
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<b style="text-align: center;"> Tormore Island (South View)</b><b style="text-align: center;"><br /></b><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"> The channel separating Tormore from Mainland Donegal is a nautical labyrinth comprising 4 major sea stacks and the Cobbler's tower massif. These five major land masses work well in conjunction with the myriad of smaller outlaying tidal skerries to produce a stretch of very difficult to predict tidal conflictions which unfortunately produce a great deal of white water violence. </span></div>
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<b style="text-align: center;">Tormore Island (North View)</b><br />
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<b style="text-align: center;"> </b><span style="text-align: center;">It was in August 2008 aboard a 240 HP driven R.i.B. four troopers left Burton Port bound for Tormore. On the R.i.B. was Alan Tees, Peter Copper Pete McConnel and Myself and off course captain Paul Bathgate. The short story of that day out and the First Ascent of Tormore Island is below.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">The First Ascent of Tormore Island.</span></h4>
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It was in the midst of a monsoon at 7am on a wet and dark Sunday morning that four troopers gathered on Burtonport Pier. In attendance were noble brothers Peter Cooper, Alan Tees, Pete Copper and myself, we all sat in the impending gloom as the dark vertical rods of rain from the blackened sky rained down on our cars.</div>
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The object of our collective desires was the summit of the 160 meter previously unclimbed Tormore Island, Ireland's highest sea stack. Alan and Myself had made several attempts at taming this beast in the past, so by default the approach of choice today was to be by R.I.B. Our noble stead was being Captained by Paul Bathgate, a veteran of nautical misadventures along the Donegal coastline. Our noble stead it's self was a 76 mph monster of a R.I.B. and we were on our way.</div>
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Now I'm not sure if my fellow cohorts knew what to expect when I mentioned using this type of vessel for an attempt, but upon setting sail and Captain Bathgate opening the throttle a tad, the white knuckles and blank expressions from the troopers spoke volumes.</div>
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It was indeed excellent to see that after 30 seconds of this adventure that we were already mildly terrified.</div>
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Ten minutes later we rounded Torneady Point at the Northern tip of Arranmore Island and into very atmospheric seas and for the next 40 minutes we got a bit of a nautical kicking as we pounded up, over and through 20 foot walls of white nautical rage. Words can't describe our journey from Arranmore to Tormore Island suffice to say it was very emotional indeed.</div>
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As we arrived at Tormore Island it was under siege by the legions of the damned and they were riding monster white horses, Neptune was in attendance and was furious. Our fearless and mildly insane Captain navigated the channel separating the stack from Cobbler's Tower, sensory overload had already been well and truly reached and breached as we entered the cauldron of angry white sea in the pits of hate. After 10 minutes of pretty amazing boat handling skills four wide eyed fools were left on a non-tidal ledge at the bottom of the landward face of Tormore Island.</div>
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With a "See you at Four" our boat and Captain screamed out of the channel and into the maelstrom. </div>
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And Sho, as ordered the rain stopped and the Sun came out. </div>
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"Lets cane the beast" we all cried in unison.</div>
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The first 45 meter pitch was an excellent affair of V. Diff climbing up superb quartz and growing atmosphere to an excellent block belay at the very edge of the abyss.</div>
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We were climbing caterpillar stylee, which means as three troops met on a stance, the next pitch is led while the fourth trooper is ascending the previous pitch. </div>
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Anyways, as Peter Cooper came up pitch one, Alan Tees led off up pitch two of slabby mixed ground to a lofty perch below the monsterous roofs which loomed above us in the middle distance.</div>
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Pitch three bypassed the roofs on the left and had a modicum of exposure and atmosphere as further mixed ground took us to a huge ledge and superb tri-peg belay stance. Thankfully the discovery of this belay meant we could now definitely abseil off this stack, a minor point of concern I had been giving due consideration all morning.</div>
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Pete McConnel hoovered up pitch 4, it being a vertical celebration of mud, grass and grot with 2 useless runners in the first 30 meters, it was a rude awakening to stack world for Noble Brother McConnel. The summit ridge was reached and a solitary block belay in a huge ocean of green was found. One by One we scrambled the last 20 meter grass ridge a spectacular summit at about 160 meters above sea level. </div>
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Photos were taken and evidence of previous visitors sought, we found no evidence of any previous visitors.</div>
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We made an abseil descent of our route, 4 X 45 meter abseils using the now insitu peg belays, took us to our non tidal ledge to await our lift home.</div>
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Being last to abseil, I arrived at the ledge to a very ominous silence. The seas were now crashing either side off the channel and every forth wave threw thousands of tons of green on to Hidden Stack about 40 meters away opposite us. This was absolutely outstanding to stand and watch but alas it was not so good for our travel arrangements as we had no sleeping bags.</div>
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"What do you think?" Asked Brother Tees</div>
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"Aw, it'll be fine." came my confident reply. Internally I considered us to be in a spot of mild peril.</div>
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And so, for the next half hour we sat in quiet contemplation, and with a bang, into the channel of rage came our noble stead listing at 50 degrees to Port and riding a monster Greeny, full astern and Captain Bathgate and Crewman Mike Crowe got thrashed about in an astounding display of seamanship, our mighty vessel was getting an almighty nautical kicking. Several passes of our ledge and with the luggage was safely stowed on board, our noble stead spent the next 10 minutes in the center of the cauldron riding the chaotic seas.</div>
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"RIGHT, I'M COMING IN AGAIN, I CAN'T SAY IN HERE ANY LONGER, GET IN!" came our orders from our now slightly manic Captain Bathgate and in he came and a single nano second later we were all in the boat.</div>
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"THANK F*CK FOR THAT!" our nautical maestro roared as we crashed through the green to exit the channel and out onto the high seas.</div>
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Now that, Ladies and Gentlemen was a high end emotional exit from a sea stack.</div>
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The journey back to Burtonport was bumpy, but in full daylight and sunshine it was excellent sport. Half an hour of wave bouncing later saw us into sheltered water between Arranmore Island and Burtonport harbour, it was at this point Captain Bathgate gave the beast full throttle and 60 mph + we arrived in Burtonport Harbour, a bit like flying on a very very low flying Plane.</div>
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<b> Tormore Island Route</b></div>
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Tormore Island VS 220m</div>
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Grid Reference G556908. At 160m high is Irelands highest sea stack and is the daddy of Donegal's sea stacks, it can be seen from Dungloe, approx 40 KM to the North East. </div>
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This route climbs the very obvious landward arete at the eastern end of the island. This feature can be clearly seen from any position along this coast overlooking the stack. Access to the stack is an involved affair and a boat approach is recommended.</div>
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Descent is by 4 50m abseils down the route using the block and peg belays described.</div>
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Pitch 1. 45m Starting on the non tidal ledge in the centre of the landward face, directly opposite Hidden Stack. Climb the blunt arete to the right of the basalt vein, follow the corners and ledges on superb quartz to a large block belay.</div>
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Pitch 2, 40m Continue up the blunt arete on slabby mixed ground to a large ledge below the huge capping roof. (Peg Belay)</div>
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Pitch 3. 45m Climb direct to the left end of the huge roofs on excellent rock, with an increased awareness of your surroundings. Pass the roof on their left and continue up the huge shallow gully on mixed ground to a large ledge. (Peg Belay)</div>
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Pitch 4. 45m Climb direct up the vertical grass to the exposed summit ridge, scramble along the ridge for 15m to a large block belay.</div>
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Pitch 5. 20m scramble the grassy ridge to the summit.</div>
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<i>I. Miller, P. McConnel, A. Tees, P. Cooper 10/08/08</i></div>
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<b>Glenlough Bay Approach</b><br />
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There are/were two sea stack along the Donegal coast that on their first ascents the bases of the stacks were accessed by the use of a R.i.B. and an outboard engine, these two stacks were Tormore Island and the 120 meter high <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/arranmore-island-giants-reek" target="_blank"><b>Giants Reek Stack</b></a> off Aranmore Island. I always thought this was a tad unsporting and just lately Aiden McGinley and myself made an unmotorized landing on Tormore island, alas we only climbed the first two pitches (100 meters) and abseiled back to sea level due to oncoming wind and rain. We are currently awaiting a suitable day with Neptune in a good mood to return to Tormore and make a full unmotorized ascent of the stack. </div>
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<b>Landing on Tormore</b></div>
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<b>Climbers on Pitch 2</b></div>
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<b>climbers on pitch 2</b></div>
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<b>Top of Pitch 3</b></div>
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<b>Summit of Tormore Island</b></div>
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<b>Hidden Stack & Cobbler's Tower from Tormore</b></div>
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<b>Cnoc na Mara & Tormore from Cobbler's Tower </b></div>
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<b>Shambhala</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Co. Donegal, Ireland54.7647524826544 -8.690741476602852354.746430482654404 -8.7310819766028516 54.7830744826544 -8.6504009766028531tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-4210598522005741222013-08-01T16:20:00.000-07:002013-08-02T11:56:55.537-07:00The most remote location in Ireland.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sitting off the north coast of the south west corner of County Donegal in one of the most remote and sparsely populated areas of Ireland lives a collection of sea stacks and mini islands. This archipelago is collectively known as the Enchanted Islands and living at the base of the 300 meter high north face of Slievetooey and at a shade over 300 meters out to sea, these islands reside in one of the most remote, unspoilt and beautiful locations in Ireland.<br />
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<b>Pyramid Stack Film 2013</b></div>
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<b> </b>It was on the 29th of June 2010 I went for my first wee visit to this remote outcrop as I had a very strong suspicion that the highest point of this archipelago was still at that time unclimbed. As it was a very early morning start on a mid week day I could not persuade anyone to join me on this wee adventure into the then unknown. This was a successful ascent of the largest sea stack's highest point but not without a moment of mild concern as the wee dingy was visited by a family of intrigued bull seals.</div>
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Pyramid Stack Severe 160m</div>
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Grid reference G583920 This twin headed stack was first climbed as an East to West traverse(& return) Access is by a 5 KM cliff top walk from An Port, followed by a 300 meter steep grass descent and a 300 meter paddle around the grassy island which sits between the highest stack and mainland Donegal. It's location is mind blowing and is prone to massive seas. This is a very serious stack.</div>
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<i>I. Miller 29/06/10</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sea_stack_guide" target="_blank">Donegal Sea Stack Guide</a></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU5ooGdehASRQ5VHSmAvE2APhcHsJ17SQcm-6ynqFr2JOLQ8kx9qV9xLkj7an8oE6GGVHpb6wHaO67uINv0beF8UBB9Bv3lirsw-Z0zVzg_oy9fYO4hNkK-rj96NkLYlfQH4bnCIXnbcSI/s1600/Pyramid+Stack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU5ooGdehASRQ5VHSmAvE2APhcHsJ17SQcm-6ynqFr2JOLQ8kx9qV9xLkj7an8oE6GGVHpb6wHaO67uINv0beF8UBB9Bv3lirsw-Z0zVzg_oy9fYO4hNkK-rj96NkLYlfQH4bnCIXnbcSI/s320/Pyramid+Stack.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
<b>Slievetooey North Face</b></div>
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<b>View from the clifftops</b></div>
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<b>Looking from "<a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/the-unforgiving" target="_blank">The Unforgiving</a>" Sea Stack</b></div>
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Fast forward three years and a return visit to Pyramid Stack was made on 26th June 2013 with Andy Cronin during a spell of outrageously hot sunny weather and flat calm seas. We descended to sea level and paddled out from the same launch point as was used in 2010. We were joined by the same family of seals on the paddle to and from the stack. There was no sign of the great Skua which lived in the descent gully in 2010 and also gone were the dozen or so Fulmar nesting pairs on the west end of the main island. It may be my imagination but there seems to be a great deal less sea birds living on the western freeboard of Ireland than 5 years ago.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/pyramid-stack" target="_blank">Pyramid Stack</a></b></div>
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When the sun shines there are few places on earth that can compare to the natural unaltered beauty found on this stretch of coastline in South West Donegal. What this coastline provides for the perhaps more adventurous rock climber is the largest collection of adventure climbs and sea stack routes in such a small geographical area on earth. With <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/cnoc-na-mara" target="_blank"><b>Cnoc na Mara</b></a> and <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/an-bhuideal" target="_blank"><b>An Bhuideal</b></a> as equals in their adventurous status as the better known Scottish Cousins, <a href="http://www.orkney-seastacks.co.uk/oldman.htm" target="_blank"><b>The Old Man of Hoy</b></a> and Stoer. </div>
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<b>View from the summit of Pyramid Stack</b></div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Co. Donegal, Ireland54.774298344589432 -8.6351231904700454.73765434458943 -8.71580419047004 54.810942344589435 -8.55444219047004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4162179866579872020.post-58900456221302088782013-07-13T10:56:00.003-07:002013-07-13T11:04:38.566-07:00Donegal Sunshine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
And sho, 2 weeks of 25 degree + sunshine, blue skies and mirror like seas, been out to play pretty much everyday. In the last 4 weeks we've climbed nearly 50 sea stacks around the Donegal coast and had the pleasure of the company of people from all over the world. The sea at the moment is so calm that it was possible to circumnavigate the mighty <a href="http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sp/directory/details/tormore-island" target="_blank">Tormore Island</a>. This 160m high sea stack sits at the seaward edge to the entrance to Shamhala and I had never seen it's seaward face. The seaward face is the most outrageous big wall in Ireland by a very large margin, a route up this wall would be a major achievement in Irish climbing history. :-) It was a scary place to be even to paddle under in deep black water had a very real feeling of dread.<br />
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<b>Slieve League Sea Stack Film</b></div>
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<b> </b>Paid a visit to Silver Strand Beach with Des O'Connor and paddled 600m out from Silver Strand Beach to land on the 50m stack at the base of the Western end of the Slieve League sea cliffs. A most excellent day out which involved a 600m paddle, 80m of scrambling, a short bouncy swim in slightly lively waters, a spitting fulmar chick and baking sunshine. This was also Oscar the dogs 5th sea stack. :-)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimreXjah5oKaM6TrQirgK5NaDwytvOt5LnzIdPQRi2v3nbl__dg6yV-ScIpt3OsJIHif088kreLmmpdBeVe6FWshzLVXaJ3OeYDdlimA9b3ySOSvqwpz3tUvsFh_tuPHgUOZiAyyx1iedt/s1600/Slieve+League+Sea+Stack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimreXjah5oKaM6TrQirgK5NaDwytvOt5LnzIdPQRi2v3nbl__dg6yV-ScIpt3OsJIHif088kreLmmpdBeVe6FWshzLVXaJ3OeYDdlimA9b3ySOSvqwpz3tUvsFh_tuPHgUOZiAyyx1iedt/s320/Slieve+League+Sea+Stack.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Slieve League Sea Stack</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFuyrHzoYqzEbb2OMaIYd0x6DRdAWlJFJwq0Hiy2hAqxh4_IGuOEkhkdXEYYzLAk1hzfEEt6UJ3o1RLtOoObg_DjIoXWQrnQGhvVUzKRLIDvNdIhuuq1F49RxishzIfOEDzo_SWZHEsJZ/s1600/Slieve+League.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFuyrHzoYqzEbb2OMaIYd0x6DRdAWlJFJwq0Hiy2hAqxh4_IGuOEkhkdXEYYzLAk1hzfEEt6UJ3o1RLtOoObg_DjIoXWQrnQGhvVUzKRLIDvNdIhuuq1F49RxishzIfOEDzo_SWZHEsJZ/s320/Slieve+League.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Slieve League Sea Cliffs</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48NF9DB0AyM8C2OWVRxJapZbvQZf8NonJltca1Bg2zJb_IqNtPAN5r_LxDe7jIisSFlO9Krlbr91o9IIuAl5-IcgM0f1dz_FLU2lhhTi7kqgRHIurUxm-AoeodZV1up3KM_4v2npwWv_J/s1600/Silver+Strand.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48NF9DB0AyM8C2OWVRxJapZbvQZf8NonJltca1Bg2zJb_IqNtPAN5r_LxDe7jIisSFlO9Krlbr91o9IIuAl5-IcgM0f1dz_FLU2lhhTi7kqgRHIurUxm-AoeodZV1up3KM_4v2npwWv_J/s320/Silver+Strand.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Sliver Strand Beach, Malinbeg</b></div>
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Went for a visit to the Ends of the Earth Crag with Princess Kathy and made the double abseil to the very base of the crag where Neptune made an appearance. A most excellent day out on Ireland's most remote climbing location the short film below shows the slightly tetchy sea conditions on the day.</div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/go5z40Ub-_o/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/go5z40Ub-_o?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/go5z40Ub-_o?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<b>End's of the Earth Crag</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihbrjLC60g-0V8xeu1SGF9CVLnPy9VXlYXvUR5TOluy0ts8lNB6HB07QRIalK8GnBHKAUESxeWW69rtbntzR2FCym2CyQd1euMf8ILP39gmBUrC5GmS2ak9Y-XnpBENSI9uDimqM_3Wsxl/s1600/Sea+Stack+Summit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihbrjLC60g-0V8xeu1SGF9CVLnPy9VXlYXvUR5TOluy0ts8lNB6HB07QRIalK8GnBHKAUESxeWW69rtbntzR2FCym2CyQd1euMf8ILP39gmBUrC5GmS2ak9Y-XnpBENSI9uDimqM_3Wsxl/s320/Sea+Stack+Summit.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Sea Stack Summit at An Port</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0gQJxHuVBmfrC296Qz4KOUecRM4N4ajFqkQPZI3QtmN9QWLYlXJJYCtkpyUMHeNOJ4mC3Fo0JYoOMUWvxLk3q-oMSJlj1IKw4MvXxaa-o22S0hJ0_jkpAFQYeaknoM36DA7xX7n2VxoG/s1600/Abseil+Donegal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0gQJxHuVBmfrC296Qz4KOUecRM4N4ajFqkQPZI3QtmN9QWLYlXJJYCtkpyUMHeNOJ4mC3Fo0JYoOMUWvxLk3q-oMSJlj1IKw4MvXxaa-o22S0hJ0_jkpAFQYeaknoM36DA7xX7n2VxoG/s320/Abseil+Donegal.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Abseil off the End's of the Earth Crag</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-qFw-vSZjwse3ihKvASxknfTRIW_j8Ab4Gsy4eos9-zpA7w3CFenWICt3Lr7TyziwtvLQK6THj8aMqYEUgx46B8mKpQgzBomD7LzAKCmSRSGyT2Mjsn_P-ULblnUn3C8e2MNtT-uhB4Mf/s1600/Rock+Climbing+Donegal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-qFw-vSZjwse3ihKvASxknfTRIW_j8Ab4Gsy4eos9-zpA7w3CFenWICt3Lr7TyziwtvLQK6THj8aMqYEUgx46B8mKpQgzBomD7LzAKCmSRSGyT2Mjsn_P-ULblnUn3C8e2MNtT-uhB4Mf/s320/Rock+Climbing+Donegal.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Rock Climbing in Donegal</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyb4TU1EOzJ9LGM3vnD7pTOLwhOte_9G43HxDXRkOnGTdT6-ph822JgWnbx7H1Eoyp6KJjmGGUoeRYKy9639dz-aHU5JYyHHebzmTGRyWEmZ1fYdhguJ0LnJuI_g1OU50cSBnd-GtbZjz/s1600/Belay.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyb4TU1EOzJ9LGM3vnD7pTOLwhOte_9G43HxDXRkOnGTdT6-ph822JgWnbx7H1Eoyp6KJjmGGUoeRYKy9639dz-aHU5JYyHHebzmTGRyWEmZ1fYdhguJ0LnJuI_g1OU50cSBnd-GtbZjz/s320/Belay.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Belay above the rage</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcojReH3xd-L45QmpUCAATlm65t6ptZZ4jnmlE0hVdtwyQ5DyFhfVxlWpJ1N4PzUq22hvNb-OyVweqBrYbGIhYBrqut_3BK4A96MRW-zJB1VCa_rwVQJMS40SALJiM1z7unB67Rc7J7UBZ/s1600/Donegal+Sea+Cliffs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcojReH3xd-L45QmpUCAATlm65t6ptZZ4jnmlE0hVdtwyQ5DyFhfVxlWpJ1N4PzUq22hvNb-OyVweqBrYbGIhYBrqut_3BK4A96MRW-zJB1VCa_rwVQJMS40SALJiM1z7unB67Rc7J7UBZ/s320/Donegal+Sea+Cliffs.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Sea Cliff climbing</b> <b>in Donegal</b></div>
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<b> </b>On a two day visit to the Entrance to Shambhala with Noble Brother Jock Reed, we made the first ascent of Donegal's highest free standing tower. This 100m high tower has major access issues in the form of being at the base of a 1000ft sea cliff, a labyrinth of tricky sea passages to arrive at the base of the easy angled north face and a very scary summit which appears to be defying gravity in all directions. We wished the cobbler well and did not stay long on the summit. :-)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZDfyynUZyIpWWB8cBdliojGlqXbG9rJYl9G9pogV37ScILA_9dLAVeIXtI2OC8UzBblRVOhnjlepbiyI6Dmky5yo5E59ru7obuHouj6A0FPxpufg6dC4dCsARJypS1oz61wzrj-ihePL/s1600/Cobblers+tower+view.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZDfyynUZyIpWWB8cBdliojGlqXbG9rJYl9G9pogV37ScILA_9dLAVeIXtI2OC8UzBblRVOhnjlepbiyI6Dmky5yo5E59ru7obuHouj6A0FPxpufg6dC4dCsARJypS1oz61wzrj-ihePL/s320/Cobblers+tower+view.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Summit view from Cobblers Tower</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMwGNx-grPzONl0SHzrPjMnkVU2ipkKLtcIvyaQZCVI-O1ArsuS2Cg_Z8xFX0B_7q7Gt5h-B_JhnR-VIUsWz0CSiEV9zGNe2YobVUOV6CyN0cm7-SYIl1x4GwzUGvGjFn30yxigQTVIAe/s1600/Shambhala.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMwGNx-grPzONl0SHzrPjMnkVU2ipkKLtcIvyaQZCVI-O1ArsuS2Cg_Z8xFX0B_7q7Gt5h-B_JhnR-VIUsWz0CSiEV9zGNe2YobVUOV6CyN0cm7-SYIl1x4GwzUGvGjFn30yxigQTVIAe/s320/Shambhala.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Shambhala</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppKiQk_0GS-u2ruixX7nyCMwgvmtKheyTQ-ldQh5_5kaiTMBsZB_k34OutXnV8FHvN8PON7qBEef_axzPokAkDwpk9il6bzyfaTcsVwYi5WpdM3qKL869RUVN2fl1kY3tDZNaAMMyJ1T1/s1600/Cnoc+na+Mara.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppKiQk_0GS-u2ruixX7nyCMwgvmtKheyTQ-ldQh5_5kaiTMBsZB_k34OutXnV8FHvN8PON7qBEef_axzPokAkDwpk9il6bzyfaTcsVwYi5WpdM3qKL869RUVN2fl1kY3tDZNaAMMyJ1T1/s320/Cnoc+na+Mara.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Cnoc na Mara from Cobblers Tower</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJPt9CPM1r6k-hHqBaj5MOopGjhDOOIGo6fgvJL-fqCcxoVC4WJ3BYjw8WHsbw6s9mhlLGzB07DtcHrSCrjqBzJCOwufYh8GTKMwUk8LE2waRaPhP8ur-W3QnOQfBJFVnEICLWAzix98t/s1600/Tormore+Island.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJPt9CPM1r6k-hHqBaj5MOopGjhDOOIGo6fgvJL-fqCcxoVC4WJ3BYjw8WHsbw6s9mhlLGzB07DtcHrSCrjqBzJCOwufYh8GTKMwUk8LE2waRaPhP8ur-W3QnOQfBJFVnEICLWAzix98t/s320/Tormore+Island.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Tormore Island from the Abyss</b></div>
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<b> </b>The following day Jock and myself returned to Shambhala with 15 year old Jake Scollay who was on holiday from Edinburgh. Jake had taken a notion to climb a sea stack and the summit of Cnoc na Mara was the obvious solution to this current crisis. It was a very long day to the summit of this 100m sea stack with 26 degree sun, tetchy fulmar chicks and a mill pond Atlantic, all in all another excellent day out, if a mildly scary one! :-) A massive well done to Jake on getting to the summit and back down the multiply abseils whilst showing his slightly older climbing partners how to climb properly ie with style and grace! :-)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUbtjgKGXxsd9WSiY5FEo77gB1wEPpbK37a_YKr95-Y7RK4Va1twbYwEDZNS5C6gZixJ8RcG8isPyjwWauuF2VvaBZyz0pvV2Sk7aA54r_5ab_okA8JypG5QAgdcR0KsRxL75hdubf7lY/s1600/Troops+after+the+ascent.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUbtjgKGXxsd9WSiY5FEo77gB1wEPpbK37a_YKr95-Y7RK4Va1twbYwEDZNS5C6gZixJ8RcG8isPyjwWauuF2VvaBZyz0pvV2Sk7aA54r_5ab_okA8JypG5QAgdcR0KsRxL75hdubf7lY/s320/Troops+after+the+ascent.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Jake & Jock after the ascent</b></div>
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<b>The final Pitch</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALw4Nlje43l6Wf93CMSuWCwKw02D3F2MbRBw-qeUROvt6ldNZlw8eNhq_4-VaFdPXkFydaqUKL6YG-g0HOgqBSAvSuak3N15CsFHRT9o4o1TLS8nj0NkKqZKexZ6vLC3XrNteD0gaCRiH/s1600/Looking+south.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALw4Nlje43l6Wf93CMSuWCwKw02D3F2MbRBw-qeUROvt6ldNZlw8eNhq_4-VaFdPXkFydaqUKL6YG-g0HOgqBSAvSuak3N15CsFHRT9o4o1TLS8nj0NkKqZKexZ6vLC3XrNteD0gaCRiH/s320/Looking+south.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Looking South from the summit</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwqcsHcUyXqxfxx2nJ0_DL-9bmSZOgI8rJ2YJIdLirUYmtAtOAw4Fu0gUJ_TsDwCbtPhYbWl3NN8iOz-Crw2t3_6kaWeGeASso_WbqFHhiUeU301hNyhivXmEIYhKdmjanSFB41m0rjMv/s1600/Jock+on+the+Stack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwqcsHcUyXqxfxx2nJ0_DL-9bmSZOgI8rJ2YJIdLirUYmtAtOAw4Fu0gUJ_TsDwCbtPhYbWl3NN8iOz-Crw2t3_6kaWeGeASso_WbqFHhiUeU301hNyhivXmEIYhKdmjanSFB41m0rjMv/s320/Jock+on+the+Stack.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Landing on the Stack</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6Tt6K2_UpoFmm3_wgvi8rWf7dz8gl9oVVk9jBXXg7Zkn5zfK2hfhF0EIRY92ZJ3-f-v2qaXJNxG9CEhDY_FslryvPm1KM8FyPWhudHvc_1EhyObqDyk-gdI-MettBE1_56IL8KttQx_U/s1600/Tormore+Trio.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6Tt6K2_UpoFmm3_wgvi8rWf7dz8gl9oVVk9jBXXg7Zkn5zfK2hfhF0EIRY92ZJ3-f-v2qaXJNxG9CEhDY_FslryvPm1KM8FyPWhudHvc_1EhyObqDyk-gdI-MettBE1_56IL8KttQx_U/s320/Tormore+Trio.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The Entrance to Shambhala</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS18CqB2LxD1Zqz4dStp-4creD3Gev6UuQXucObRog-uhRWFhCNaK4C_3TZdQI8LJ97gxfJTsWc9xJF5brs9dQtxtlVyPNducqSmWjSVs4s3SZNBvgr49HvTPOcrbJFS4mdLjgJWfjyBR8/s1600/Shamhbala.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS18CqB2LxD1Zqz4dStp-4creD3Gev6UuQXucObRog-uhRWFhCNaK4C_3TZdQI8LJ97gxfJTsWc9xJF5brs9dQtxtlVyPNducqSmWjSVs4s3SZNBvgr49HvTPOcrbJFS4mdLjgJWfjyBR8/s320/Shamhbala.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Simply Outstanding!</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZtNpojiFLWsRM8bmzkOSwvEsnXCNvAeNzjW3vhRjuGslglVj7Z4AOP3Cpe4h-Hh_e0wG60R8vA8MuXTblaCQdSQZ4YMjVbf0RApZ6CxfUQqvx3-TydBa-2JTTNxDnL0_btNC2bn4D_i7/s1600/Setting+Sun.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZtNpojiFLWsRM8bmzkOSwvEsnXCNvAeNzjW3vhRjuGslglVj7Z4AOP3Cpe4h-Hh_e0wG60R8vA8MuXTblaCQdSQZ4YMjVbf0RApZ6CxfUQqvx3-TydBa-2JTTNxDnL0_btNC2bn4D_i7/s320/Setting+Sun.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The End of a Very Long Day</b></div>
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And Sho, these are just a few days out from the last two weeks and with a long term forecast giving continued excellent weather, it would be rude not to continue to play out. ;-)</div>
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Iain Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01796350027907865587noreply@blogger.com0Ireland54.746604525306452 -8.70522871613502554.709944025306449 -8.7859097161350252 54.783265025306456 -8.6245477161350248