Donegal Sunshine

 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 Tormore Island. 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.

 Slieve League Sea Stack Film

 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. :-)

Slieve League Sea Stack

Slieve League Sea Cliffs

Sliver Strand Beach, Malinbeg

 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.

End's of the Earth Crag

Sea Stack Summit at An Port

Abseil off the End's of the Earth Crag

Rock Climbing in Donegal

Belay above the rage

Sea Cliff climbing in Donegal

 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. :-)

 Summit view from Cobblers Tower

Shambhala

Cnoc na Mara from Cobblers Tower

Tormore Island from the Abyss

 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! :-)

Jake & Jock after the ascent

The final Pitch

Looking South from the summit

Landing on the Stack

The Entrance to Shambhala

Simply Outstanding!

The End of a Very Long Day

 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. ;-)

Adventure on the Donegal Coast at it's best

 It's been a most excellent 3 weeks of playing out on the Donegal coast line. The forces of nature have been outstanding and very kind, which has allowed over 50 international & national visitors to stand on the summits of Donegal's Sea Stacks.
 We have pretty much been on the Slievetooey coastline everyday, making 2nd ascents of all the previously climbed sea stacks. It's been at time an emotional re-union with summits that I had previously only ever been to alone and once before.    

The most remote place in Ireland

 Went for a visit to Arch Stack with Niamh Gaffney, we climbed a new line up the landward face of the stack as a memorial to Niamh's dad Eddie Gaffney. Eddie Gaffney was a pioneering Irish new router in the 60's/70's/80's alas he died following his dreams in the Italian Alps in 1996. Niamh and myself climbed "Ned Gaffney’s Perch" a 29 meter Severe in memory of his pioneering spirit. Not to put any pressure on ourselves but we were under the watchful eye of John Rafferty who was our eye on the clifftops for an Irish Times Article. 

"Ned Gaffney's Perch" Film

 This was only the third ascent of the stack and the third route to it's summit. Below are short films of the previous two ascents and these show greatly the changing mood of the Atlantic Ocean on the West Coast of Ireland. :-) 

2nd Ascent of Arch Stack Film

First Ascent of Arch Stack Film

 Failte Ireland and Today FM ran a competition and a session rock climbing on Cruit Island was one of the prizes and the day was a typical day of Western donegal blazing sunshine and monster seas.

 The following day it was a visit to Ends of the Earth Crag with Alessandra Robertson from Canada and Andy Cronin. The seas at the crag were mildly tetchy and the abseil down the face was most excellent. 

Sea Cliff climbing in Ireland

Today FM winner on Cruit

Cruit Island Rock Climbing

Glenlough Bay Rock Climbing

Sea Cliff climbing in Donegal

"Caoimhe's Corner," End's of the Earth Crag

 And off course not forgetting a superb day out with Princess Sue AKA Sue Byrne and a visit to a nearly forgotten sea stack with a 500m sea passage just to the south of the Port road end.

 

An Port Sea Stack film

An Port Bay

Sue on Sea Stack summit

Berg Stack Summit

Donegal Sea Stack Climbing

 All in all an excellent few weeks of continually climbing sea stacks and very remote sea cliffs with a large collection of people who were most defo having fun whilst being attached to the end of a length of dynamic rope. :-)

Sea Stack Climbing

 And Sho, with more than a week of 20+ temperatures and blistering sunshine in Co Donegal it would have been rude not to go out and play as much as was humanly possible.
 A week of outstanding weather and we were off to Glenlough Bay, with a view to making an ascent of Tent Stack, alas Neptune was most definitely in the building. We arrived at the top of the cliff top descent gully in the bay to the sound of millions of tonnes of shingle being raised and lower on the beach 200m below. As we descended the gully the 16 foot surf coming into the bay in walls of Caribbean blue sea were absolutely outstanding to stand and watch, but alas we needed to cross them to gain our sea stack.
 Watch the short film below, as it shows just how outstanding Donegal's little known places are, it also shows the county looking very much like southern Spain.

Glenlough Bay Film

Descent Gully to Glenlough Beach

Raised Shingle Storm Beach

Sea Stack Summit view

Glenlough Bay

 The following day, it was a return to An Port for a wee look at Berg Stack and as the previous day the seas were ramping 16 footers from the West. It took a wee bit of nautical guile to circumnavigate the outlaying skerries to allow safe passage to the Berg stack. Once we all arrived at the base of the stack it all became a bit overheated as the "oven effect" was on full pelt in the mid-day sun. We ascended "Mayday, Mayday," up the landward face and with an airy top out onto the huge wedge summit to a perfect sea breeze and pounding white water around us and around all the outer skerries and islands. It would have been easy to sit all day watching the sea.                                  

Berg Stack, An Port

Colm & Christine on Berg Stack Summit

 The following day it was once more back to An Port, this time for a wee look at the mighty Cnoc na Mara.
 It is difficult to put into words the journey up Cnoc na Mara as it is a truly outstanding 100m high sea stack. It's landward arete is a classic 150m long mountaineering/coastaleering journey. The climbing is never hard but is very exposed and there is a wee bit of thought required to the rope work and "getting back down." 
 Thankfully Neptune was in a much better mood and we made the paddle to and from the stack without too much drama! :-)
 The short film below shows the exposed nature of this very spacial sea stack climb. :-) 

Sea Stack Climbing Film

Cnoc na Mara

The Entrance to Shambhala

The Paddle out to the Sea Stack

Holly abandoned on the Cnoc na Mara

Summit Ridge

Looking up, Pitch 4

The 2nd Abseil to sea Level

Adventure Tourism in Ireland

 And Sho, a week of visitors to Donegal from the United States and Canada. The weather was suitably atmospheric with high winds, the odd deluge and a tad of nautical rage from our old friend Neptune. Which off course, made finding suitable adventurous places to play out at a tad more interesting and made the already adventurous locations a wee bit more terrifying. :-)
 First up for a wee adventure were Bob and Dorothy from New Mexico and with a visit to Cruit Island we made an ascent of a classic or three. We ended a day of bright sunshine on the island with a full ascent and traverse of the mighty Cave Rave. The following day a sheet of very low laying cloud meant a clifftop walk along the Slievetooey Peninsula from An Port was a tad emotional with pretty much 20m visibility for the walk into Glenlough Bay and the Ends of the Earth Crag. The only solution to the crisis was a visit to the summit of The Realm of the Senses Stack overlooking the Port road End. Now, no visit to Donegal under large sea conditions would be complete without a wee play on Tor na Dumhcha this outstanding sea stack just off the Gweedore coast line provides an excellent day out getting very close to an angry Neptune indeed.

Extreme Ireland Film

An Port Bay, Donegal       

Sea Stack Climbing in Ireland

An Port Sea Stack Summit

 The following day Alex and Zee from Toronto, Canada came for a wee play on the coast and with a swift sea stack summit en route to Ends of the Earth Crag, the day was set, for the sea was ramping 20 footers from the West. Thus making this a super atmospheric location to abseil onto a hanging ledge above the rage on Ireland's most remote climbing location. A strange anomaly exists at this crag as when the sea is pounding a fissure at the high tide mark sends explosions of atomised salt spray, at times higher than the crag with a resounding sonic boom. :-)  

Tormore Island, Ireland's Highest Sea Stack

Cruit Island Climbing

 Our third set of troopers were Josh and Clayton Sloan from Minnesota and they came to play on a day of UBER low spring tides. Which allowed us to climb two of the An Port Road End stacks with a coastaleering approach from Triple Arch Stack onto Fortitude in Distress Stack. This was the 2nd ascent of Fortitude in Distress stack and pretty much guaranteed 1st USA ascent of this mildly scary summit.    

Sea Cliff Climbing in Ireland

End's of the Earth Crag

Gweedore Rock Climbing

 Donegal Sea Stack Climbing is by far the most adventurous commercially activity in Ireland by a very long way and there is no requirement to have ever rock climbed before. All that is really required is a sense of adventure and perhaps a sense of humour.
 Lend me your eyes and I'll change what you see. :-)

Donegal Island Adventure

 An Sho, with many cunning plans for a wee bit of an adventure over the May Bank holiday weekend, the weather gods were having it large with a spot of low cloud and a hint of wind as the annual Climbfest, kicked off on Cruit Island. There was an excellent turn out with climbers travelling from all over the country to attend. A new wall got developed with routes from VS to E2 and several other new lines recorded on the existing crags of Golfers Crag and Farmhouse Buttress. Once again excellent work by Alan Tees and his team on another well organised Climbfest weekend.

Tyrolean Traverse Film

Donegal Climbfest

Climbfest Camp Fire

 On the Monday of the Climbfest as the crowds were beginning to thin in the low laying crowd an altogether smaller team of International players donned the thermals and went in search of vertical pleasure. A team of five from Singapore, and two teams of two from Omagh and Dublin went to play. We split into two sides with one side taking to the sea and the other trying to avoid it. :-) One Side heading to Traderg wall and descended to sea level where Neptune was very much in attendance and with a modicum of white watered rage we made a team ascent of "4 April Fools."

 Alas by this time the sea was by now bouncing proper and so we headed to Albatross Zawn to the shelter from Neptunes Ire. The Albatross Zawn provided excellent sheltered rock with all players getting up several routes and Princess Katy taking the yellow jersey on her ascent of a VS jamming crack as the sun came out.

Happy Ladies

Cruit Island rock Climbing

Donegal Sea Kayaking

Cruit Island Rock Climbing

Rope Coiling Lessons

Rock Climbing in the Sun

Topping out in the Sun

Cruit Camp Fire

  The morning after the day before and a rapid turn around in the weather, all hill walking plans were abandoned to favour of a Tyrolean Traverse across the Albatross Zawn. 

 "A Tyrolean Traverse is a method of crossing through free space between two high points on a rope without a hanging cart or cart equivalent." to quote Wikipedia.

 The rigging for the a Tyrolean especially one that spans a 50m+ stretch of sea takes a wee while to set up and involves a lot of prior planning if you wish to avoid swimming. :-) An hour or so later and 14 independent anchors, 100m of semi-static, 120m of dynamic, 20+ HMS karabiners and an assortment of softwear, our creation was ready for airtime and so John Mallon and myself took flight to test the fear factor of the beast.  

 It was now the turn of our international climbing team and so one by one everyone took flight across the zawn. This was a most excellent way to finish a four day stay on Cruit island. 

 This two day adventure holiday was organised in conjunction with Mark, Donna & John of 4 Elements NI 

Tyrolean Traverse

Mid Air Acrobatics

The Exit Point

Tyrolean Across the Zawn

Cruit Island Tyrolean Traverse