Saturday, April 25, 2015

Donegal April

I was lucky to get a week climbing an the extraordinary cliffs of Donegal in Ireland at the beginning of April and even more privileged to have 5 days of sunshine. Here are a few pics (click on them to get a bigger view).

This is Sail Rock, and the E2 Mainmast - the first route we did. What an introduction. After a scrattly first pitch, there's a 55m rope length of pure quality climbing. 
That same day we visited a tide swept and damp Muckcross but managed an excellent VS.



Some landscapes mainly of An Port, a beautiful wild bay filled with sea stacks
We'd hoped to climb the 4 pitch stack on the left but the Atlantic swells meant we ended up doing the small one (40m) called Lurking Fear Stack
The team on top of the Lurking Fear stack after our new route
Landing back on the beach
One of the highlights was 2 days on Owey Island including a chance to climb the Blade. 
Ben heading up the Blade with the Atlantic making its presence felt
Jon finishing a typically high quality route on Owey with the Holy Jesus Wall in the background, home  to the island's toughest routes.


Many thanks to Iain Miller who helped us out so much on this trip. Iain is one of the main pioneers in the area and runs his own guiding business www.uniqueascent.ie

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