Feel on top of the world
By that stage you already need to know that you have a head for heights and that conquering the cliff face in front of you is something you really want to achieve.
If you do feel extreme fear out on the cliff face, then rock climbing is probably not for you. British climber Matt Tranter is very experienced on Irish cliffs and is quite clear on the fear factor.
“Climbers don’t get scared at the top,” says Tranter. “All of the hard work is over by then. Being scared while climbing is half of the fun and a lot of the motivation to keep going harder and further. The best climbers are those that can harness the fear and keep it in check, channel it into positive energy.”
Next weekend sees enthusiasts descend on the Co Donegal island of Gola for a climbing blitz, while junior climbers head to the Burren, Co Clare. Its towering, bulbous cliffs attract climbers from all over the country and beyond.
Technically, rock climbing is a part of mountaineering, as are hill walking, rambling, bouldering and alpinism. Rock climbing’s suite of terms — belay, top roping, jamming, etc — can leave your head spinning and while many are learned over time, many more are essential to navigating your way up and over a cliff-face. As Karl Boyle, Mountaineering Ireland chief officer explains: “You can walk up Kilimanjaro, but you can also climb up it.” Mountaineering Ireland is the representative body for walkers and climbers. The organisation boasts 10,500 members, comprising over 145 clubs.
Several climbers attest to the fact that Ireland has some of the best climbing routes in the world. Weird, considering we are one of the least mountainous countries in Europe. In terms of mountains, Ireland ranks just ahead of the likes of the Netherlands and Finland. The mecca for rock climbing in Ireland is Ailladie, Co Clare. It sounds like a lost Himalayan kingdom but in fact it is a rural townland just outside Doolin in the Burren, Co Clare. And on any given weekend climbers can be seen here contorted into gulleys, half twisted into ‘chimneys’ or suspended in mid-air while reaching for a rope.
Climbers are proud of their rock conquests, ticking them off like so many notches on a gunslinger’s six-gun. And they accord them the quixotic names deserving of the spirit of adventure — the Dancing Ledges in Ailladie, the Lady of Owey in Co Donegal, Mother of Prague in the Gap of Dunloe, Co Kerry, and Halloween in Co Antrim.
Ian Mulvanney, 37, is from Dun Laoghaire but is now based in London. Living near to Killiney Quarry ensured he had easy access to the sport. “That’s one of the heartlands of climbing in Ireland and I was living just around the corner, that’s why I got into it. It was quite easy to get started.”
Mulvanney has been climbing since 1990 and says the quality of the rock and the routes in Ireland is as good as anywhere in the world. He has climbed in the US, all over Europe, and particularly Ailliade in Co Clare. Now working in product development, he doesn’t get home much but still manages to get along to London’s indoor climbing centres.
Mulvanney says climbers in Ireland have to contend with the bad weather. “You have to be optimistic and to really try and get out when you can. And Ireland is really underdeveloped when it comes to climbing so there are loads of places where you can go that no one has done before, particularly out in the islands. And that’s quite rare.”
Richard Creagh began his climbing career at the climbing wall in UCC and usually heads out about twice a week. He’s just about to head to a four-month climbing holiday in New Zealand — proof how far this sport can take you. And he also found a job in the sport, working at the Play at Height centre in Dingle, Co Kerry, which is very popular with tourists.
As for the fear factor, Creagh says you can get injured playing any sport, and climbing is no different. To the casual observer it must seem that the precarious positions some climbers get themselves into must put the fear of God into them. Nope. “It’s about controlling your mind as much as the physical aspect,” he says. “You can break your neck cycling to work, so climbing is the same. It’s as risky as you want to make it.
“There’s a whole lifestyle associated with it. Nearly everyone would know each other.”
If Ailladie is one mecca then Co Donegal is another. Peter Cooper is currently writing a book on climbs and routes in Co Donegal and is looking for climbers to submit new routes and photographs for the guide.
Iain Miller has a head for heights like few others and Donegal is also firmly in his sights. So what’s the attraction of this particular county for the man from the Orkney Islands? “I’ve been busy exploring places on the Donegal coast where no-one else has ever been and climbing the previously unclimbed leviathans that live there,” he says,
Miller lives and works in the Rosses so the mountains are on his doorstep. He says Donegal has the most outstanding collection of climbed sea stacks in the northern hemisphere. He proudly declares that the county has more climbable rock than the rest of Ireland put together.
Not content with mere rock climbing, Miller’s variation on a theme is to take his boat with him. He tosses this down the cliffs on a rope ahead of him. He then climbs down, sometimes with his dog, before rowing across towering seas and crawling up a sea stack like some amphibious creature from the deep.
Surely he’s risking life and limb? “Sea stack climbing is the true embodiment of rock climbing,” he says.
“It’s fantastic to get to the base of a 200m cliff, paddle for a kilometre in outrageous locations, land on, climb and abseil off the sea stack.! All the time knowing no-one has ever set foot there before.
“It does require a certain set of skills beyond the standard climbing skills such as owning a pair of Speedos and being able to swim. Reading the sea is key to a successful day out. Through the medium of rock climbing you see the great outdoors through a very different pair of eyes and visit spectacular places you would not otherwise see.”
These Donegal sea stacks are located off the Slievetooey peninsula without a doubt the most remote location on Ireland, says this ironman.
Rock climbing is getting more popular in Ireland. Sarah Brewer of Fáilte Ireland says it is hard to break down the figures for rock climbing specifically but as part of the adventure sports spectrum, it is a valuable component. “Activity and adventure tourism was worth €1.2 billion to the Irish economy in 2008, €650 million generated by overseas markets and €540 million from the domestic market. The average spend of overseas visitors engaging in activities is 38% higher than the average overseas visitor.”
Britain and mainland Europe are the primary overseas markets for activity tourism, and make up almost a quarter of visitors in the sector.
Hiking and walking is the largest segment within the activity sector with 1.6 million overseas and domestic participants in 2008, and 1.2 million people took part in adventure and water-based activities.
One of the veterans of the Irish rock climbing scene is Matt Tranter. As well as spending the past 25 year climbing all over the country, he has spent a year at the Belfast Activity Centre in Belfast, teaching leadership, personal development and how to get on with the rest of the world if you are a teenager, using the outdoors, including climbing, as a teaching tool.
“To get to a high standard requires either hard training or being a freak of nature like some of the real strong boys around. Most people, me included, climb for fun. We have real lives and do as much as we can. It is a young person’s game where strength counts for a lot — the wiry old dogs like myself rely a little more on technique gathered over 25 years on the rock,” says Tranter.
Rock climbing is a test of everything in your make-up. It’s a test of your mettle. It’s a test of your nerve. Your sinews. Your muscles. Your gear. Your planning. Your loyalty to your fellow man. Above all, it’s a test of your judgement. This stuff is inspiring. Forget rock climbing for yourself if you will, just looking at these climbers in action should inspire you whatever your field.
* www.mountaineering.ie
* www.climbing.ie
* www.theshortspan.com
* irishmountaineeringclub.org
* www.fairheadclimbers.comwww.climbfind.com
* www.rockclimbing.com/routes
* www.kerryclimbing.ie
* www.activityireland.ie
* Donegal and the North: Colmcille climbers at www.pete-smith.co.uk/forum/
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