TheShortSpan

Bouldering in Ireland

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24/06/09

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Bouldering BBQ Bulllock on 18th June

10/06/09

Michael Reardon on a highball arete in Bullock. Photo by Damon Corso.

On Thursday the 18th of June there will be a bouldering BBQ in Bullock Harbour (see the guide for more information about the climbing there) from six in the evening onwards. The BBQ will be provided but you need to bring your own food. This is a chance to check out some of the more esoteric deep (and not so deep) water solos, traverses and boulder problems. It will also be a good opportunity to clean up some of the rubbish left lying around so bring a black bag.

Bouldering in Sweden

18/05/09

Words and photos by Michael O'Dwyer.

Alex on Caspersens Arete High Ball 7b, Kjuge
Medley 7a, Focksta

Sweden is one big lump of rock! If it had the climbing population of the UK it would have 100 guide books. There is so much still to be discovered. Here is a short introduction of some of the areas I have visited already.

Stockholm

I haven't climbing around here yet but there are well established areas here for trad climbing, sport climbing and bouldering. I'll keep you up to date over the summer as I visit them. All granite I'm told. There is so much rock here the locals don't climb on quarried walls. On many of the streets and in sub-burbs around Stockholm there are walls that we would kill to have in Dublin and the locals just ignore them.

Uppsala Area

Uppsala city is one hour north of Stockholm city, half an hour drive from Stockholm Int. Airport. All the climbing is granite but it varies in quality. Focksta, quite like glendo granite, Källberga ( shell-buy-ya ) is really smooth granite, almost no crystals. Very finger friendly. Very short walk-ins and generally very good landings.(Focksta 400+, Källberga ca 100 plus many more).

Kjuge Kull

Calle on Rocketeer 7a, Kjuge

Rye on Forza 7c Dyno, Kjuge

Shawn on Baltazar 7a+, Kjuge

Kjuge Kull( shoe-gee cool ) Kjuge nature reserve, Kull means hill!. Over 1000 problems and counting.

Kjuge is a small nature reserve about one hours drive from Malmö city in the very south of Sweden. The first thing that should be said is that the rock is sharp! You get used to it very quickly and adapt your climbing to suit. Don't let this turn you off going there. It is amazing. About the size of a really big font area, or maybe even two areas combined. Its set in a beautiful forest, and amazing meadows. Lots of problems for all grades but best for the higher grades.

Shawn on Fina Arete 7a, Kjuge
Split boulder, Kjuge

Area X

I got a tip off from a local and went exploring. We think the place is unclimbed, it definitely hasn't been climbed on in the past few years anyway. Located in a postcard picturesque forest very near Kjuge. It'll never over take Kjuge for popularity but has some amazing lines that will be definitely some of the best in Sweden. About 20 boulders spread out along a hillside overlooking a lake. Watch this space...

Ivo Island camping near Kjuge

Kjuge Wildlife Reserve

More info...

The bouldering season is from when the snow clears, mid march-ish until the sun gets too hot, early May-ish. And then when it starts to cool down, mid September until the snow stops play, November some time. The hardcore guys do go out over the winter, usually below 0 degrees and in the snow.

For those who want more info please email michaelodwyer@gmail.com Guide books are available for Kjuge, Stockhom and Uppsala and can be bought on-line or from the usual places in Sweden (climbing walls, local cafes to the climbing, climbing shops etc. )

12/05/09

Bullet

Peter Tom McMahon repeating his highball slab Bullet on a yet to be made public boulder in Wicklow.

09/04/09

Gap of Dunloe climbing meet 2009

Nigel Callender on the Jurgen Myers boulder in the Black Valley.

Juan O'Raw is organising a "Meet In The Gap" climbing meet will happen at the Gap of Dunloe, Killarney, Co. Kerry on the weekend of 17th-19th of April. Juan saids "....also to include slide shows, bbq and wild party, bogger style. Dont miss out!! BE THERE OR BE........A BUMBLY!!!"

There is plenty of climbing from bouldering to trad of all grades. There is camping accomodation available for a small fee at a golf course about 5 mins walk from the Gap. This is a great opportunity to check out the mint sandstone of the Gap and maybe find some new problems.

This event is being supported by Con Moriarty and Spórt Corrán Tuathail www.sct.ie there is rumours of a pig...

Eoin Kennedy has written a comprehensive bouldering guide to the Gap and the Black Valley just in time for the meet. It includes details to over 70 problems and can be downloaded here: GapOfDunloe.pdf 2 MB

01/04/09

Updated bouldering guide to Ireland 2009

After another long battle the fourth edition of the guide is finally finished. The guide is 115 pages, contains just under 1500 problems and about 200 diagrams (maps and topos).

The first edition from Feburary '05 had 600 problems, the second from October '06 had 900, the third from March '08 had 1050, so the problems keep on coming.

This guide is intended to be reasonably definitive but just because something has been climbed doesn't mean it is worth documenting so I haven't detailed every variation, elimate, lowball sitstart or squeezed in micro line. From a personal point of view I attach the highest value to logical, independent lines with good moves and good landings and every problem that fits this criteria is described. Though I welcome other opinions on omissions and inclusions.

The next version of the guide shall be a Glendo only update as its the most popular bouldering area in Ireland and there is a lot more bouldering to describe there.

The following areas have been added to the fourth edition :

The Scalp, Dublin - there is now about 50 problems detailed here.
The White Bog, Cooleys, Louth - new area with 20 problems.
Turlough Forest, Wicklow - another new area with 35 problems.
Glendasan, Wicklow - not a new area but there are almost a dozen new boulders and 30 new problems described now.
Bullock Harbour, Dublin - new topo which details about 50 problems and solos.

To download the guide right click and select "Save Target As..."

guide4.pdf 6.9 MB

Huge thanks to all who contributed. Comments, corrections and feedback welcome on the message board.

19/03/09

2009 Irish Bouldering Meet report

By Dave Flanagan and Peter Tom McMahon.

Photo by Nils O'Dwyer.

This years meet was blessed with great spring weather and excellent bouldering conditions with bright sunshine and the strong wind. The attendance was good with a decent number staying over in the hut. In spite of pretty late nights nearly everyone was up good and early driven out of bed by the sunshine. There was a good mix of locals and visitors (from as far away as Sweden and the US). Most of the classic problems got some attention, the nu wave classic highball Rhythmn and Stealth had two ascents. On Sunday there was a bit of exploring done and a few new problems were done high up in the scree near Permadry.

A big thanks to all who made the effort to come and a special thanks to to the MCI, the IMC for the use of the hut and Wicklow National Park without all of whom the meet couldn't happen.

And now over to theshortspan roving correspondant Peter Tom McMahon:

I met them in the Hotel, Sloper made some barrier joke and I didn’t laugh, I asked him to explain it later, and a forgotten insignificant moment of my 29 years was regaled back, in HD. And we all drank merrily and it was hell raising craziest shit that this bar room ever saw. And David was there and Michael who had just fathered a foetus and Tim and John and Ramzees and Barracuda and Johnny two hands and Bill and Ted and The KGB and the RFUCK.

And then we rocked.

Some rocked harder than others.

I did sweet all, I was too unfit, I was a fake human.

So when we were returned to our IMC quarters I took it to the furthest-out level and washed up some dishes, and young hop along Alan did bake the tastiest Burgers, he’d carried 27 Kilograms of ground beef(what do you call a cow with no legs) all the way from the city beyond the valley, and he brought bags of thyme from Israel and mustard from England and some chick played the Eucalayle and wore corduroy jeans and Ireland kicked ass and Heaslip held his hand triumphantly as he made for the try, like Harry held the crux of Best Buzz Ever before summiting from the sitting start.

I took it to “no law no limit” extremes and demonstrated to a girl from new England a new and speedy way to cast on, and I showed the leader of the short span meet, the pearl and the plain stitch.

And the band played waltzing Matilda. And in any insignificant instant the good lord could strike any one of us with a technicolour lightning bolt to the skull, reaching to touch the Earth, through the neck bone to the ankle bone, into the molten iron core of the spherical planet and that would be that and the circle would begin again, in the after shock of an electric orgasm in a land before time, and the conception would rise up through the phase of zygote.

Ehh yeeaahh. For more of Ped's musings check out www.pedronaut.blogspot.com

More photos: Mark Hand's.