no disc again so back to the quarry to enjoy the weather. james went up yorkshire pud for openers which had me eyeing ghost speculatively. on my way up after him i skipped left and had another look at the various holds and positions, felt very comfortable. used a different method to get to the niche than when following paul, found it much more reliable. felt good but still nervous. james led another then back we went and off i went (with the two statesmen joe and jim gernon making me nervous casually plodding up masochist beside us.) really enjoyable , real pleased with my head space up the run out upper bit. doing it in this style did in reality take a bit away from it but i'll save those ethical considerations for if i ever keep up the routes a decent amount.

centurion

disc didn't happen again so managed to rustle a bandy legged bray out to the quarry. led dirty dick which was fine then tramp where i got pumped and greasy below the bulge but stuck it out only to realise that the holds are huge once you pull in to position and jug it out. glad to have experienced the pump though. then headed across for james to lead something and got to discussing bushmills. went and had a look then tried the lower section, climbed up and down placing the lower gear in pumpy slippy condition. nearly decided i didn't have the stamina then under bray's psyching up climbed on through the bulge to find again that above the bulge was pretty much a doddle. only my second e1.

shed some water

went to ucd on saturday with tim and got comprehensively crushed by the lead wall. The inevitable pump was all well and good but my lack of general stength and being beaten by tim on a point of flexibility really hurt. tim is looking more toned recently. we were topless together. he untied my knot.

Went to the quarry with dec today quite worse for wear due to my appreciation of other cultures through the medium of alcohol. Thugged my way up things behind dec, blazing saddles etc and was relatively pleased with how i got on. Blazing was sustained but the gear looks bomber and the holds generally positive. stirrups the interest is a bit short. Did my first ever route on central buttress following dec up the e1 there and leading out the top "pitch".

noted that if i were to move elsewhere in april this will be my last winter season in ireland for the foreseeable. might serve to motivate me a little more as i start back into traingin proper in the next month or so.

portrane

got out to portrane for an early session on saturday, it stayed dry despite what seemed like ominous weather everywhere else. tide very far out. started in the alley, worked a traverse and then moved to the arch and played on the cobbled curve. steep bulky workout despite the fact that i only really tried two problems. discovered most pointless lifeguard station in ireland.

lough bray

went up to the eagle line again this time with dave to hold the rope. got to try the lower moves properly which at first seemed too hard but the first move went quick enough. the crux is the next move and is unfortunately quite awkward. after a few goes i got high enough on the move to be confident its doable in better conditions and when i'm a bit stronger. only possible gear before crux would go in the handhold of the crux. to drop off at crux would probably be just about ok with pads. seems to be good gear just after this. diffcult to tell from where we dropped rope whether line could continue diagonally up face.

cooped, busier than i've ever seen.

went back to delphi to make sure there wasn't a purple font hiding in the hills waiting to carry my name. if there is i didn't find it. lots of examples of the fine rock we'd seen previously but generally very little of size. checked up in what the aerial pics seemed to indicate would most likely contain boulders, a steep cliffed basin behind the two lakes north of delphi, but there was nothing of size. went back to the end of the valley to check what we'd only photographed previously, there were a couple of boulders but they were crozelly and heavily featured, maybe worth a visit if you worked in the centre but otherwise a very frustrating walk. only bit of climbing i did was the mantle on the small square block on the hillside. it was a painful reminder of how nicely the rock climbs, its a brilliant little problem. drove down to the northern point of the fujord and there's a lot of rock unfortunately it is heavily fenced off preventing any exploration. a different band of rock type makes up the little headlands locally but there didn't appear to be anything worth climbing.


xibit a from end of delphi valley


xibit b from end of delphi valley




your correspondent on the first ascent of Purple Headed Knobs


a whole lot of nothing 30 minutes from the road.




the forbidden land at the head of the fjord. the master of these lands abides in the house in the foreground.

went to quarry for a cupla hours. tim led d route while my belly rumbled ominously. considered tying him off to a tree but managed to hold it together until i got to the top. only led bodystretcher starting on e route which was very nice, one cruxy move and some nicely psychological gear lower down behind a loose flake, amazing how much it freed up my mental space to realise that there was loads of holds to move higher on to better gear. i need to fall on gear, need to get a better sense of the angles and directions of falls in relation to the gear. followed tim up great eastern with rucksack on back, oeld skule.