The walk in lured me into a false sense of warmth and when we arrived at the Solidarity boulder I was toasty - blood was pumping and I was good to go! Started well on the right arete of Solidarity and made some good progress but no matter how much I wrapped up and moved about, the cold soon took hold and just stopped me in my tracks... Tim, Juan and Barry did some brilliant work on the arete and before long Barry topped out, which was just cool to see!
It was time to pack up and move on to the rasher boulder. When we got there I was warm again, but as soon as we stopped and set up the pads and I got my shoes on, I got too cold... It just stopped me being able to climb. Again Barry and Tim were on form on a problem I had watched John Howard make short work of just a few weeks before. Juan did the second half and made the tricky top out look easy!!
Moving on to the 'Full Irish' problem to the right of that, once again Juan made the top out look easy... the next time I'm on that problem I'm doing it his way!! I tried the traverse but my fingers were so cold I couldn't feel the rock.
Tim said he had got that cold before in Glendalough and there was no way back! That was exactly how I felt. I was so cold (despite having on thermal vest, leggings, long sleeve tshirt, jeans, fleece, softshell jacket, and my lovely down jacket as well as hat and gloves and scarf!) the only thing that was going to make me warm was being indoors.
Away we went, and despite being cold, I really enjoyed the day - I always think I learn so much from climbing with the likes of Barry and Tim. It was cool to meet Juan too, super speedy climber and the way he climbs just makes perfect sense!
Another cool day's bouldering, but I can't lie - it's nice to be toasty at home with a cup of tea!
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