Stamina fail at Ayton's Cave!

Barry working on Maneater, I think?! (7b)

Met Frank at Sutton Dart Station today and we set off for a lovely walk through Howth to get to Ayton's Cave. When we reached the Martello Tower we were stopped by a random man who asked: 'Are you going bouldering in Ayton's Cave?!'

Nice to meet a well informed member of the public!!

The forecast looked dodgy yesterday, but the weather ended up being lovely and sunny and super warm - which didn't seem to matter at all in the cave.

I thought I'd just have a quick warm up on Caroline's Traverse (6b) and while I moved fairly easily through the opening 3m or so and around the corner my arms were pumped to bits by the final sequence which is a further 2m, give or take...

Barry and Chris completed the traverse and moved on to Loco Total - They both Flashed it. (that problem looks AMAZING!)

Myself, Kev Frank and Paul worked away on Caroline's Traverse. A few attempts later Kev sent it and suggested to me that I practice the end of it. I started at the corner and seemed to move fairly hassle free (though I had a small amount of faffing with my feet) through the final moves.

Paul working Caroline's Traverse (6b)

Attempting it from the start however, was a totally different kettle of fish! By the time I got to the end moves the small amount of faffing I had done before, and repeated again was enough to spit me off as my hands were left unable to hold on any longer.

Barry suggested a pretty straight forward sequence to me, and I hopped on the problem from half way again and practiced it, again, completing the end with relative ease...

I thought - ok, I have it wired now!

Frank and Paul both made progress on the traverse between my attempts, but we all seemed to have the same issue...

Stamina!

The moves were mine, but I failed each time in the same spot quite simply because I couldn't hold on anymore.

The cave is definitely the Summer venue for bouldering around Dublin, and I intend to get out there as much as I can -

In order to make it work though, (and it hurts to admit it) I may have to practice climbing more than 3m at a time...

All in all we spent nearly 2 hours working on the traverse and got more and more tired as the time passed. I can't wait to get back there again and finish it!!