Glendagain

Headed to Glendalough today with Eoin Rafter... Eoin had suggested the idea of heading to Glenmacnass today, but the conditions weren't mint, I had no wellies, and it was midday... Glenmac would have been a boggy disaster today and we wouldn't have been at the boulders until about 2pm or so - Glenmac is for mint conditions and early arrivals!!

When we got to the boulders of Glendalough, we headed over to the Big Jim Boulder to warm up and saw that Dec, Kev and Shane were working Rhythm and Stealth on the Big Jane Boulder. After saying hello we set off back to attempt all the easy stuff on Big Jim. I had little or no trouble with everything I tried, though Duffy's Slap (6b+) left me a little stumped on my first attempt.

I pulled on and sent it easily after that, and while Eoin was coming to grips with the awkward start position, I decided I'd give it another go, slipped off and hit my foot off an uncovered rock on the ground, crunching my ankle... When will I learn... Send the problem, then leave it the hell alone!!

I had seen the guys set off up towards The Fin (7a+) and was psyched to get going on that problem. I definitely thought I had it in me to at least work out the stand start today. We made our way up, just in time to see Dec send the sit start!

He had told us that in the past he'd sent it a number of times, but only once with style... Today we got to see his second stylish send of the line - cool! After his success on The Fin, it was time for Dec to head home and he walked out of the Valley, the lone block crusher!

Coach and Horse

Shane and I worked the stand start to The Fin for a while and finally, even with the lads attempting to banter me off the block, I managed to send it! :D

Only have the hard move to do now!!

Afterwards, I went over and joined Eoin as he worked the Arete Right of the Fin (6b+) and surprised myself by making relatively short work of it. Shane and Kev headed off soon after...

Eoin at AROTF (6b+)

It's a tricky start to AROTF (6b+) and after working it for a while, Eoin joined me on a problem ('Problem 6' SS 6b) I had asked Kev (coach) about earlier. It's just the other side of the corner of AROTF and though Kev had told me the sequence, I had soon forgotten where to put my feet, and couldn't stick the opening move. I did it from the second move in and it's all easy from there - but the sit start kept spitting us off and we soon called it a day.

Glendalough was so eerily still today and that meant that a lot of the holds were a bit greasy, especially on Big Jim. As Eoin and I walked out we stopped to take some shots of the lake, which was so utterly still and vivid in it's mirror image of the Forrest above, that it wasn't so clear to see where the Valley ended and the waters refection of it began.

Gorgeous!