Meet Report by Amy Hollands

Swims, slabs and an abundance of cake. I can’t speak much for the start of first women’s meet of 2024. I am told it entailed sausage sambos at Cathy’s and braving the chill for a dip at the Forty Foot…but being fresh off a night out in town I arrived a little later to the party. I met the girls in Killiney hill Carpark and we began dividing the gear. All my favourite faces were there, along with a few newer. Jill officially kicked off the meet by informing us of the training opportunities and grants available to us as women of the IMC… all the while unloading an enormous quantity of cake and an ab rope from her car boot. It was going to be a good day.

In the quarry, we paired off to warm up. Myself and Shu, made our way to paradise lost for an easy lead. It was a nice opportunity to get to know Shu, a newer member of our club who I had only previously met once during the Intro2Trad sessions. On the walk round she posed a question, ‘So why is it that people climb?’ A question I am frequently asked and have never quite been able to answer. Why indeed? This activity is dangerous, costly and unnecessarily. Absolute madness to the outside observer. Is it the sense of adventure? The thrill of danger? The satisfaction of problem solving?…All that sexy gear? Sure, it’s a bit of all those things…but that’s certainly not the whole story. Seriously, who truly enjoys getting catfished by the Irish weather, while fighting off the midges and the ticks…or that occasional existential panic of fearing for one’s life…or anyone else’s for that matter? And yet somehow….here we all are.

‘Hmmm….well…’ coming up short, eventually I asked ‘well you’re here to climb, so why are you here?’. She told me she was looking for some new friends. A solid answer.

‘Ah well… you definitely came to the right place!’. We cracked on and got a couple of nice climbs in before she had to head away.

Afternoon rolled around a few more had joined and Jill had set up a top-rope

over Ghost slab (a route that turns my stomach at the very idea of anyone leading, yet evidently someone has) and with a selection of cakes laid out at the bottom we took turns to take on the slab, and to cheer encouragement through a mouthful of lemon drizzle. I think Sorcha was the first to top out, with Ash and Basia following suit. Eventually it was my turn and I had to swallow my fear of failing to get off the ground. I managed a strong start, and the encouragement from below pushed me through

the jitters and instability of the crux. Though the sensation of a semi-tout rope on my harness did alot of heavy lifting for my head game. In the end an awesome route. Shame about the lack of protection…though I guess that’s Dalkey for you. We celebrated by breaking out the mini

muffins.

Approaching the evening our party of 13 whittled down to a few who just weren’t ready to leave the sunshine, with a (somehow still pretty full) bag of cake. Tired but not ready to call it a day, Sorcha and I followed Jill, Petrina and her (very patient) furry friend over to Damocles. They made light work of it and offered to throw us a top rope. Short and sweet. Back on the ground we munched on another round of carrot cake and decided on one last route to call it a day. …… a short V-diff with a couple of tricky moves across the traverse. I lead. We finished and began the process of traversing over to the borehole to abseil, only to realize it was a little sketchier than anticipated. Eventually, with some self-deprecating giggles and with the watchful and bemused ground support from Jill and Rob, we made it across and ab-ed down without incident. Whereupon, we were presented with the prospect of yet more cake. How could there still be so much?! Realizing the day had disappeared and that I had eaten nothing but cake since breakfast it dawned on me that another slice of sweet and spongy was probably a bite too far.

We packed up, walked out and I drove home…joyfully exhausted.

I haven’t stopped thinking about that question. That valid yet somehow unreasonable

question. ‘Why is it that people climb?’ Obviously the answer is both complex and highly individual. And I cannot speak to anyone else’s motivations. But on reflection I think the women’s meet might offer an answer in and of itself. I had arrived at the car park grouchy, tired and a little hung over, with a multitude of problems and tasks on my mind. I left with a sense of community and accomplishment, a dazed smile, a few new friends and a belly full of cake. Hats off to Jill for organizing a smashing meet and bringing together such a wonderful group of daring women.