Blue Skies, Nothing But Blue Skies, All Day Long….

(by Gerry Moss, February 2010)
Climbing at Barnbawn in the early spring sunshine.

We had seven climbing on the Costa Bawna on Saturday in lovely conditions (as usual). While the weather may be getting colder here, the tempo is certainly hotting up on the rock, with all seven moving things on a bit.

This is Willie at the crux of Buachaillí Bána:

Here’s Margaret tackling McGrath:

Margaret and Martina on Bonsai and Joe leading on Buachaillí Bána:

Other routes climbed included Taureau Brun, Saw Doctors, Lineker, Cascarino and Saddam’s Rib.

All under clear blue skies.
Let the Sunshine in

(by Gerry Moss, December 2008)
Some shots from the Barnbawn session (courtesy of Pádraic) to bring a little sunshine at the darkest time of the year.

This is Martina eyeing up the crux on one of her many leads:

Here we have Margaret sussing out the sequence of moves:

And Paddy, just soaking up the sun:

Brian bustling up Bonsai:

Diarmuid just doing it:

Padraic pushing his limits:

Finally, John demonstrating his Tai Chi technique:
Re: Barnbawn

(by Gerry Moss, November 2008)
Climbing in winter at the sun-kissed Wicklow crag.

Wasn’t last Tuesday a lovely day – an ideal opportunity to introduce Steve (recently retired) to Barnbawn’s micro-mediterranean climate. Blue skies, sun-kissed rock, and a breeze sighing through the pines overhead. Here’s Steve and Herbert soaking up the sunshine:

Belated congratulations to Terry on the 2 new routes he established here some weeks ago. Himself and myself had a look at the line of The Edge HVS 5a a few years ago, he almost cracked it then, but decided to leave it for another day and it has been waiting for him ever since. The two routes are a worthwhile addition to the collection, and I suspect most climbers will consider The Edge to be a bit nearer to 5b than 5a.

In the interim we have not been standing idly by, and below you will find details of two routes we added during last winter. The description for the second one, Traverse of the Bods, is a bit lengthy, but it is far and away the longest climb on the crag and provides some entertaining moments (the name is a nod to my two companions on the day).

This shot shows Sidewinders (in red) and the first pitch of the traverse (in blue):

The climbs described:

Sidewinders HS
Short, delicate and difficult to protect in the upper section. It can be greasy after a few days rain and is best tackled when dry. Best, too, in the morning as, like the others climbs on this side, it faces east and catches the sun early.
Start at the extreme R of the crag, as for Offside, below the R-hand end of the deep, sloping crack. Pull up to stand in the crack. Make a long, awkward step down and around to the R onto a good foothold. Traverse R using undercuts to gain the edge of the flake. Continue R on an intermittent crack and, when this fades, move up the face to a gap and tree belay. (G.Moss, H. Hertzmann, Winter 2007)

Traverse of the Bods HVS (4c, 5a)
A right-to-left girdle of the crag, best done in 2 pitches, to avoid rope drag.
Pitch 1, 4c.
Start as for Offside, at the extreme R of the crag, below the R-hand end of the deep, sloping crack. Pull up to stand in the crack and traverse L to its end. Step across L and continue with the foot traverse on Cascarino. When this ends move L above the overhang on Damp Start Crack to reach the arete. Step down L onto the upper part of the ramp on Eye of the Needle and move across onto the hanging slab on Swing Lowe. Up this to belay above the exit on Eye of the Needle.
Pitch 2, 5a.
Move down into the gorse-filled gully and across to the stance below the crux of Buachaillí Bána. Make a delicate diagonal descent across the short slab of Scud Guys (crux) and move around the nose to the stance below the crux of Bonsai. A short fingery traverse across the steep wall gains the narrow ramp on Saw Doctors. Step down onto the main slab and traverse pleasantly L below the crux of Lineker to just below the top of OOh! AAh! Backclimb down this to belay on the ground.
(G. Moss, H. Hertzmann, L. Convery, Winter 2007)

This shot shows the second pitch of the traverse, and Terry’s route, The Edge (in red):

Barnbawn – November 2002

(by Kieran Kelly, from IMC Newsletter Winter 2002)
An IMC meet to the little Co. Wicklow crag.

The weather leading up to the weekend was torrential rain; the talk on the Pyrenees for the Thursday night was cancelled because of flooding on 90% of the arteries leading to Church Inn. The Bray Head climbing meet for the previous week was cancelled due to the weather; so what chance would the meet to Barnbawn have of taking place?

Every chance; the forecast was for good weather on Saturday and they were right, not only that, we had sunshine all day at the crag. The crag is located a few miles off the main road between Glenealy and Rathdrum and offers 17 routes graded from D to HVS (for full descriptions see the Wicklow guide book). The attraction of this crag is in the off-season, as it is a nesting place for a pair of Peregrines, so climbing from March to the end of July is taboo and with good reason. The Peregrine is renowned as a ferocious hunter.

The Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus, is one of the widest-ranging birds, and it is found throughout most of the world. It is dark slate-blue above, with a dark cap and dark moustache, and pale blue below, with a whitish throat and neck and a barred breast and belly. It is found mainly in open country in coastal mountains. The Peregrine falcon hunts by diving on its prey from heights of several hundred feet. It feed on rodents seized on the ground or birds seized in the air. He kills or stuns his prey with the tremendous impact of his feet. During its diving flight it has been clocked at 175 miles per hour.

(Colliers Encyclopedia)

The meet organiser was Kevin Hutchinson; there was a total of twelve who attended, ten climbers and two dogs, a lot of encouragement was given to the Dulux dog to make his (?) way to the bottom of the crag but he declined.

Gerry Moss was on hand pointing out the various routes and giving some technical advice on different aspects of climbing. As is usual, most of the group started out on routes below their usual level as a warm up, then progressed on to their normal climbing grade before pushing for higher grades.

Some of the routes climbed on the day were:

Ooh! Aah!	D	11m
McGrath	D	11m
An Grianán	D	13m
Le Taureau Brun de Cooley	S	13m
Eye of the Needle	S	23m
Damp Start Crack	S	14m
Swing Low	HS	12m
Lineker	VS	13m
Bonsai	VS	16m
Scud Guys Die Young	VS	18m

Most of the group were on their way home or to the local watering hole by 15.45, except for a few stalwarts who were treading their way through the “Eye of a Needle”.

Blue Skies, Nothing But Blue Skies, All Day Long….

Let the Sunshine in

Re: Barnbawn

Barnbawn – November 2002