Name: Club Climbing Night
Start: 2026-09-03T18:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-09-03T21:00:00+01:00
Location: Dalkey Quarry

Yosemite: Sunshine Winter Climbing Trip Report

(by John Duignan, December 2011)
Climbing at Yosemite … “there is enough to keep you coming back year after year. A great antidote to the Wintertime Blues!”

“Never go back to a place that has great memories for you”

The thought struck me as we travelled Highway 120 to Yosemite National Park, California, late last year. Half a lifetime ago I’d hiked the wilderness John Muir trail through the Park. Late September 2010, I’m back to climb some of the famous Yosemite granite routes with Hugh Reynolds, my IMC climbing partner. Twenty-six hours travel from Dublin, we set up tent amongst the pine trees, the fresh pine smell and the warm air a great change from the cold of a Dublin autumn.

Camp Four, a first-come-first-served campsite with a strict length of stay, is a Mecca for climbers from all over the world, many for the Big Wall aid-climbing that makes the Valley famous.

The busy tourist period is over, so it’s easy to move around the park. Day number one and a bear cub is ambling by searching for food – so cute. I follow it until I recall that mother bear may not be as friendly. Later in a neighbouring tent, a climber having a midnight snack gets his face swiped by a bear clawing at the food.

Routes such as Snakedike on Half Dome …

… and Royal Arches in Yosemite Valley …

… attract us here – moderate multipitch climbing on excellent rock at around VS level. The granite, we hear, needs its own style of climbing and the crack and chimneys will be difficult for us to appreciate as the grading system alone does not capture the challenge.

Royal Arches – polished chimney start

We explore the start of Royal Arches, a five-star 5.7 route with its pendulum aid move in the middle of its 1600 feet – 16 pitches of superb granite climbing. I’m spat out of the polished chimney start. Hugh succeeds but gets a shoulder injury that nags him for the trip. We abseil off and go in search of easier routes to start our trip.

Curry Village: Spend your energy climbing and avail of the cheap laidback dining with pizza and beer in an all-American atmosphere. Most evenings after a day climbing we kick back and enjoy the display. The friendly natives’ optimism is infectious.

Glacier Point Apron – climbs in the shade

Glacier Point Apron next day offers relaxed slab climbing and time to appreciate the feel of Yosemite granite. Monday Morning Slabs and The Goblet offer friction climbing on multipitch routes at an easy level. A great confidence boost.

We next choose the route Munginella, a four-star 5.6 multipitch climb in the Five Open Books area of the valley. The climb is shared with one other climbing pair and has a great view over Half Dome and the Valley. In the afternoon we go for another four-star climb, After Six on Manure Pile Buttress (Nutcracker, our original plan, is busy and dauntingly polished).

After Six – a 6-pitch climb on Manure Pile Buttress

In all we get in over a thousand feet of valley granite climbing at two crags. We descend the trail in the dark. The climbing has been challenging at times with polish on some of the pitches but the overall feeling is sheer joy at the quality granite and the views.

Looking up the valley from belay on After Six, Manure Pile Buttress

Glacier Point Apron again next day to enjoy a five-star 5.6 multipitch, The Grack – a stunning crack climb in the shade as the temperature is still in the high 20s. We are using less energy now in finding the routes and getting more confident.

South-east Buttress on Cathedral Peak, Tuolumne Meadows

At sunup the following day, we escape the heat of Yosemite valley and drive the 1.5-hour 60-mile trip to Tuolomne Meadows. Our goal is the South-east Buttress of Cathedral Peak, another five-star route – some 6500 feet above Yosemite. The drive takes us through pine groves and opens onto a view of mountains stretching to the horizon. The walk- in takes two hours. It is cold but beautiful. The 700-foot route is very different to the valley routes – large chickenhead knobs abound on the granite, with flake and chimneys on an ever-changing route under clear blue skies, looking down on a lake. It is a popular route and we meet eight climbers spread out on it. The rich accents of Donegal and Yorkshire mix with Argentina and California. We walk out as the light fades, well satisfied.

Belay, Cathedral Peak, with mountain views

Next day we get a wilderness permit allowing us to go to the Little Yosemite campsite 3.5 hours trek up from Yosemite Valley. This backcountry camp is near Half Dome – we plan to climb the 800-feet five-star 5.7 route Snakedike.

Half Dome in the early morning light

The climbing is at times run out with little protection – what will the knobbly dike entail? In the morning, the heat haze burns off as Half Dome – like a whale’s back – rises above us. It is the most popular climb we have been on and are soon chatting to the other climbers queuing in the dawn light.

The Snakedike on Half Dome

The crux pitch contains scary friction moves. You just don’t want this climb to end it gets so enjoyable. We bought new 60-metre ropes for this climb in the excellent climbing shop in the valley – 50-metre ropes would have made the belays much more difficult. Soon we unrope and scramble the final 800 feet to the summit and chill out on the nine-mile descent to the valley. The views from the summit of Half Dome take in the full of Yosemite valley and as far as Tuolomne. “Awesome” is right!

Next day, back in the valley we hike to the base of El Capitan and view the climbers on the 3000-feet Nose above on aid-climbing routes. We choose a single-pitch 5.7 route Pine Line – you can’t come to Yosemite and not do a climb on El Cap! Faint echoes from the climbers above reach us across the vast granite sea.

Climbing on El Capitan

In the afternoon, we visit Knob Hill, just outside the National Park – a renowned site for short interesting routes at VS level. Anti Ego crack gives Hugh some great jamming and I enjoy the amazing knobs on Sloth Wall after the polished crux lowdown.

Cracks and large chickenheads on Knob Hill

The pace of the last few days is taking its toll on me. I had forgotten how lumpy the ground feels when camping and my sleep is broken. Hugh’s early-morning enthusiasm keeps the fuse lit. We have one final objective.

October starts and we are back at Royal Arches in the early morning. The chimney start goes well – our recce has paid off. The easy pitches are a joy as we ascend out of the valley along the cliff line. There are some amazing flakes and corners to climb on and the granite is excellent throughout. On the easy pitches we climb together. We are aware that often the Pendulum pitch is wet – but thankfully we find it dry.

Hugh makes the pendulum move on Pitch 8 of Royal Arches

The sky darkens as I race across the easy ground of the last pitch .As the rain starts, I take a bruising fall. Later I will have time to think of the possible consequence of a solitary placement on a 60-metre pitch. An abseil down our ascent route is our best option. By the time we have finished the ten abseils, the skies have changed to blue again. Grinning like schoolkids, we hurry off to celebrate.

Still talking to one another after a day’s climbing!

On our final day the rains arrive. It is time to go and we feel fortunate with the weather which shapes so much of what is possible in climbing here. In a short trip, so much is up to Fate but the advice from IMC members Terry O’Neill and Gerry Moss was a great help. Climbing late in the year avoids the heat and the crowds. This is not an expensive destination. The famous climbs on immaculate granite lived up to their reputation – the bonus was the fantastic routes at many other enormous crags offering superb unpolished clean rock. There is enough to keep you coming back year after year. A great antidote to the Wintertime Blues!
Calpe Rock

(by Gerry Moss, February 2009)
Sun rock in Spain.

The sun was shining and the wild flowers in bloom in Calpe last week. But there was more than just flowers blossoming. I was accompanied on the trip by Padraic and young Paddy, two of last year’s new recruits to the club, and it was heartening to see how their skills, attitude and technique blossomed as the week progressed. Indeed, in the latter half of the week I had the distinct feeling that I was working my way steadily towards the back of the bunch. It’s a feeling I am becoming more and more familiar with these days, and that’s as it should be.

We had set our sights on the multi-pitch routes in the area, partly because the two lads wanted to gain experience of setting up belay anchors etc., but mostly because these routes are much more satisfying and enjoyable. We arrived on the Sunday night in heavy rain, but it had cleared by the following morning, though there was cloud on the mountains. Breakfast on Monday morning was unavoidably delayed as we waited for the local supermarket to open, but as this meant we were able to enjoy the one-off luxury of dining in full sunshine on the balcony, there were no complaints.

We got the climbing off to a gentle start with some of the many four pitch routes on Toix, a sunny and ever reliable crag just above sea level, – a sort of local, and larger, version of Barnbawn. The lads took to it like ducks to water. Back at the apartment that evening we spent some time practising setting up belays on the balcony railings with the boys demonstrating their ability to do one-handed clove hitches in all kinds of situations.

From the balcony of our apartment we could look straight across at The Peñon, Calpe’s own mini-mountain, and a magnet for all visiting climbers, providing climbs of up to eight pitches in length. With the weather set fair, we went for it on the second day. I had previously climbed a route on the south face with Liam, so this time we opted for a seven pitch route on the north face. Although it wasn’t planned, Paddy got the crux pitch and cruised up it, no bother. A sign of things to come.

The following day there was a light covering of cloud, with even a few drops of rain, so we opted for the seacliffs and Roland’s Magical Mystery Tour, a rising traverse through some dramatic and imposing cliff scenery. The approach to the foot of the cliffs is via a sensational free abseil (another first for the lads), down alongside the remains of an old, rusty, rickety ladder, used by local fishermen in days of yore. Although I had done this route previously, I must admit I was a little anxious, as the only easy exit was the route we were tackling (a five pitch HVS with a grade 5 crux) and a serious proposition if the rains came on. I opted to lead the crux sections, just to be sure, but, as it turned out, I could have left it to either of the lads as the weather remained fine and, more to the point, they both cruised up the rock.

On Thursday, a glorious day, we headed for one of my favourite places on the Costa, the beautiful Echo Valley, home to some very pleasant multi-pitch trad routes. With excellent rock, plenty of opportunities to practise gear placements and some route finding skill required as well, it provides a good test for any up and coming climber. Here Padraic shone, with some solid leads. A very pleasant day, in a very peaceful setting.

Buoyed up by all of this, we decided to up the ante a little and on Friday we tackled the Mascarat Gorge, a seven pitch HVS route with a 5+ crux. By this stage I was really surplus to requirements as the two tyros ran the show, with Paddy polishing off the 5+, while Padraic wrapped things up with a 60m traverse that caused some minor palpitations as one of our ropes was only 50m long. To add spice to the occasion, Paddy had to second this pitch in a dramatic thunderstorm, with the lightning flashing just overhead. However, it was a typical Costa storm in a teacup and by the time we had completed the hour long trek back to the car we had dried out and were in sunshine again.

Another visit to Toix and a trip to Marin on the final day wrapped up a great week’s climbing, made all the more enjoyable by reports from home of snow, sleet and sub-zero temperatures. The two lads lapped it all up while I was treated right royally – fortified by numerous cups of tea, courtesy of Padraic, and never having to carry more than a light rucksack, thanks to Paddy’s broad shoulders – throughout what proved to be a very enjoyable trip.

I should mention that we were joined on Thursday night by Barry and Alan, over for a long weekend. I was very impressed when I saw Barry approaching, bent almost double under a huge rucksack. This guy was obviously up for some serious climbing. It was something of a letdown to discover that 90% of his load consisted of porridge. When asked about what gear he had brought along, we were greeted with blank stares. This man has his priorities right, that’s for sure. Though his climbing partner may have a different view of things. As for Alan: beer was to him what porridge was to Barry, I suspect he even uses it to clean his teeth. No problems with liquidity there then, recession or no recession.

Whether or which, they had a very successful trip, with a route on the south face of The Peñon on Friday, and a long classic on Puig Campana on Saturday.

What with these four lads ready and eager to tackle long routes, and John’s successful and well supported trip to the West, it was, all in all, a good week for the club, and one that augurs well for future.

Looking back on it, there was just one small disappointment – despite numerous threats and promises, Paddy never appeared in his flowery shorts. Ah well, there’s always next time.

Some photos
Costa Blanca trip

(by Ben Warren, from IMC Newsletter, winter 2005)
A pre-Christmas week of hotrock climbing in Spain.

To brutally murder a quote from Easy Rider by paraphrasing it, “ I Never really thought of myself as a sergeant major but then again I love to sergeant major” (sorry Denis Hopper). That sums up what I learnt about myself on our recent trip to the Costa Blanca. “Get up you lazy *****”, tripped naturally from my tongue at 8am every morning. Only one other occupant of the flat was able to rouse himself without me, usually at about 5am, when the balcony, toilet etc., that he had fallen asleep on in a comatose state, got too cold. Must be something about sun, sea, Benidorm and sangria.

I have had a long, if not regular, association with the Costa Blanca, my first trip there was sometime in 1992/3. It was a bit less polished then (the crags and me): long term camping at Sella with no showers or money, but I was a lot stronger so I remember it fondly. Since then I have been a few times.   December 2005 was the second year running that a group of IMC and Galway climbers headed for a last fling before Christmas rendered us too heavy for the rest of the winter.

There are tons of long, multi-pitch, adventurous and scary sea cliff climbs in the Costa Blanca, but if you want to read about that then someone else is going to have to write an article. For me Spain has always been about baking your bones in the sun, eating good ham and cheese outdoors, having a sociable time at the crag and climbing on lovely pockety limestone with lots of shiny bolts. Maybe it is not really climbing but there is so much fun to be had in these places and the inclusion of the bolt turns it into a different sport altogether. You get so used to them that unless it is shiny and has Petzl stamped in it you start to get worried. A shocking state of affairs since I have not once seen a bolt that really is dodgy. There is none of that shonky American rivet stuff over there, or at least not that I have seen.

For the last couple of years we have based ourselves in Benidorm, which I constantly seem to be telling people is “a lot better than you think”. Benidorm once had an old town (it probably was not that nice even then) but it has since mushroomed into a monster with two sweeping arcs of high-rises and bars along a beach, either side of a headland. The headland itself houses the best part of the town, were we have stayed on both trips. 16 of us travelled in total this year: 10 from the IMC and 6 from Galway.

Accommodation in flats is easy to come by in early/mid December.   A bed in a reasonable sized, clean flat works out at around 7 euro per night. The food in Benidorm is variable, especially if 16 people are trying to decide where to eat. But it is possible to eat reasonably well (if not imaginatively) for a good price. My advice is if you find somewhere you like stick with it as you are unlikely to find better.

A motorway runs the length of the Costa and the drive to most of the crags is easy and straightforward. On one of the days we went to Aventador and it took 1.5 hours to get there, which was the longest drive of the holiday and is exceptional. In contrast Toix, which we spent 3 days on, was only 20 minutes down the road.

We had great weather for the entire trip and climbed on all but one day, the tiredness and alcohol induced rest day. On the first day we headed out to Toix Oeste. A great crag with a wall of routes starting with a trainer climbable 3+ and ending with some lovely 5+s. We climbed something in the region of 16 routes each that day. A bit of a mistake (and one we had made the previous year as well). It sounds like a great way to get you back into the groove, but you end up shattered, or at least we did.

Buoyed by the success of day 1, we headed for Aventador the next day. A good drive but well worth it. Aventador is a lovely wall of dark limestone overlooking a wooded valley. We had the crag to ourselves for the entire day. There is a train line below the crag, but the region’s trains make Ireland look well provided for as we only saw two trains all day. Aventador saw the start of a pattern that would hold for the rest of the holiday. On arrival at the crag Steve would fall sound asleep as soon as possible, claiming an illness of some sort. Personally I only know one illness caused by sangria. We did a number of lovely routes on mediocre bolts. Some nice slabby routes, an overhanging crack and a face and overlap route or two. Well worth the trip.

We revisited Toix the next day. You know sometimes you just get it against a crag. (And, by this, I do not mean the kind of hatred Steve has for Glendo because you have to walk.) Well I do not like Toix Est. However, if you are not in a fussy mood you can belay from the car and the view is good out to Calpe and the Pennon. We finished the day at Toix TV on some lovely 5s and 6s. Great climbing and a lesson in why not to tie in with a bowline if you are not sure. The rope became detached from one of our party half way up the crag, thankfully a large ledge was available and some friendly English climbers (we are not all grumpy b*****ds) were available to help and reattach Edwige who with characteristic offhandedness just ran up the second half of the route as if nothing had happened. It appears that her biggest concern in the hole episode had been that she might not get to finish what was a lovely route.

Most of the days ended at around 4 or 5pm and then we headed back to the flat for about 2 hours while our erstwhile meets secretary. had the longest showers known to man. Food was a mixed affair, sometimes we cooked, sometimes we went out to eat. But every evening ended in Twiggy’s (so called because the proprietor looks like a female Iggy Pop). Twiggy’s is a good bar, sangria a plenty, pool, table football and a view down the beach. There is something perversely spectacular about the line of high-rises lit up against the floodlit beach. There always seemed to be someone from our group closing the place out, the same someone actually.

Fully rested after a day off (as much to do with the Sangria as the sore arms) we headed south to Marin. Like Aventador this crag was new to me and I will be going back. A nice location high up, overlooking a valley makes for a good start. The rock is lovely sharp slabs, pockets and flow stone, it has it all. We were there on a bank holiday so it was probably as busy as it gets and it still felt deserted. We got in a good bag of routes, starting with some single pitch climbs and moving on to some lovely multi pitch face routes. We ended the day with a sunset climb up a lovely ridge, 2 pitches at about 4+.   Probably the easiest but the most enjoyable route of the holiday, for those of us who like me can admit to being a bumbly.

We returned to Toix the next day. It is a massive crag with lots of different sectors and it appears to get more good weather than most crags. A large gang of us were there this day, all but the most adventurous two of the IMC heads. Good fun, lots of routes and a spectacular sunset, that almost, but only almost made Benidorm look good in the distance.

For our final day it was back to Forada, we had been to this crag the previous year and I had loved it (not just because it drew blood from Steve). It is in a great location, the drive is almost as much fun as the climbing, hire cars really are the best 4wheel drives there are. With the trip almost over, we were all a bit weary and not much fell beneath our shiny new climbing boots. Barry joined Steve in the extreme sleeping club sub branch of the IMC. But the sun and scenery made it a worthwhile trip, even if I will be bitter to the end that I ballsed up the lovely 6a I had spied last year and had down as the last great route of the holiday.

In the last two years we have only touched the surface of Costa Blanca’s climbing, this year we only visited 2 crags that we had visited the previous year, and there are still plenty more to go. It is varied in rock, setting and climbing style, it is close, cheap, sunny, there is sangria, and you can sleep outside during the day in December, what more could you want. Roll on next Christmas.

Yosemite: Sunshine Winter Climbing Trip Report

Calpe Rock

Some photos

Costa Blanca trip