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

Luggala Diary: Autumn Paradise is Here

(by John Duignan, September 2012)
"Two years ago, halfway up Royal Arches, a climb in Yosemite that I wanted for years, I found myself daydreaming of Luggala! This beautiful crag is at its best now and in Spring. It dries quickly after a few good days and gives ample reward for the effort of visiting it. Just do it!"

Luggala in Autumn

Climbing this time of year is spectacular but two days I’ll treasure. Early September Christy Rice visits the crag with me. I try and keep silent and just listen to the flow of memories flood back for Christy. 40 years ago, he was amongst a climbing elite, although he is too modest to mention it. He recalls bivvying at the base of the crag and shows me the logbook he found there recently – still legible after all this time. We start on Taktix, a Dónal Ó Murchú / Jim Butler route that he enjoys. (Heresy here – but it is far more exciting than its three-star neighbour Pine Tree Buttress – especially with the final pitch added by Gerry Galligan last year.)

Christy Rice on Taktix

The third pitch, the ramp, is laced with abandoned gear that heads off into Pine Tree Buttress route …

The Ramp pitch – Pine Tree / Taktix

Christy changes to Pine Tree to get back the gear. The route veers right below a crack (see photo) and is a place where climbers can get lost. This is the second time in a year I have found gear where a party abbed abandoning the climb.

Christy at Pine Tree Buttress crux

It’s great to share time with Christy. He looks to the future and sees new lines everwhere. I am fascinated by his tales of the past. I tell him my favourite climb and ask him does he know it. He grins at me boyishly and recalls that he put it up. Pope John Paul, Reinhold Messner, make room on my mantelshelf for a new hero.

Back again this weekend with my niece Anne Marie. It’s been raining a lot this week and a bitter cold day at the car as we start the boggy tramp across the hill to the crag. The Luggala magic holds up as we descend to the crag, the wind drops and the sun warms us for the rest of the day.

Goats under the Roof at Luggala

Moving across Pine Tree Terrace, Anne Marie looks up at the roof – a breathtaking sight when first seen. I equally am in wonder at the billy goat with his mates at the start of the climb – I last saw him years ago at this exact place. He is ancient with magnificent horns and a fine goatee. The first pitch of Clingon / Claideamh Solais is easy and leads to a hanging belay with a stunning view of the pitch above and the manicured Guinness estate and Lough Tay below. The only sounds we will hear are the raven or peregrine. The pitch above is a mixture of rockovers, face climbing and laybacks on pristine granite.

Clingon / Claidheamh Solais – immaculate granite under the roof

The final pitch wends its way through a crack in the roof. To our right is Spearhead where Deacon and Richardson first found a way through the roof in the 1950s. This rock holds many personal memories of outstanding trips – great companions, near-epics; but never a bad ending.

Anne Marie coming through the roof at Luggala

To stay in the evening sunshine, we head over to H Buttress and enjoy a short multi-pitch route of the early explorers Perrott and Kenny, Boulder Wall. Chockstones and thread protection are beautiful reminders of the past. Nearby, Bearcats looks a fantastic line for our next visit.

Thread protection on Boulder Wall

I realised how smitten I was two years ago. Halfway up Royal Arches, a climb in Yosemite that I wanted for years, I found myself daydreaming of Luggala!

I am indebted to Gerry Moss, who has introduced so many climbers over the years to Luggala. The guidebook alone can be confusing, yet a few visits will quickly orientate you. This beautiful crag is at its best now and in Spring. It dries quickly after a few good days and gives ample reward for the effort of visiting it. Just do it!
Dance of the Tumblers, Luggala North Buttress

(by John Duignan, August 2012)
Autumn is here – a great time to visit this majestic crag on days there is a breeze to help with the midgies.

Luggala – the crag in the sunshine

Jason shared my interest in Dance of the Tumblers – a three-star E1 in Luggala’s less-visited North Buttress. Steve Young, now living in Canada, a veteran IMC climber with his names on climbs all over Ireland including much-loved Dalkey Quarry outings, has goaded me on to do this climb; I point out to no avail that it is above my grade. His enthusiasm is catching and I will lead the easier HVS pitch.

Dance of the Tumblers – the ramp

Despite yesterday’s rains, the south-facing granite ramp is bone dry and an easy start. Before long the rock steepens, the holds lessen and the crux entails getting into balance and swinging out on a hold on the arête to gain the platform above. Jason does it effortlessly, slinging the spike as he does the crux move. The move looks familiar as it is on the cover of the present Wicklow Guidebook and was also in the previous guide.

Jason on the crux

A delicate traverse leads to a hanging belay in a crack below the next pitch. I follow and find the moves at times delicate or strenuous – but on beautiful clean granite.

Delicate moves above the crux

The pitch above has fine layaway moves to start. A wet traverse into a chimney which surprisingly has beautiful exit moves onto wall holds and a spike above – and I come out into the sunshine. Exiting the climbs in this part of the North Buttress is challenging as seepage, wet grass and moss compound the difficulty. I sling a mossy granite protruding hold that is covered with damp lichen. As I step up the hold breaks and I join the other tumblers on the route. The main damage is to my pride. I finish the route with extra care.

A long free-hanging abseil brings us down to the gully, well satisfied. The climb well deserves its stars. Other areas in Luggala do not have this same difficult exit problem and early Autumn or late Spring is the best time to visit this superb crag. At VS level, I know no finer mountain crag in Ireland – a quick trawl through Gerry Moss’s write-ups will give plenty of inspiration and information.
The Wickford Chronicles

(by Gerry Moss, June 2012)
More action on the "secret" crag.

No doubt, in the aftermath of Thursday’s and Friday’s rain, many of the mountain crags will have been suffering from seepage and, perhaps, even sporting temporary streams. But there’s always somewhere that will offer climbing. Likewise, after four hectic days in the Lake District, many were content to rest on their laurels, or attend to pressing domestic duties, but there’s always at least one to answer the call to arms.

Like the Gaffney girl, for instance – always ready to have a go. Being as there were only the two of us, I decided to use the opportunity to introduce Niamh to one of our collection of secret crags, on condition that she agree to travel in the boot of the car and allow herself to be blinfolded on the walk-in. No problem there.

Pine Tree Slab was a little damp in parts, but it dried out as the day progressed, thanks to sunshine and a fresh breeze (an essential pre-requisite for midge-free climbing on mountain crags at this time of year). The slab is home to a number of climbs, some of them quite easy and, while protection has to be worked at, this is no bad thing, as there is no better place to practice gear placements than on slabs, where it is possible to stand quite comfortably on the smallest of holds while fiddling around with runners.

Niamh made several on-sight leads (surely the most satisfying way to lead any route) and progressed so well that she decided to add a route of her own to the collection, a short but sporting severe.

All the other routes hereabouts were put up nearly twenty years ago – I haven’t got around to officially recording them yet, but I’m working on it – and if a little note of urgency has manifested itself, it’s probably because it’s unlikely that I have another twenty years to play around with, though one mustn’t be pessimistic about these things.

Just to confuse Niamh, we returned to the car via a different route to the one used on approach. You can’t be too careful with these women – you know how they love to talk!
Something Different

(by Gerry Moss, July 2012)
New-routing in forgotten corners of Glendalough.

In a stop/start summer, such as the one we are enduring right now, it can be difficult, sometimes, to keep the interest alive. But I have found, down through the years, that there is nothing to whet the appetite more than the prospect of climbing some new lines.

So, on Saturday, in the aftermath of Friday’s heavy downpours, the question of where we might find some dry rock, while avoiding the same-old, same-old, exercised our minds. I hit upon a spot where I had climbed only once before, and that was twenty years ago. Squeezed in between Hobnail Buttress and the Upper Cliffs at Glendalough, there are a number of interesting outcrops and buttresses. In the early days, while the larger cliffs were being developed, these smaller buttresses were, understandably, overlooked. But there is quite a substantial amount of unclimbed rock there, awaiting the curious climber. Climbing with Emily, on a cold winter’s day in 1992, we put up a worthwhile HS and vowed to return but, somehow, we never got around to it.

So, on Saturday, Jane, Joe, Cearbhall and myself wandered up the pleasant miners’ path, that zig-zags its way up through the forestry plantation and on across the slopes beneath Hobnail Buttress, to where it ends at the ruins of some old mining huts. From there we struck straight uphill to the spoil heap above, where we set up basecamp. The buttress I had climbed on previously, and one of the largest hereabouts, was, not surprisingly, suffering from considerable seepage after all the recent rain. We did a bit of scouting around, however, and spotted a nice, steep slab of dry rock.

Cearbhall opted to give it a go, and it proved a delightful pitch, on excellent rock, seamed with deep, friendly cracks that provided good holds and gobbled up gear. A good start to the day!

Immediately above this, there lay a stretch of steeper rock and Joe wasn’t long getting stuck into it.

Then we spotted an interesting and amenable arête just above to our right, and it was Jane’s turn to lead. It proved to be deceptively difficult and stopped Jane in her tracks for a while. But she persevered and got the better of it.

We were high enough up all day to get full benefit of a light breeze, so we had no problems with midges and enjoyed pleasant sunshine as the weather improved by the hour.

There followed some intricate and involved scrambling and downclimbing until, eventually, we reached a stout tree, from where a 45m abseil took us back down to basecamp, at the end of an interesting and successful day.
The Co. Wickford Odyssey – the saga continues

(by Gerry Moss, May 2012)
New-routing on a magical mystery crag.

Went back to our new multi-pitch crag with Joe on Saturday. This crag sends down two legs from a steep upper section and is a bit like Hopalong Cassidy – the left leg being shorter than the right. We had previously, with Cearbhall, climbed the right leg, so, on Saturday, inspired by the goings-on in France, we opted for the left. It gave a good, value-for-money, 3-pitch VS, with the final pitch providing the crux at 4c. As luck would have it, Joe drew the short straw and had to cope with the two hardest pitches, the first and the last, but he managed admirably. He named the route The Old Curiosity, and full details will follow soon.

The first pitch

Looking down from the top of the second pitch

The Upper face

The crux pitch

Earlier, we had paid a flying visit to A Nudder granite crag, situated in the same area – give or take 50k – and put up two routes in the 4a/4b category.

Not only that, but on another occasion we paid a vist to the little-known and secluded Rushy Glen, where, on a steep, in-your-face crag, we put up some more routes in the VS/HVS grades.

Where will it all end?

Luggala Diary: Autumn Paradise is Here

Dance of the Tumblers, Luggala North Buttress

The Wickford Chronicles

Something Different

The Co. Wickford Odyssey – the saga continues