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14th June 2000. Club trip to Muckish.
Pete Smith.
The Colmcille Climbers' mid-week trip to
Muckish was not very popular for some reason. People must have been listening
to malign rumours that the crag is not worth the walk-in. This is tripe. Muckish
sports excellent routes on excellent rock. Whenever the conditions allow,
it is a veritable crime not to go there.
So...there were 5 of us (and Margaret Pailing who came for the walk). We were Alan Tees, Kieran Gallagher, Columba McLaughlin, Michael McGinty and me (Pete Smith). Michael was the only one who hadn't been there to climb before. It is an indication of the quality of the climbing that Kieran came from Cookstown and Columba left Derry at 6.30pm to be there. I paired off with Michael, who led Torrey Canyon S [photo] [photo2] [photo3] with consummate ease. Alan [pic] went with Kieran to do the multi-pitch Lord Inchiquin. I then led the fine severe, Winklepicker, a short route (13m) with some nice moves. Michael took The Wizard VS 4b, and made quick work of his first VS lead. Congrats to him. Alan, meanwhile, led Soaring Forties HS 4b and General Galtieri's Corned Beef Buttie VS 4b. It was about this time that things started to get interesting. Alan recommended Soaring Forties to me. "Wonderful route, Pete. You'll love it". I should have read the sub-text. I set off up the corner and the lovely technical
climbing didn't absorb me so much that I could get rid of a nagging doubt.
Suffice to say that I reached a wildly exposed stance 40 feet above the ground with the threat of a very unpleasant bounce off a ledge 10 feet beneath me. My last piece of gear was away below and off to the side and the prospect of placing any further protection was non-existent. The smile on Alan's little face took years off him as I wailed and cursed. Rescue came in the form of a piece of gear placed on the next route and a big sling fed round to me. So I avoided the indignity of having a rope lowered, but that doesn't say much. We all [pic] went for a beer in Letterkenny and got home at about 1am. It's hard to whack Muckish on a June evening! |