Posts Tagged ‘Rock Climbing’
Leaders Climbing in Kilkenny
October 31st, 2012
On the 21st of October a few of the leaders decided to head down to Ballykeefe quarry in Kilkenny for a days climbing. We got glorious weather for the day, even if it was a little cold. We arrived down at the quarry (after arguing with two different SatNavs) at about 11am. We started the day with a small snack and then set about getting some climbing done. First we got the guys to second some routes and practiced building anchors. These are all very important personal climbing skills. After a quick bit of lunch we did a multi-pitch (we had to stop in the middle) route, which was an experience for all. But the view from the top definitely made it all worth while.
After that Hugh decided he was ready to do his first lead climb, he read the guide book chose his climb, selected the gear that he wanted and got ready to go. I belayed him and Tony waited at the top to provide some help with choosing anchors and setting up a belay. It all went really well and by the end of the day Hugh had two lead climbs logged.
We all had a really good day and are looking forward to getting back out again soon but in the mean time we will have to make do with indoor climbing. If any cubs, scouts or venture scouts are interested in rock climbing please let us know, we would love to get people more interested in this amazing sport.
Also don’t forget to check out all of our other photos in the photo gallery.
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Cubs Rock Climbing
May 21st, 2012
Thanks to Emma and Kevin for setting up two climbs for the Cubs yesterday, 20 May 2012, in Dalkey Quarry. Everyone had a ball, and when not climbing the cubs enjoyed a treasure hunt, wittling and the play ground. Here are a few pics.
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Leaders Rock Climbing Evening
May 3rd, 2012
Thanks to Emma and Tony for setting up an evening in Dalkey Quary for the leaders last night, it was a great night and weather was glorious. A small group meant we had the opportunity to do more climbs as well as learning the anchoring of the ropes. The evening was attended by Mia, Kevin, Alex McMillin and Me(Hugh).
We started with Yorkshire Pudding the rigged Drinkers Direct and Drinker Delight and then climbed them both. We only remembered to take photos at the end and they are below.
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Halloween Camp
November 1st, 2011
This weekend the Ventures organised a joint camp with Newtownpark Avenue. Everyone had a great weekend, thank you to all of the leaders who made the weekend possible.
We started on Friday with a few games to help everyone get to know each other, and then continued with a film in the leaders room. Eventually everyone got to bed and some of us even got some sleep.
On Saturday we all got up (or were dragged out of bed). We headed out to killiney hill, losing a shoe on the way. When we got there we split into two groups (girls and boys). The girls (and Fionnán) went orienteering while the boys went Rock Climbing. Both activities went really well and fortunatley this time round none of the boys decided to climb upside down. All the boys gave the climbing a go, and some even made it to the top twice. When we got back to the car park we found that the girls also got on well, having only missed one marker. After a somewhat wet lunch the groups swapped over. The girls enjoyed the climbing although not quite as much as Fionnán, who wanted to go again and again and again and again and again…. Some of the girls were scared but everyone gave it a go, and the weather had improved to we had a great afternoon. The boys came and found us once they had finished orienteering, they also missed only one orienteering marker. At which point Kevin realised that he may have possibly placed the marker in the wrong place! Once back in the car park we met Conor and packed away all of the rock climbing equipment. Oisín then organised everyone to played a game of catch the flag, followed by Tip the Can and Hide and Go Seek. When we got back to the den, eventually in the case of the group who took the DART, we made dinner which was Pasta Bolognese. After dinner Kevin lit the fire and all of Ventures sat around throughly intent on their various whittling projects. Some made spoons, others knives, others arrows and some were even making wands to go with their Halloween costumes. Later on Fionn got very excited (after some smores) about the prospect of carving a pumpkin in the shape of a Creeper (something from Minecraft). So everyone split into groups and went inside to carve pumpkins and they all turned out really well, there should be photos up here soon.
Sunday morning we were busy as we had our Tidy Towns litter pick-up organised. So we had breakfast and walked down to Blackrock Park, Orla kindly put the equipment in her car and drove it down for us. We then spent about an hour collected rubbish in the park and continued all the way back to the den. Everyone did a great job, and we had plenty of rubbish by the time we got back to the den. Then each patrol was given a country on which they had to put together a project for the rest of the afternoon. The girls got Mexico and the Boys got China, the posters that they put together are displayed in the Den on the Venture notice board. They also had to cook a meal from their country. The girls made some delicious Tacos and Nachos and the boys made a really good stir fry with Noodles and spring rolls. All of the food was excellent and Oisín and Lainey did a really good job of cleaning up afterwards while the rest of us got back to our whittling. Then unfortunately about half of our number had to go home, because they had Halloween parties to go to. So the rest of us settled down in the Leaders room to watch Young Frankenstein. We then played a very interesting game of Switch where everyone showed everyone else their cards, and mine were looked at while I was out of the room, twice! We then, after much debate, watched X-Men:The Last Stand and went to bed.
Monday was boring as all we did was clean up, smash a pumpkin and go home. Overall it was a really good weekend and hopefully we will be able to run more joint activities in the future.
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Rover’s Summer: Rovers in Whales?
August 31st, 2010
Heres what the rovers have been getting up to this Summer! We’ve been to both Wales to complete our Silver Gaisce Awards, and to Scotland in order to get some rock & ice climbing in.
The reason for our trip to Wales was to climb Snowdon (1085m) and walk 50km in the process, to complete the final part of our (Kevin and Conor’s) Silver Gaisce award. The hike across Snowdonia took us three days.
So with our trusty leaders Emma and Tony, and silly David we left Dublin port for Wales. On the boat journey we played cards and explained to Tony and David the difference between Whales and the country Wales with some Father Ted styled logic.
We arrived in Holyhead a little late, and missed our train. On the train we practiced (well more like butchered) our Welsh pronunciation. We got two trains to Betws-y-Coed, and that’s where the journey really beings. We started walking, rovers first but the leaders and David (“cheated”) and got the bus! Rovers walked to the meeting point at Capel Curig. We joined up and walked along the A4086 towards our first campsite. Along the road we stopped at an adventure centre, and asked for information about SPA (Single Pitch Award) and MIA climbing awards, all part of the debate on what is the plan for next year. By a lake we stopped for the night in a cheap campsite, 3 quid. There were some concerns that our tents might blow away in the strong wind that gushed through the valley.
4.00am I awoke to the sound of heavy rain beating off the canvas of our tent. I rolled back over and fell asleep. We all got up around eight in the morning once the sound of the rain had stopped. We got up ate breakfast, there is nothing like a cereal bar in the morning. Looking up to the sky we realised the storm hadn’t passed, but that we were sitting in the eye of the storm. We packed the rain sodded tents back into our bags and started walking towards Snowdon.
It rained, and it poured, and it rained some more as we walked towards Snowdon. We made it to Pen-y-Pass by eleven o’clock, finally the rain stopped. Pen-y-Pass is a drop off point for hikes and tourists, and the starting point of the Miner’s track, Crib Goch ridge route and the Pyg track. The plan was for the Rovers to walk the Pyg track up Snowdon (the red track on the map), and for the Leaders and David to walk the Miner’s track (the yellow route on the map). So we split up and went our separate ways.
Us Rovers decided that the Pyg track wasn’t that fun, so we changed to do the Crib Goch route. (Really we made a slight navigational error) Crib Goch is a mountain beside Snowdon. Let’s just say it was an interesting route: cliffs; vertical climbs; and strong winds. I think I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of story.
So we made it over Crib Goch and then to top of Snowdon. We rested for about 20 minutes in the restaurant on top of Snowdon. Snowdon is no ordinary mountain, at the top there is also a gift shop, webcam, and a train station adorning the summit. After our short respite at the summit we began the long tired seven kilometer walk down to Llanberis (pronounced clan-ber-is) and our second campsite, and most importantly what kept us walking the whole day: Pete’s Eats. Tony’s favourite restaurant.
After a long, and well earned meal, we set off to the campsite, one kilometer from Pete’s Eats. Of course the campsite was also up hill. We stayed the night, recharged the batteries for the final leg of the trip. The night also lead to some fun quotes/stories like “*stands up leaves the tent* I think I have two left feet!”… “No, are you wearing my shoes!”.
I would love to tell you the rest of the trip was easy: we left the campsite, on time; walked the relatively straight road from Llanberis to Caernarfon, arriving on time; but if I told you that I would be lying. It was to be honest a disaster. We awoke and left the site late, got lost on the “relatively straight road” and had to use a taxi to make it to Caernarfon to make the bus back to Bangor.
Forty minutes later we arrived in Bangor after a mundane and relaxing bus ride. We got the train back into Holyhead in order to catch the boat back to Dublin Port. We played cards in the port before boarding the boat. The boat journey was also another interesting part of our trip, strong winds and bad weather delayed the boats arrival into the port, we left 40 mins late. The length of the journey doubled because of the rough seas. The ferry rocked back and forward relentlessly, leaving the entire number of passengers and crew feeling sick.
Though there were some unfortunate bits to the trip, we all enjoyed ourselves throughly.
View our Wales Hike route in a larger map
Our report on our trip to Scotland will follow shortly. (Hint hint Conor L)
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