Ozone Club Times are Restarting!!!

Yes, you read that right, we are finally coming to be commencing the Thursday Ozone sessions again, after over a year of not doing them! (for reference my hair was still short then). However, you will have to pre-book a session and pay for it online. There is a max of 20 people per slot and they are at 90mins each. For our usual club time, there are 2 slots that run over these times:

1845 - 2015

2015 - 2145

First you will need to download their app and create an account, this website has a link to download it and instructions how to register an account:

Booking on the Better App | Better UK

Figure 1

If, like me, you don’t have membership with Ozone you can just create an account as a non-member. Once you have done that, leave your ‘Profile’ section and go back to the Ozone’s ‘page’, it looks Figure 1. You can then click ‘Book climb wall’ and select your time slot. Once you have done that, it will take you to a check out page, at this point I entered the barcode on the back of the card that Ozone give you for signing in and it allowed me to proceed with the payment and everything. Now the system might be dodgy because they apparently updated their system so I don’t know what this is going to be like for everyone. You should receive an email confirming your booking and a barcode within it.

With that done you turn up to Ozone and scan the barcode within your email and they will check you have booked in. Sounds straight forward, probably is gonna be a bunch of issues at first for a lot of us.

Hopefully this helps and we can climb indoors with ropes again!

Gola 2021 - club trips are back!

Club trips are back!

Gola, with Errigal in the background. Photo: Robyn Scott

For the first time since November 2019 we were able to do a multi-day club trip. And where better than the spiritual home of Belfast climbing but Oileann Ghabhla (Gola Island), Donegal - a one-mile-square lump of pink granite steeped in history situated off the coast of Bunbeg, Gaoth Dobhair. On what other Atlantic island will you find a Marian shrine, a 9/11 memorial, a memorial to the Irish Revolution, and a Suzuki Jimny with the keys left in it that the owner allows you to use?

Although the last permanent residents left Gola in 1970, the island has quite a lot of life about it in the summer these days with summer camps, daytrippers, climbers and walkers. There is freshwater piped from the mianland and the holiday homes even mave mains electricity.

Gola was were we held the very first club trip in 2017 and is a very special place to a lot of club members, some of whom have been going there for more than 10 years.

Ten club members met up at the busy pier of Machaire Gathlán and boarded Sabba the ferryman's boat, loaded with provisions for 5 days off-grid. The crossing is short and Sabba made life easier again by offering us the use of his Suzuki to help transport kit to the campsite on the far side of the island, whereupon we set up camp and headed straight(ish) to the Inland crag to round out the first day.

A social day at Easter Wall

To the bemusement of some hardened Gola regulars who fully anticipated an authentic wilderness experience the island is now even equipped with portable loos which appear to be emptied on a regular basis. Much to the disdain of said old hands, this led some first-timers to eschew the delights of Gola's natural flushing loo situated at the end of the beach ("sh*t creek") and opt instead for the blue plastic opulent delights courtesy of PolyJohn of Indiana, USA.

Lisa at Machaire na nGall

The beach, with the campsite just out of view on the left. The “creek” is on the right hand end of the beach. Photo: Robyn Scott.

The weather was on the whole kind to us. Gola often remains dry while waves of cloud wash over the nearby mainland, butting up against Errigal and the Derryveagh Mountains before emptying on the good folk of Gaoth Dobhair. This famed microclimate leaves more opportunity for shredding your fingers on the unusual pink granite of these Donegal islands which manages to be both gripy and slippy at the same time, and always feels a bit greasy from the maritime humidity. This makes everything feel hard and gives climbers what they secretly most want - an excuse for subpar performance.

Rowan belaying at Gripple Wall

We had 5 days of exploring the sea-side and inland crags of Gola, one particularly highlight of which was a day where the full party climbed together in the sun at Easter Wall on the southern peninsula of Maol Mór. Evenings were spent running round the island, swimming in the sea, by the fireside and socialising with other climbers from Cork (who had been to Henry's Cottage recently), QUBMC and another ex-QUBMC-adjacent group from Belfast who have been to Gola every year since 2009. Mike told tales of his time as an English teacher in Siberia, Rónán quoted passages from a book about Gola he found on the shelf at home, Chris built an extravagant and popular cooking setup out of an old lobster pot and a hole in the ground, Chemie walked up routes that more experienced climbers struggled on, and everyone forgot about the virus thing for a while. Everyone agreed on an excellent trip, and we won't leave it 4 years until the next visit again.

Go raibh maith agat Gabhla - until next time.

Rónán on Asgard. Photo: Neil Dickson

Gabhla galánta. Photo: Robyn Scott

Birthday BBQ 2021 Trip report

The BBQ through the eyes of the first (un)official BCC crag dog:

They told me there were pigeons

Ha! I was on an adventure and it was AWESOME! My well trained human put me in the small moving thing which takes me to cool new places and so we went. I looked out the window and there were many interesting things happening, although for some reason I was not allowed to sit at the very front and get cuddles from someone who seemed to be controlling this moving thing. How rude.

Then the moving thing stopped and I heard something about pigeon, but I didn’t see any birds, just a big hill which was really fun to walk up.

On the top of this hill, there were many new humans with strange metal items and for reasons unknown to me, they were climbing up some rocks.

Waiting for the cuddles

She did not seem to like me but I liked her

I was attached to one of these rocks, which was pretty neat as I received many cuddles and one unsuspecting human even gave me her banana when I did the eye trick. Awesome. I heard much clinking and saw that my human was also climbing up this rock, which made me a bit worried so I barked a shouted at her to come back. She came back eventually but then she climbed the same rock again, which confirmed my opinion that humans are strange. There was also another dog but she did not want to be my friends. Anyways, other humans made all of this better with more cuddles.

Humans and their strange interests

My first sleep over

We then walked down the hill and back into the moving thing to a place with a nice garden and many funny smells. My human started a fire and then cooked a lot of food which wasn’t for me, so I decided to have a nap on the blanket and waited for her to wise up and finally feed me. Luckily, she also dropped a sausage on the grass and for some reason (???) did not want to eat that one, so it was handed to me in return for sits. Other humans ate all the food and then consumed some beverages, which made them smell funny and talk loudly. They were all very nice to me so I didn’t mind their loud noises and just used their laps as my human pillow. The humans then built some tiny houses and disappeared inside. I heard some scary noises, so I decided I must protec!!! But they did not like my barking and my human put me into our own little house, which I found very cozy.

I woke up the next day and saw these humans walking around drinking steaming beverages from a cup. They put away their tiny houses and put me back in the moving thing to a place called spellack. I wasn’t sure what spellack was but was hoping it would be food. It was more rocks. My human escaped me in a vertical direction again, so I tried looking for her after wiggling the strange metal thing which held me in place. I tried climbing the same rock as she did but the attached leash and the metal nut shaped item held me back. Sadly a guy called Kyle run back to me and ended my adventure. This Kyle guy (followed by someone they called Jamie) then moved up another rock they called the War horse, but I’ve seen no horses about. Just some sheep. Being bored from the lack of food and horses, I went for a nap in the sun.

No horses about, just these guys Kyle and Jamie talking about some War horse (E4 6a).

My human then took me home and I slept a lot. Awesome adventure, just hope that next time my human will bring even more snacks and drops more food on the floor.

Lower Cove Trip Report

To celebrate the end of lockdown rules that stop us enjoying the outside as a club, the BCC headed off to Lower Cove, in the Mournes, as our second climbing trip of the year. It was very successful, with 15 people (and not a single person more) turning up to participate. We also had a good split of faces, ones I’m tired of seeing and some new ones that was a great pleasure to greet.

Lisa arranging gear before the crux of 'Kram'. Photo: J. Roberts

Our meeting time was at 1000 at the Carrick Little Carpark, and no one was totally late. After making sure we had all the gear we needed, since the hour long walk to crag was something I personally wasn’t going to do more than I needed to, we headed off and I’d forgotten how quickly the walk ins felt when there was a good bunch of people to talk to. Once we were next to the crag, Lisa (Meets sectary extraordinar) organised climbing partners, the more experienced partnered off with the less experienced at similar levels. Little did my (un)lucky climbing partner know that they were in for a hell of a day.

Two groups on ‘Half Corner’ (Left) and ‘Munching Mandy’ (Right). Photo: R. Scott

Rónán leading ‘Dot’s Delight’. Photo: M. Mccracken

Most of us decided to head to the first corner, where a lot of the good quality easier routes are at; however, I had forgotten much extra effort it was to get up there. After sweating through my base layer, I asked my climbing partner, Mike Mccracken, what his experience was and he said seconding at VS was the most he had done. To test his ability, and totally not for me to get used to climbing on Mournes granite again, we did the lovely VS ‘Kram’. To my surprise Mike cruised it easily, since it has quite a bouldery crux. Next we tried ‘Krammed’ the slightly harder and not well protected line next to Kram. Saying that I managed to protect the route very well with my biggest and smallest cam in parallel and even informed Rónán of this, who, after he’d climbed the route, politely let me know I was full of shit. Anyway, Mike struggled at first with the more technical crux, but once again got up. I later learnt I had misheard Mike and he had actually said the hardest he had LED was VS, which meant I knew I could push him a lot further! After we did ‘The Great Treacle Sponge Robbery’ (best name ever) I decided to get scared on ‘Left Arete’ (not as good as a name) and finally finished off Mike. Luckily he said he had had a great day out, so I didn’t have to feel guilty for essentially torturing a person.

That was my account, but we were all mostly climbing at the first corner and everyone looked like they were getting the most out of the day. We all left at separate times during the day and I ended in my car before it started pissing it down. Hopefully the people still at the crag didn’t get too wet; however, I never asked.

By Jamie Roberts

Lisa on something, busting a move. Photo: J. Lau

Kyle and Jenny topping out of ‘Aristocrat’, I assume. Photo: Chris Craig

Kyle and Jenny, also busting a move, on ‘First Corner’. Photo: R. Davison-Kernan

Rónán and Chris also on ‘First Corner’. Photo: J. Roberts

Rónán drawing his climbing strength from his surroundings. Photo: J. Roberts

Kyle leading ‘Meat Grinder’. Photo: J. Roberts

Climbing Trip Dates

With the easing of lockdown we are now delighted to announce some preliminary dates we have for climbing trips this year. These dates could vary due to weather/lockdown rules/etc, but hopefully they won’t! Currently, we have a cap of 15 people per trip and, as usual, we will have a sign up form, which will be posted here and the Facebook group nearer the time of the trips. So, without further ado, here are the dates:

-8th/9th May - Moorhill Quarry Day Trip

-22nd/23rd May - Lower Cove (Mournes) Day Trip

-12-13th June - BCC 4th Birthday (Mournes)

-10-12th July (The 12th Weekend) - Gola Island (Donegal)

-30th July-2nd August - Mourne Mountains Climbfest

-11-12th September - Fairhead Weekend Trip

-9-10th October - Mournes Weekend Trip

Also lookout for some improve day trips we might be having around these dates, hopefully the weather will be good!

Boulderworld is back and so it the club time!

We are restarting the regular Tuesday club time in Boulderworld from the 4th May 2021.

The club times take place from 7pm to 10 pm. There will normally be at least one commitee member “hosting” the session, so feel free to come and say socially distanced hello.

A great opportunity to meet other club members and get some input on your climbing technique from your peers.

Mourne Mountains Climbfest 2021

Sheffield Adventure Film Festival 2021

Sheffield Adventure Film Festival, ShAFF, each year, seeks out the best new adventure films and chooses the best to take ‘On Tour’. This year, they’re on tour online and have stopped by Belfast Climbing Club.

Together, we’re hosting The Best Of Sheffield Adventure Film Festival 2020 which showcases a number of films featuring different adventures, inspiring and reminding us that barriers are there to be broken and divides should be conquered.

Below you will find the trailer and link to purchasing your rental for the movie, note you only have 48 hours to watch the movie once purchased. When renting, not only are you supporting the work of ShAFF, you’re also supporting Belfast Climbing Club. Nice one!

We’d love to know your thoughts and feedback on the movies featured, don’t forget to comment and feedback via info@belfastclimbingclub.co.uk. Which one was your favourite?

BCC Christmas ‘Dinner’ Hike

Report by Jamie Roberts
Cover Photo: Niall McLaughlin

Henry’s Cottage: Niall McLaughlin

Standard of 2020, anything nice had to be either cancelled or adapted so our annual Christmas dinner this year was changed to a day-hike followed by some festive snacks and drinks at Henry’s Cottage. The start of the walk was also at Henry’s Cottage and was to commence at 1000 on the dot in a military fashion. Naturally, it took until 1030 for everyone to arrive…

The Misty Accent: Jamie Roberts

By sheer luck the weather was prefect for the time of year, crisp, cold and sunny, with minimal amounts of winds. As a group of 14 we knew this would be a leisurely walk, besides, it was Christmas time! We just wanted to enjoy the mountains with friends before coronavirus would take that away from us again. Our very own man of the mountains, Niall McLaughlin, lead the group towards Eagle Mountain while we chatted away with each other on the way up.

Before reaching the summit of Eagle, we came across its crag which is notable for having a few amazing routes that are rarely climbed. Owen talked about cleaning some of the routes here - and they certainly need it - however, it would involve hanging on a rope in the cold, damp, dirty, dark conditions. Ain’t nobody got time for that! After enjoying the view we headed for the summit, which was only a short walk away.

Lunchtime at Batts Wall: Jamie Roberts

For the last part of the walk to the summit we were immersed in cloud, with the wind picking up, making it a bit chillier. We sheltered behind Batts Wall and we all enjoyed our lunches while socialising a bit more. Once finished, we descended Eagle via the wall and reached the bog at the bottom. Here we had the chance to head back to the cottage, but nay! The whole group decided they wanted some more mountain action, so we started ascending the steep slope up to the summit of Slieve Moughanmore.

The descent of Eagle, followed by the ascent of Moughanmore: Niall McLaughlin

After warming up a little (a lot for me), we reached the summit of Moughanmore and commemorated the occasion with a photo of the group (cover photo). Alas, the sunlight was limited, and the group had had enough of socialising in the mountains and now wanted head back to cottage… for more socialising with food and drink! Excited at the prospect, we headed down Moughanmore and followed the valley back to the cottage. The walk back took us through an extensive bog, where a lot of boots got soaked through. One point of interest was a (potentially) new boulder problem put up by Owen, with a rapid second accent by Niall. A mantle with the aid of a jug, on a rock I would struggle to even describe as boulder due to its diminutive stature, which likely has a grade lower than V0. I suggested Owen should put it on UKC.

Once we were back at the cottage, seating was arranged outside due to coronavirus restrictions and we started chatting again. Eva and Lisa supplied the festive treats, which I had plenty of, while Robyn set the mood with some related music. Some mulled apple juice was concocted by Eva, following a recipe inspired by Lisa’s mum’s recipe that she never ended up handing over (an onsight attempt perhaps?). It was delicious to say the least and hit the spot just right. Before the sunset we all parted ways, having had a fun day out. It was a no thrills adventure, and that was all we needed during these times.

Roybn checking out Eagle’s crag with the summit, in the distance, in cloud: Jamie Roberts

Batts Wall down Moughanmore: Niall McLaughlin

BCC and the Quest for the Cailleach

In the Burial Chamber

A curse had been placed upon the land by the evil Cor O’na causing the inhabitants to suffer from an ailment of the lungs and preventing them from visiting nearby villagers in their homes.  It was a clear cold day that 6 brave members of Clan BCC decided to go searching for the Cailleach to ask for her aid in breaking the terrible curse.  The group was led by High King Jamie, accompanied by Matthew the Mushroom Mage (to protect them for sorcery), Ronan Slieveslayer and Kyle Cruxreacher (two warriors of great renown) and Eva of the Enchanted East (who brought arcane knowledge from her lands).  Finally, there was Seanchaí* Lisa, who had consulted the Oracle Go O’gle for the path to follow and lead them to the Cailleach’s lair.

The Beautiful Views on the way up Gullion

Go O’gle told Seanchaí Lisa that the Cailleach had made her home in the burial chamber on the summit of Slieve Gullion and so the group set off up the forest road for the peak.  After some lovely views on the way up to the summit they were shrouded in mist at the top and were buffeted by gales.  They searched for the entrance to the Cailleach’s house, and almost missed it, but just as they were about to lose hope and return, Ronan Slieveslayer spotted it and led them forward.  Their search was in vain, however, the Cailleach was not home, so they broke their fast in the shelter of the burial chamber.

Our slippery walk down and Eva with the not so noble steeds

Upon leaving the burial chamber, a familiar figure that they thought had been banished to the drumlins by the great Cor O’na appeared from the mists, Vicky Strongshield.  She led the group down a treacherous path to the Cailleach’s lake, which the Cailleach had cursed to age anyone who swam in it and turn their hair white.  Kyle considered bathing in the lake, just like his predecessor Fionn MacCumhail, as his hair needed rebleaching; however, after realising he would have the unfortunate side effect of looking old Kyle decided not to go for it.  The group slipped and slid down to drier ground leaving the peak of Gullion behind them and returned home, unsuccessful in their mission.  But as the weather was nice they decided to enjoyed the lovely south Armagh scenery as they made their way back to their base.  As they began to weary they tried to harness some noble steeds, but they were having none of it and a strange little man told them of how the Cailleach only appeared at the solstice, when the sun entered the chamber at sunset.

The Giant’s Dinner Table

After a refreshment break and smarting from their failure to find the Cailleach, they decided that they would next go in search of a giant, as they had heard there was one’s lair nearby.  Their path first led them through a faerie village, but unfortunately they didn’t see any of the fair folk.  They stopped by the giant’s dinner table but moved on quickly before Eva of the Enchanted East and Seanchaí Lisa became his dinner. 

They then found themselves in the faerie labyrinth where strange faces appeared at windows, which may have been our fellow questers.  They almost found themselves trapped in the dark, but eventually found the light and safety. Perhaps the faeries were present… Back on more well-trodden ground, Eva of the Enchanted East made the first recorded ascent of Cailleach’s Nose Eliminate and passed the giant’s espresso cups, which he had just left strewn around the forest.  Even Kyle Cruxreacher would be satisfied by one of these cups of coffee.

  They found themselves back where they started, having seen no sign of the Giant’s Lair.  They counted themselves lucky that this was the only mischief the faeries had wrought on them this day and decided that that was enough adventures for one day and waved a final goodbye to the faeries before heading back home.

*Seanchaí – a storyteller or bard in Irish, pronounced: Shan-He

Some Faeries houses and my Best Dita Von Teese Impression

Our Journey