Mountaineering and UCDMC
Mountaineering is an umbrella term for a few different activities: Hill-Walking, Scrambling, Rock Climbing, Bouldering and Alpinism. The different activities overlap each other quite a lot and a mountaineer would usually be involved in a few of these disciplines.
This part of the site will tell you a little about these activities so you can keep up with the crowd talking shop in the forum bar after climbing on Tuesdays and Thursdays
UCDMC is involved in all of the activities that we talk about here, as proof we've taken all the photos from people in the club! As a member of the club you can get involved in as many of these as you like. The range of activities available is quite diverse and many people are only active in a particular area. The club has lots of people who mostly hike, mostly climb and then others who get involved in everything.
In order to get involved in some these activities you would need a considerable level of experience, don't be put of by that. Everybody starts in the same place and learns the same tricks, even the oldies learn a few new tricks sometimes!
Hill-Walking & Scrambling
Hiking, a.k.a. hillwalking is the art of walking in the mountains without getting lost. Scrambling is hiking on rougher, steeper ground - a little bit more exposed and adventurous (expect to be using your hands!). Either way, the emphasis is on getting fit, enjoying the views, the isolation, and the chat to be had with your fellow hikers en route. Hiking is one of the main activities of the club with at least one hike organised each Sunday during term. The club also runs a number of trips during the year that usually involve a number of hikes and whatever else members organise in their own capacity. Generally speaking, all club organised hikes do not involve any serious scrambling because of the level of care required by everybody involved. Hillwalking and scrambling are great activities to take part in if you are considering mountaineering in the Alps. Hillwalking will prepare you for the long walks and the steepness of the ground while scrambling will help you get your head into the right place for moving on exposed steep rock.
Check out the events sections for the full list of hikes and the next event.
Hill Walking
Ireland is full of mountains, not high ones like in the Alps but there is certainly no shortage of areas to go hiking. Close to Dublin, the largest range in the country, the Wicklow Mountains offers a lifetime of walking in the wilderness. Other areas include the Mournes and Cooleys to the North and the Blackstairs; all a day trip from Dublin.
Hiking in Ireland requires that you have knowledge of navigation, there are no marked paths in the same class as the paths found in the Alps. This means traditional route-finding using a map, compass and timing and pacing is normal practice and necessary when in the Irish mountains. As a hiker in Ireland, you should know how to navigate, be properly equipped for the conditions and be prepared to stay on the mountains for hours after your intended finish time in the event of an accident. Due to the coastal nature of this little green island, weather conditions can, (and do) change rapidly in Irish mountains. If you look at a map you will see that the bulk of Irish mountains are very close to the coast. Some areas are hours from help, and mountain rescue services can take several hours to reach a distressed party. Due to the bad weather, helicopter rescue is not viable in the majority of cases and most casualties are carried by stretcher to the roadside. Mobile phones cannot be relied upon for communication, and GPS units should never be relied upon for route-finding.
Safety is very important to the club, and for this reason we have a list of gear we strongly suggest you bring hillwalking, click here to see this list. We may not allow individuals to go on club outings if they lack the proper equipment. The aim of the club is to make all members self sufficient and independent in mountain terrain. We have no desire to act as a guiding service to people with no interest in their own location, safety or condition.
Scrambling
Scrambling is anything that is just that little bit too committing to be simply described as walking in the mountains but not requiring a mandatory technical set-up and process as in rock climbing. Scrambling occupies the slightly foggy area between adventurous hill-walking and full-blown climbing.
Usually, you will need to use your hands while scrambling, not for lifting yourself up with but for stability. At the higher end of the routes you may well bring a rope for moving together on very exposed sections or for giving out a quick belay to your partner.
Scrambles are graded 1, 2, 3 and 3s where 3s is the most difficult. According to the guidebooks, a rope should be considered at grade 2, brought for grade 3 and be necessary for short pitches of up to moderate standard of climbing at 3s.
It's well worth noting that unroped scrambling in exposed situations is potentially one of the most dangerous of all mountaineering activities. In the UK there are complete guidebooks dedicated to the discipline. In Ireland however, this is not usually the case. The best thing to do is ask around, there are many gurus out there.
Mountaineering on Snow & Ice
This area of mountaineering is huge and brings together the other areas into a place where the budding participant begins to describe themselves as a "mountaineer". Some people consider themselves hikers or climbers, people who play on snow and ice generally use the term "mountaineer".
The Irish winter scene is rapidly running into decline due to climate changes over the last few decades on the island. In the past, Powerscourt Waterfall and Howling Ridge were popular winter climbs, sadly, they are now rarely, if ever in winter condition.
For a budding Irish mountaineer, the first port of call is often very close at hand: Scotland. Scotland lies very far to the North, and you may be surprised to know that Scotland gets a large amount of seasonal snow usually coming into condition around February and March. It is possible to do some very serious winter routes in the various "hotspot" areas. You can do technical mixed rock and ice climbing, as well as icy scrambles, gully climbs and snow plods across vast expanses of cold, cold snowy highland. The main areas are Fort William, Glencoe and the Cairngorms.
Unfortunately, Scotland is getting warmer and snow conditions can be disappointing and unpredictable. The more wealthy amongst us will typically venture towards the high resorts in the Alps to seek out long mountain routes, glacier traverses as well as all of what can be found in Scotland. The Alps are huge and the variation of areas to go to is even bigger. The best way to find out where to go is to talk to some of the club members.
In order to improve your skills as a mountaineer, two courses come highly recommended to the members. Scottish Winter Skills and Introduction to Alpine Mountaineering. These courses are organised by MCI on an annual basis and both excellent and popular among the members of the club, if you are interested then you should read our Going to the Alps Page. Equipment lists for snow & ice areas are available in the equipment section.
Rock Climbing & Bouldering
Most people are familiar with the sport of rock climbing, it usually needs little explanation. Climbing requires technical skills learned through practice and experience. This allows a climber to climb safely and efficiently. From a physical perspective, climbing requires techniques that help the climber to position their body to climb the route as easily as possible. These techniques involve; footwork, body positioning, armwork, stability, balance and accuracy. Climbers also require agility, flexibility and strength. Basically, climbing is physically very hard but thoroughly enjoyable!
To those unfamiliar to climbing, every climb can look the same. The uninformed often assume that overhanging climbing is more difficult than climbing on vertical rock, this is not necessarily the case and is incorrect for many reasons but mainly due to the misconception that climbing is primarily about physical strength. This is not the case.
Climbs are graded using various systems that all essentially describe the same thing; the difficulty of the route. For information about grades read our climbing grades page.
UCDMC is involved in a number of indoor climbing events during the year. The Irish Bouldering League (IBL) is a national event held around the country. Although it's a competition, the events are social and friendly. The various rounds of the competition are held at a number of different walls around Ireland, so it's a great excuse to head off for the weekend drinking and do a bit of climbing too.
There is also an annual intervarsities climbing competition, keep an eye on the forum and www.climbing.ie, to find out when it's on.
Bouldering
Bouldering is a style or discipline of climbing that involves attempting technical moves close to the ground with no protection. To the un-initiated, that means really hard climbing with no ropes! Of course you don't just smash yourself if you fall; Bouldering is a social activity so generally speaking there'll be a spotter around to direct your fall and shout: "Yeah! That's it, you've got it dude, that was savage...".
As the name might suggest, you might think it's all about climbing large boulders outdoors. Although this is not necessarily true, (although it often is). You can, for example, try your hand at several problems in Dalkey Quarry where there are no boulders or boulder indoors in the bouldering area at the UCD climbing wall.
In Ireland, there are many areas to boulder although you may find that it's not as well documented as the climbing routes at the crags. Check out theshortspan for the best guides to bouldering in Ireland. Close to Dublin, there are bouldering areas in Glendalough, Three Rock and Dalkey Quarry. Ask anyone about them and they'll be able to tell you about other places as well. Abroad, things are a little bit easier with graded guidebooks of the bouldering areas being fairly common. Fontainbleau in France is one of the most famous areas. In the Alps, the valleys are full of boulders dropped by the glaciers so you'll find bouldering everywhere.
The UCD bouldering area is overhanging and problems can range from fairly OK to down-right impossible. At the moment the wall is graded and has colour coded routes to choose from, you can also add in your own hold to make it easier or more difficult or just come up with your own problems altogether. If you're at the wall, feel free to show off some of your ideas to other climbers. It's a creative sort of thing where you have a bit more room to maneuver, i.e. you can fall off with impunity provided there's no-one underneath. Careful on the mats though, they have been known to sprain an ankle or two.
Indoor Climbing
Climbing indoors is a core activity of the club. The club has free access to the UCD climbing wall every Tuesday and Thursday from 5 - 7pm and Monday to Friday 1 - 2pm. The club also provides all the necessary safety equipment and training needed to climb indoors safely during the 5 - 7pm sessions. It's a great chance to get to know other club members in a relaxed environment while learning how to climb too!
The club has a large number of qualified indoor instructors all of whom are happy to show you the bit of safety you need and some tips on learning how to climb. Everyone is encouraged to come, whether you've never climbed before but are curious and want to give it a try, your mates are dragging you down, you're terrified of heights and want to get over your fears, or you've climbed for years already and just want access to the wall. The wall only costs €3 outside of club times as a club member, €8 otherwise.
The UCD Climbing wall has a selection of routes with grades running from 4 to 7c, (French). Top rope set-ups occupy about two-thirds of the space. The lead wall has a selection of routes most around 6a/6b on vertical and overhanging panels. The wall is re-set roughly twice during the academic year.
Sport Climbing
Imagine climbing outdoors except having the safety of pre-drilled "bolts" all the way along the route, all you need to do is reach a bolt and attach the rope to the bolt via an extender all the way to the top.
Sport climbing is great fun! It's like indoor leading but outside in great weather. There's no worries about gear popping or unzipping, just clip and go!
Sport is a great way to push your grade to its limit and beyond (just remember to bring a mallion!). A mallion is a disposable metal link that you can use to bail out if you're shitting it. Then that's it, no stress, bring your suncream for the top!
Club members travel to sport venues abroad on a regular basis. Keep an eye on the forum to see what's happening.
Trad. Climbing
Trad. climbing is a style of climbing using "Traditional" methods. Some would describe Trad. climbing as being "real climbing", others would say it's madness. Either way, it's worth begging someone experienced to bring you out to give it a try. Instead of the pre-drilled, bombproof, no fear, super bolts in sports climbing, you place your own protection all the way up the climb. It's how the hard men of old did, and it's how we do it here in Ireland. Trad. climbing is an excellent activity to get involved in if you are serious about going climbing in remote places.
Members of UCDMC regularly go climbing, keep informed through the forum and the people at the wall and you should be able to organise yourself some trad. climbing.
Here's how to Trad. climb:
1) Find yourself a nice crack to climb.
2) Beg someone with a rack of gear to go there too (usually with the promise of beer / favours).
3) Place as much protection as you can on the way up.
4) Set up an anchor at the top and belay your friend up to remove the protection.
5) Drop back down to earth by walking off or an abseil.
6) Afterwards, vastly exaggerate to everyone else about how difficult it was.
Trad. can mean relaxed, enjoyable, comfortable climbing with great protection all the way, or it can mean scaring yourself silly as you make delicate moves above delicate gear. What you want to do depends completely on yourself....
The variety of Trad. climbing in Ireland is phenomenal and there's enough to keep you entertained for the rest of your climbing career! From single pitch granite in Dalkey, to abseiling down to a hanging belay in Alladie in The Burren, to multipitching in Glendalough valley or the imposing might of Fairhead, to Divided Years - the hardest climb in Ireland - in the Mournes, it's all great!!!
Guidebooks have been created for most locations and can usually be acquired on loan from the more experienced climbers around.