Catch up with the girls!!!

It’s been a pretty full on summer, between Mountain Leader training and heading off on trips!!

Caoimhe and Claire got away to Glendalough a few months ago and got some more leads in for the Single Pitch award.  It’s a stunning place to climb, with great protection and loads of friction.

           Glendalough

Claire abseiling

We have been trying to get into the hills as much as possible with Mountain Leader assessments on the horizon.  Caoimhe and Kathryn got to the Blue Stacks, Donegal.  Where they had a ball with navigation, wind and rain.  

 lookin hot...

 Blue stacks

Claire unfortunately broke her ankle climbing last month in Dalkey, but is finally out of her cast and on the road to recovery - Yeooooo! She’s looking forward to getting out climbing again and is planning her glorious return to the rock.

 Claire

Caoimhe went on her first river – The Bann with the Tuesday night gang.  She amazingly rolled and survived playing in a few stoppers.  Caoimhe and Kathryn then both got out on the Boyne a few weeks later, styling down all sorts of weirs and not a swimmer in sight – Not bad for 2 girls!

 Kath

Caoimhe

 Happy Chappys...

A few days later Kathryn went with great determination to get her roll finally sorted, and man did she nail it.  She is now looking forward to another epic journey down a river or into the sea!!

Caoimhe has also been getting out sea kayaking loads with the Tuesday nights and a few of the guys (Jonny, Neil, Samuel and Davy) in the centre.  She headed up to the North Coast where she got to rock hop beside the amazing sea cliffs and did a bit of surfing – were she took a bit of swim, but sure we are all human.    

 Dunluce Castle

 Banana man?? is that you??

Caoimhe headed off to Scotland to sea kayak last week with Mike McClure who organises Tuesday nights.  The weather conditions were epic, with force 6 winds at times but she got through without having to roll. She was also assessed for her 3 star (sea) and passed. 

 Caoimhe surfing like a pro fo shizz my nizz

Kathryn’s SPA Assessment Weekend Success! and long time no blog once again!!

Kathryn’s SPA Assessment Weekend Success! and long time no blog once again!!

Last weekend Kathryn passed her Single Pitch Award assessment! Luckily the weather held out a bit, with a pretty damp first day of personal climbing on pigeon which made things a little interesting!  Then the second day was a lot dryer up on Spellack working on group set ups.

Congrats to the other two guys who also passed! one less thing to stress about...

Kathryn at the top of white walls...

Us trainees haven’t blogged in a while..... we have been up to loads!

Claire and Caoimhe are getting ready for their SPA training weekend in a few weeks and ML training! We have been pretty busy playing around in the outdoors trying to enjoy the good weather... if there is such a thing.

Here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks of what we have been up to, climbing, walking and sea kayaking. Double sea kayaking down the Narrows and being chased off Spellack by goats!

Kath finding out she is going up the Narrows in a double.... happy chappy

 Double sea kayak time

 BBQ time at Angus rock

 Getting a little too close...

 Gurt claiming his crag back!

 Caoimhe

 This wasn't planned!!!

Laters! J

Random Bivi Hares Gap

Our big plan to go biving on Monday started with an epic walk before hand, a clear night and a lot more people involved... of course when it got to Wednesday night, things change.

The weather was beautiful (Drizzly rain and not a star in sight), perfect! But that wasn’t stopping Caoimhe, Kathryn and Michael (Tagging along with his manbag), mega keen we would not give into the weather and everyone saying we were nuts.

Finally leaving the centre at half 11!  We took a stroll up to Hares Gap to sleep beside the great Mourne wall.... The walk consisted of lots of laughs and 100 of sheep eyes following us. Kathryn watching what lies beneath a few nights before didn’t help and Caoimhe talking about Zombie sheep....

We were glad to finally make it to the Mourne wall, to get into our sleeping bags and out of our wet gear.

We awoke at 7am to Kathryn letting in all the rain from her Bivi bag that had collected over the night... so a casual lie in was not on the cards with the amount of complaining and blood shoot eyes from a great night 's sleep.

We had marshmallows in chocolate biscuits for breakfast cooked over a stove and a bag of salt and vinegar crisps... the midnight snack didn’t really go to plan.

After all the negative comments about us going on our mega adventure to bivi, we had a ball and lots of laughs.. thats what it's all about :)

Caoimhe and Kath enjoying the Rain

Michael's first bivi :D

Caoimhe's camera gets all artistic!

Who said a bivi was a bad idea?

Life is GRRRRRRRRRRRR...EAT!!!

Steep Ground Training!

Today we were out in the hills looking at steep ground work for our Mountain Leader Award.  Kieran took us girls and our two fellow trainee lads (Brendan and Andy) to Spellack ,where we took turns in managing our group on steep ground. 

After lunch Kieran explored roped steep ground work with us - we played about with body belaying an individual down steep terrain, then looked at using an anchor to stabilize our position whilst body belaying.  We also tested out indirect belays using the environment we find ourselves in on the hills - for this we used a boulder to belay off.

Finally, we looked at abseiling off steep ground using a rope with a variety of techniques such as, the classic abseil and the South African abseil.  

The six of us had a good oul hoot in the sun, rain and hail, taking some slips and stumbles but what’s an ML training without that?!?

Kath guiding Andy up some steep terrain!

Kath body belaying

Our fellow trainee lads - Brendan and Andy!

The girls!

Kieran and Caoimhe with an anchor belay

Andy using an indirect belay

Claire and Keiran

Kath

Kieran demonstrating the Classic abseil

More ladiette's get on board with Rapids, Crags and Handbags!

Caoimhe has acquired two new fans of Rapids, Crags and Handbags - The lovely Emma and Aine, two extremely keen enthusiasts of the outdoor world.

Caoimhe headed out to Hen mountain with the two girls yesterday.  We had a little adventure playing about with our set ups and anchors for single pitches, followed by a bit of climbing.  Of course, the rain came to spoil the craic after a couple of climbs, meaning we did not get as much as we would of liked done - but sure that's always the way eh?!?! 


Otherwise it was a great day out with girls, who are so motivated to get out and about on the Rapids and Crags with their handbags. Smell the cheese! :D

 Emma reading up on the theory!

 Caoimhe and Aine

 Aine

 Emma making a BIG move? :)

Emma and Aine

Level 1 Coaches!!! Whoop whoop....

After 4 long intensive days we are now level 1 coaches in kayak and open boat!

Exciting stuff!!!

Even though it was a tiring few days we still had great craic and enjoyed every minute. 7 of us took part in the level one training having to complete 2 coaching sessions each in both disciplines – open boat and kayak. 

Our confidence and skills have improved and we can’t wait to start cracking into our 3 star awards and level 2 coach here come! 

 Dream Team!! Mark, Kathryn and Caoimhe!

                                                                        The coaches

                                                                           Caoimhe

 Classroom by the lake

 Claire open boating

 All packed up and ready to rock

 Kathryn

 and last but not least the little duckies!

wee video..

Long time - No blog...

We have been busy bunnies the past month, getting up to all sorts of class adventures, while also contending with our busy schedules as trainee instructors.  Business at Tollymore has picked up immensely with Easter Holidays, long evenings coming in and groups from all backgrounds using the centre.  This is probably the main reason we have not been updating our blog. 

Since our last entry, we have all completed our 2 star assessment in Canoe and Kayak and passed with flying colours – it was great craic, Oísín made us feel like we were just out for a paddle and doing a few skill drills.  The next step is our Level 1 Coach Award in Canoe and Kayak which we will start on Friday morning!!!

Other than that, us guys have been using our training days and free time to get out and about doing our thing in the outdoors:

Climbing

We have got out over the past few weeks in the Mournes on Hen Mountain, Eagle Rocks, Lower Cove and Pigeon.  Caoimhe and Claire also got to Dalkey Quarry (Dublin) with Trevor and a few of the gang from Tollymore, Caoimhe did her first lead on Winder’s Crack.  Caoimhe has now 5 leads in the oul log book towards our Single Pitch Award (SPA) training eeek!  Caoimhe and Claire will be completing their SPA training in the close future with Kieran, on our Monday training days.  Kathryn is logging hours supervising and assisting with climbing so she can complete her SPA assessment in the Summer months.

Our Trevor Kid :)

Mountain Biking

Us girls have been getting loads of experience on the mountain bike track in Tollymore and the Forest Park.  We are improving bit by bit every time we go out - of course our improvement has come with a number of falls, bumps and bruises but hopefully this will get us ready for the Trail Cycle leader that Tollymore will with a bit of luck be running in the near future. 

Paddling

There has been loads of paddling the past few weeks for us girls practicing for our 2 Star.  We now know Castlewellan lake inside out.  We have also taken a trip down to Dundrum bay to have a look at our skills in moving water.  Kathryn, Caoimhe and Claire showed their competitive streak when Jonny introduced a stopwatch and ferry gliding under the arches of Dundrum.  The score lies at Caoimhe – 3, Claire – 2, Kathryn – 1.

Dundrum Bay

Claire and Kathryn racing

The Tollymore staff have also been getting out on Tuesday nights for a bit of Sea kayaking.  Caoimhe took her first Tuesday night down the Narrows at Strangford Lough to Ballyhornan, it was a beautiful night for sea kayaking.  The best part of the night was Caoimhe coming up behind a seal and giving him the fright of his life, that when he jumped so high out of the water he splashed her.   It was amazing to see so many seals out enjoying a lovely evening. 

Caoimhe and Claire then headed out to Salt Island last Tuesday to stay in the Bothy with 8 other guys from Tollymore.  We had a great evening and morning paddle with a wee BBQ, ghost stories and some class banter in between. 

 Strangford lough