UKC

A wee blog about a first time visit to Fairhead.

As usual.... some may find this interesting while most will find it a bore.

http://hikeandclimb.ie/fairhead-climbing/

A.

In reply to HikeandClimb:

Good write-up

In reply to HikeandClimb:
Nice article and pics!

Having heard about Fairhead years ago it wasn't until last summer that I finally managed to get to the place. The first trip (early July) was a bit of a washout but we still managed to get stuff done between showers – the rock dries incredibly quickly. Went back late August and had much better weather.

We stayed on farmer Sean McBride's 'campsite' on both trips and loved it. The lack of facilities is more than made up for by the location. Showers can be had for £1.50 at the recreation centre in nearby Ballycastle.

My opinion (shared by others who've been there) is that Fairhead is amongst the finest trad crags in the British Isles — so many stupendous crack/groove lines, not to mention the harder stuff on the blank faces...

Pete.

In reply to Pete O'Donovan:

Aye defo up there with the very best in the UK. Nearly as wide as stanage but 100m high in places with belter, safe lines all over the place.

Can defo recommend getting over for the meet that is normally early June. Even when it's mega busy like it was last year when the sun was shining and honnald was in town, the crag is just so big there is plenty to go around. Sean's farm is a great place when there's loads of friendly people having a good time.

In reply to snoop6060:

The annual meet in June is definitely on my 'to do before I die' list but I think I might be otherwise engaged this year.

In any case, you've apparently had perfect weather for it these past three years and even by the luck of the Irish it would be pushing it to expect a fourth...

Not that the weather would matter that much... just drinking Guinness with a few hundred other like-minded folk in Sean's big cowshed would be worth the trip alone!

Pete.

In reply to HikeandClimb:
I have been to Fairhead once. After a bit of ill-advised mucking around on the Small Crag, I headed to the Prow. The majority of stuff is too hard for me - I did Hell's Kitchen but wouldn't want to throw myself at the E1s too casually - but I would still easily consider it the best straight-up climbing crag I have ever been to. The multipitch routes felt more like (massively) overgrown single pitches to me rather than a multipitch route, but then maybe that's because I'm used to meandering mountain multipitches rather than 40-70m of dead straight up.

If it was south of Sheffield instead rather than stuck out on the N Ireland coast, it might very well be the most popular crag in the UK...
(actually it might only be the most popular crag at E1 and above, due to the relative paucity of sub-HVS routes)