UKC Forums - DESTINATION GUIDE: Donegal

DESTINATION GUIDE: Donegal

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UKC Articles 21 Aug 2018

Donegal, in the northwest of Ireland, contains more climbable rock than the rest of Ireland combined, with two major mountain ranges, eight hundred miles of coastline, one hundred sea stacks and as many climbing mediums as you'll find in the rest of the country combined. There are currently just under 3,000 routes recorded throughout the county.

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Mike-W-99 21 Aug 2018

In reply to UKC Articles:

Looks great but seems to have a map of Dublin in the article??

Frank the Husky 22 Aug 2018

In reply to Mike-W-99:

That's a hell of a lot of crags around Dublin - can that be real?

Greenbanks 22 Aug 2018

In reply to UKC Articles:

Fantastic article - one of the reasons that UKC is on this planet!

Iamgregp 22 Aug 2018

In reply to UKC Articles:

Great article!

However as a climber and regular visitor to the area I can add a couple of bits... Travel wise you can fly direct into Derry Airport, which also has car rental facilities and, being just over the border, is a short drive to Donegal. There's also an excellent indoor climbing wall in Derry, which is worth knowing in case it rains. Which it will.

There's also a yearly Climbfest held by a local climbing club every year over the Mayday bank holiday. We went a couple of years ago, and it's a great way to meet other climbers in the area and discover new routes and crags.

Frank the Husky 22 Aug 2018

In reply to Iamgregp:

Good point. The climbfest thing is/has been based on Cruit Island and Malinbeg which are ideal for loads of friendly cragging. Check out the website of the Colmcille Club for details:- http://colmcille-climbers.com/2018/03/climbfest-2018-info/

speculoos 23 Aug 2018

In reply to UKC Articles:

We stumbled across ClimbFest this year as we were celebrating a friend's 30th birthday on the cliffs there. Was so jealous not to have any climbing kit with me (but we shared our Guinness cake with some climbers!), and I cannot wait to get back out there to climb next year.

jcolton 24 Aug 2018

In reply to UKC Articles:

Not been since the 70’s but l found the Poison Glen to be everything a mountain crag should be. Remote and serious and visited by fellow Yorkshiremen in the 50’s; the Drasdo’s and Austin. We did Nightshade on a fine Easter Day.

Not much mention of it in the article considering it is Ireland’s biggest crag.

Tom Valentine 24 Aug 2018

In reply to jcolton:

Nightshade.

"Climb of Quality" in the first ever Climber magazine I bought ( and therefore the first time I ever heard of AA)

Frank the Husky 25 Aug 2018

In reply to jcolton:

Good point, but biggest doesn't always mean best. Iain will have climbed on it and might be able to add something about it, but I didn't and can't. Perhaps yur comment will encourage some people to go have a look when they go.

iain miller 26 Aug 2018

In reply to jcolton:

Alas being north facing and with a huge amount of soil, turf and heather above, it takes a long time to dry out. four new lines on this face in last decade or so. Apart from these lines everything else is hugely overgrown. its not really a place to be recommended to visiting climbers as its rarely in condition and very overgrown.

The potential of PG is huge but requires a lot of time, patience and good weather, much the same as all Donegal's mounta8n crags

https://uniqueascent.ie/poisoned_glen_guide