Climbing In Glendalough

After a week of some of the best weather of the summer, I headed down to Glendalough on Sunday with a few friends with plans to get in a multi-pitch route. Prelude Nightmare, 74m VS, has been on this summer's tick list for a while and I especially wanted to lead the last pitch.

Myself and Aaron paired up and decided to stick to the 4 pitches in the guidebook as we needed the practice with multi-pitch anchors and belaying. Aaron lead the first and third pitches and I lead the second and final pitches. The guidebook description of the final Nightmare pitch had me nervous as I started to lead the final pitch but once I got into the climb it came together nicely.

Once we were finished the second pitch Jan and Ed followed us up the same route. They decided to do the route in just two parts with Jan combining the first two pitches and Ed leading the last 2 pitches in one go. After the four of us abseiled from the Main Face anchor with a pair of 60m double ropes we took a well deserved break to refuel.

The midges were starting to become a problem so myself and Aaron decided to walk out while Jan and Ed attacked the first two pitches of Sarcophagus up to the tree belay. We finished off the day with a pint at a local pub before heading back to Dublin via the Sally Gap road and a quick look at Luggala.