Guide for the Gap of Dunloe

[mucmacdog]

You should have taken a few photos or made a few sketches and updated the wiki 

 
I will the next time I head out, I don't have a camera so could I get one off someone for the future.
Spent the whole time there and thought I was on cub crack. Turns out I was on Carraig Ceannann 
A photo topo would help so much.

[Ming]

I got a bunch of scanned jpegs from the old 1995 guide courtsey of Tim at MI and I've turned it into a PDF. They feature the same topos as the ones on the wiki at the moment (apart from the lack of a topo of Bothan), but it's a bit easier to find the lines as they're numbered as shown in the topos.

I hope he doesn't mind me uploading it. If there's any issue, just delete my post/attachment.

[Stephen McMullan]

Hi Ming,

Just for info, the guide was an independent production by Richard Stack and has nothing to do with Tim or MI. (Tim's no longer working for MI by the way). Richard retains the copyright.

However Richard very kindly handed over the information from the guide to Dave Hunt for the wiki on this site so I reckon there will be no problem with the PDF.

Thanks for making the PDF. Folks may indeed find it very useful especially for the forthcoming meet.

S

[Colm]

I haven't been to the gap myself but is there a reason there's no better info on it? Is it spread all over the place/hard to access or something? Or is is like the burren with a shit ton of small crags all over the place? 

[johnhealy]

Of the 300 or so climbs there, all bar maybe 25 are within 30 min of your car. Most of which are less than 20min.
There are a number of outlying crags, and two major areas with large concentrations of climbing.

If anyone fancies a challenge I reckon you could do 1000m of climbing in a (summer's) day of climbing......

[Dave Flanagan]

John do you know what the story is with the guide?

[Richard]

I'm hoping to be there during the weekend so I'll take some photos and make a rough guide to add to the wiki. I don't know why information on the place isn't available. I've seen the file with all the newly developed areas and there's probably at least twice as many routes as is in the current wiki. The current guide isn't that bad but there's a lot of overgrading (mostly as at the time a lot of routes had only one ascent) and without pictures I can see how it might be hard to find your way around. It's a shame as it probably puts people off enjoying the place fully.

Maybe I'm biased but I think it's equal to most other crags I've been to in the country. Great friction, fantastic setting and some really really good routes. If you're happy to climb E1 you could spend plenty of weekends there before you'd run out of things to do (and that's just based on the current online guide).

[Ming]

All the secrecy regarding these 'newly' developed crags/venues is a bit of a shame. 

[Brendan Deery]

Agreed.....went bouldering down in the Gap for the first time at christmas and juan brought me up to one of the crags (the main face I think).....

Thought the place was class....really enjoyed the bouldering there and the routes on the main face looked like proper classics...with some really good well protected routes.....Don't get the chance to head to Kerry more than once/twice a year so wud be gud to have some decent topos of the climbs down there to open the place up to visiting climbers.....

[johnhealy]

Secrecy?

I've lost count of the number of times  I've offered/begged/pleaded with people to come down here. I offered to show climbers from several clubs around the crags, I've offered to show people around at the climbing meets....etc etc etc......(and in all cases I mean for free not as a guide)......the number who have taken up this offer is precisely zero.

I'm sick of listening to the excuses. The online guide isn't that bad. The routes are generally not poorly protected. It is not a crag that takes ages to dry. Its not difficult to find your way around (assuming you can read and have a modicum of intelligence). The climbs generally aren't dirty.
It is in Kerry and of the excuses I've heard the only one that holds water is that it is a long way from Dublin...Belfast....galway..etc

john

[johnhealy]

ps.....don't ask me about the bouldering......I don't know will most likely be the answer 

[Richard]

More info. Please post...

[Richard]

Ok, check the last post for more info for those of you who can't figure out the current guide. Took longer to post than it did me write it...

[Pacman]

richard can you save the document as a PDF and post it because this version will not open with the pictures in alot of peoples computers. I am at the university and it will not open properly. Plus if its PDF it can be saved to peoples smart phones and used. Thanks.

[Stephen McMullan]

Done. I've attached the PDF to Richard's post above and got rid of the MS Word 2007 version.