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• Well I never, what a summer! There has been a bit of activity recently with a mob up on Saturday 30 August. Every route on the Prow had chalk on it, indicating that there's it had a load of traffic on the Friday too. Maybe some dry days are on there way! Fingers crossed...
• Check out this wee video all inspired by the cleaning work done at Fair Head. Here the BMC describe the 3 full on sessions they've organised to clean up Tremadog, in Wales. Flipping great to see. The video features Mike Raine, Martin Koscis and Ian Webb who are all regulars to Fair Head and promote the crag as the best in the UK. Way to go guys!!!
• Ricky Bell has blasted up yet another inspiring line, this time onsighting a new E7 from The Wall of Prey belay. Mega news is that it's been filmed by the www.posingproductions.com crew and at Ricky's first attempt he took the most massive 40 foot whipper, all caught on film. Click on that link and check out the preview for the film, looks flipping class. There's no doubt that Ricky's ascent will be one of the most amazing in the whole film, on the biggest wall, in the most awesome situation and onsight too. Details of Ricky's new route Mr Blobby Superman are on the new routes page.

• Andy Marshall has also produced an impressive new line at E6/7 (6b, 6b) up the groove to the left of Cuchullainn. Bold and out there, Andy did this in very windy and cold conditions too which is some going. The route description for Faerie Stories is on the new routes page.

• The Climbers Club were over for an informal meet on the week of 28 June to 5 July 2008 and Elizabeth Cripps sent us this report. By the sounds of things they had a busy week!
  
  "A great return to the crag for some of the party (Julian Maund, Harry Cripps, Elizabeth Cripps, Pete Cripps, Celia Fellows) and a first taster for Tim and Cherrie Whiteley, Geraldine Taylor, John Trythall, Steve Carter and Ed Sylvester. Typical Irish weather – a case of grabbing routes between the rainstorms – but we managed to climb almost every day.
  
  Julian and Geraldine rattled off Hurricane E2, Railroad E1, Fáth Mo Bhuartha E1, GBH E3, Darkness E2, Thunderhips E1, Marconi E3, Face Value E4 (“fantastic”, according to Julian), Ocean Boulevard E3 and Concubair E2. Julian and Harry did The Embankment E2, The Brasser E2 and three quarters of Jolly Roger E3 – getting rained off it for the second time in a row. Harry went back the next day and did the top pitch of Jolly Roger with Cherrie, which he says merits E2*** in its own right. He also did Burn Up (HVS) with Cherrie, Pangur Bán HVS and Fáth Mo Bhuartha with Pete, Midnight Cruiser E1 with Tim and Pete, and Chieftain (VS – but the consensus from our team is that it's undergraded at 4b), Railroad E1 and Hell's Kitchen HVS with Tim.
  
  Cherrie and I got up Girona, The Fence (both tough for VS), The Black Thief VS, Fáth Mo Bhuartha, Fireball, Midnight Cruiser (all E1 – Fireball was my first E1 lead, and a crazy choice, given I hate offwidths), Hell's Kitchen (what a fantastic climb) and a very slimy Pangur Bán. Pete and Celia did Chieftain (her first trad lead!) and introduced Ed to outdoor rock with The Black Thief.
  
  John and Steve got through a very impressive list – Girona, Hell's Kitchen (“one of the best pitches I've done anywhere”, according to John), Fireball, Railroad, The Black Thief, Hurricane, Burn Up, An Bealach Rúnda E1 (“not many pitches like that nowadays”), Midnight Cruiser, Marconi, Salango E3 and Mizen Star E2 (a bold second pitch, apparently – where exactly is the runner found by moving left?) – and are, like the rest of us, keen to come back for more."

• Stuart Burns, following his recent visit with Tony Stone has written a report with photos into his blog which can be viewed here.
• Chris Snell on a recent trip over says: "Went to Fair Head for the first time this weekend and we were suitably impressed. We flew up from Bristol but didn't have much luck with the weather. Did a couple of routes on Saturday before the weather came in: Above and Beyond & Hell's Kitchen Arête. Both were fantastic. Above and Beyond is in a cracking position and the climbing is pretty amenable for the grade with no particularly hard moves just a steady approach required. Hell's Kitchen Arête certainly has a harder move on it to get going up the arête (maybe 6b), then there's a run out but easier climbing up to the loose flake. This flake moves a bit (few mm not inches!) but I think it is fairly well keyed in - wouldn't want to test it too hard though. You can get holds and gear that aren't on the flake then it's glorious climbing up the arête. Anyway, we were well impressed by the routes and even more so by the huge number of unclimbed mega-lines that are literally everywhere you look. Fair Head undoubtedly has the best potential for the future of hard UK trad climbing that I've ever seen!" Note, that's the 8th ascent of Above and Beyond and the 5th this spring. The flood gates are well and truly open.
• Damian O'Sullivan sent us in a few lines: "Two weekends ago Mary Moloney and I went to climb Bates Motel.  It was pretty easy to find. We abseiled in close to Clontarf and walked around the corner then scrambled up the heathery ledges.  Pitch one went to Mary. She climbed the left side of the groove to a small roof. From here she moved left onto the the slab and climbed for about four meters (the guide book says one meter) she the traversed right to the crack up a few meters and took a belay. It might have been more better for her to go all the way to the bottom of the main crack feature for a more comfortable belay. The belay was very solid.  I tried pitch two. It looks a bit like Ocean Boulevard except vertical, maybe overhanging slightly and capped by a route. It's well hard! I made little progress on it and ended aiding most of it. I could have been climbing pants but it's certainly harder than Ocean Boulevard, The X-Men or the Brasser by a long way. The guide book mentions pitch one as being sustained and strenuous, I think it should be for pitch two. I'd reckon it is E4 (6a). Great gear, but hard and sustained. The pod is interesting and turning the roof is physical. The pitch never really relented until the final few meters. The belay is good, with a number of options for locations. The final pitch is nice climbing, pretty well protected. The route was pretty clean, some lichen may have covered some smears at the crux but nothing much. I am going to try it again next time I am up. I'll give it a brush first if I can get a rope down it.  There was no chalk on it, or any sign of recent climbing on it. Have anyone else done this route? Also, Kevin Power and I climbed Hallowe'en Arête last Monday week, Kevin doing the leading there."
• Ben Heason sent us a few great tips to supplement Tony's info for the top of Primal Scream: "Just a quick note on Primal Scream, when I on-sighted it, it was unobvious which way to go from the top break. Right seemed easier from below, but once I committed to the sequence I couldn't reverse to move back left. The rock was horrendously loose and dirty - it was like having uneven ball-bearings stuck to the bottom of my shoes. I spent a long time in this position, cleaning as best I could before taking the exact line of the dotted red line in the topo. The rock at least looked clean that way, where as continuing up the crack to the right stayed crumbly. I immediately abbed the line to strip the gear so I could belay my climbing partner Miles who wanted to lead it. I gave the dotted red line a thorough clean on ab so Miles didn't have to deal with the same nightmare. Even when cleaned, the sequence still seemed hard 6a. When I top roped The Complete Scream the next day I had a quick look for an alternative, more secure (even if harder) finish. On the left, the holds had already been thoroughly cleaned, the moves were easier and the gear seemed better. So there should be a third line moving leftwards to the base of the left crack (now shown as the yellow dots). You can actually see in the Underdeveloped video (although the whole sequence isn't shown) that Ricky also finished up this way. I don't really like the idea of "giving away" so much information about a route, so that it may spoil future on-sighters attempts, but when information will likely mislead people I think it's worth noting."
• Some news I'd overlooked from Stephen Mcgowan: "Got up to Fair Head again for Monday 9 June and Tuesday 10 June, straight off the back of two days in the Mournes. John Howard was with me again and Ailish Grennan and Adam (I really need to find out his surname) came up for their first taste of the head. The weather wasn't quite as good as when we were up last week but we still got a few routes in. Adam ticked off The Fence for his first route at the head, a bit of a rude awakening for a grit climber. He soon followed this with a race up Railroad against the incoming rain. John ticked off his first E1 at the head (and 2nd ever!) with Midnight Cruiser, running out of extenders at the crux leading to an interesting run out. Ailish hopped on The Black Thief for her introduction. As for myself I took a wack at GBH and fell off a few times, I'll be back for round two soon! When we finished up we went over and had a look at Dayle Smyth and John Orr from QUBMC on Face Value...we took a load of pictures of them, so we'll send some on once we get a chance. On Tuesday myself and Adam went off to do Mizen Star. I took on pitch 1 and soon discovered the disadvantages of giving my rack to the other two as I was missing the doubles I had for all the handy Fair Head sized cams. This lead to having to hang around for far too long at the roof as I tried to make other gear fit and a fall when my super pumped left hand slipped from a jam as I was pulling through the roof. I'm going to have to come back to this one. Super pitch....great route. Adam took on the bold second pitch as I just prayed that he wouldn't come off and land on my head. We topped out very cold, but happy. Ailish and John took on Chieftain which it sounds like they enjoyed as well. Another enjoyable two days at the head....now I need to go get some rest. Too much climbing in the last 10 days!"
• Check out these beautiful photos taken by Dave Hunt over the weekend of 14 June 2008. Cool as :¬)
• On Saturday past Tony Stone, a visitor from Scotland got some cool ticks under his belt including the 7th ascent of Above and Beyond. Cool as! What is really funky though is Tony finished off by soloing Equinox! And there was the rest of us enjoying the mega pitch thing and Tony comes along and solos it! Flipping heck like! Tony sent us a few comments:
  
  Wall of Prey - I think this is E4 6a. It's not sustained, the gear is above you at the crux and is bomber. With regards on it being height dependent this refers to the previous move up to the slot the jammed block forms. There is a high but very small runner (RP1) that protects this move and I think being shorter would only make the move more awkward not technically harder. Also there's no real need for this route to have a peg on it as there are two bomber wire placements just 10cm below. I think the top pitch is E2 (5b), easier than Equinox and very well protected, it can't be too bad as I was pretty much hypothermic while climbing it on Sat.

  Hell's Kitchen - I secondened this but I really think E1 not HVS.

  Primal Scream - With the bomber wire placement I think this is high E5 (6b). It is reminiscent of The Long Run on North Stack Wall, Gogarth E5 (6a) in terms of protection and sustained climbing. The distinct crux is the easy side of 6b too, though I don't suggest 6a. I think the description of the top out could do with some work. My take is: "From the horizontal break follow the thin right-trending crack on the right for a few metres until it is possible to traverse left on crimps to better holds and so to the top." The protection requires thought but if done properly I'd say E5 not E6. I've done a wee photo-topo for the top. The rock at that point is quite dirty and the yellow line is best, though I took the red line, the red line means you only have to use one dirty smear, whereas Kevin Power as I watched him, was cleaning rock with his shoe (good effort!). Kevin though his way was ok also, just looked dirtier. It's not the crux but it is 6a and you wouldn't want to blow it there!

  Equinox - Soloed this and both pitches are 5b, I'd say the first was harder if anything, but that might be the effect of onsight solo smearing! I imagine it would indeed be E2 to lead, sustained sections but good gear throughout.

  Above and Beyond - E6 6b, excellent pitch, just superb! Anyone at this level should know to be careful with the rock on it in certain places. Some bomber gear to be had but it's a long way away when you're on the crux. The peg is dubious and back up gear is fiddly.

• Hurragh! The weekend of the 14th June was another blast, seeing the crag totally packed yet again for the first camping meet ever at Fair Head. Great to see. Loads of folks made the trip up from Dublin and further a field. Sean was well psyched to see the potential for the future and due to the success of the weekend is having a good ponder over whether or not to set it up properly. Watch this space :¬) He asked me to pass on a big thank you to everyone for not leaving so much as a speck of litter anywhere at the crag and credit to everyone for always picking up stuff, even if it isn't your own. It's great to be able to say the crag is still absolutely immaculate. So what was done and who was up, I haven't a baldy, as folks were all over the place. Blockbuster, got a couple of ascents, Primal Scream, Face Value, XL, Wall of Prey, all the E2's, plus all the rest... send in a few lines and I'll stick it on.
• Overlooked mega pitch alert - Visual Contact! Needs a quick clean but flip that looks like some pitch. I think Martin Koscis was the last person to do it in 2005. Why has everyone forgot about this route? It looks totally amazing!
• A route description for the new 2nd pitch to Ocean Boulevard has been put onto the New Routes Page.
• Yet another stonking weekends weather! Gosh, we're getting spoilt. Over on the Grey Man's path side on Saturday 7 June, Geoff Somerville, Angus Miller, Scott Corkin and Ricky Young, teamed up for a bit of variety. Geoff and Angus started off with Track of the Cat and Geoff says: "Flip the moves on this just keep coming at you. My tactics were: 1) Look up. Think how in the name of... 2) Look around for other options. 3) Notice there ain't any other options. 4) Take big breath. 5) Launch at it. 6) Teeter a bit, think flip I'm still here. 7) Consolidate with a bit of gear, feel better. 8) Breath again. 9) Repeat steps 1-8, 30 more times! Fell off at that hard move at the start and took a rest at 2/3 height, but was chuffed to bits to get up it at all. Megatastic climbing!" Meanwhile, Scott and Ricky did Toby Jug, with Scott striding out on the pointy end on the lower pitch, for his hardest lead yet, nice one. After that Geoff did Sandpiper with Ricky and Angus did December with Scott. There were other people about but not sure who, or what they were doing, so send us in a few lines...
• Martin Kocsis, Scott Titt, Nick Colton and Lucy Creamer spent another fine spell at Fair Head there last week, with Martin and Nick again focused on the masses of new routing potential to be had at the crag. After days spent cleaning, they established 2 fine new lines, Tractors of Desire at E3 (5a, 5c, 5a/b) and Scott's Pine at E4 (5c, 6a). Way to go or what! Route descriptions are on the new routes page.
• Andy Simpson recently hit the crag on 1 June 2006 and kindly sent us in a few lines: "I was with Louise (the wife) and a few visitors - George Borden (USA), Henry Dobson (Scotland) and Peter Hart (NI/Scot). George and I did Girona and Chieftain, while the other three did Chieftain and a severe (not sure which) on the Prow. Girona was packed all day - and not surprising at all. While I was belaying from the middle, the next pair (Viv, followed by Beth - both up from Dublin for the weekend) arrived, with Viv waiting till I left, then before they were away the next pair (Carl and Yuri) turned up... Carl and Yuri had previously done Emmanuele, but had to bail out of the top pitch as the whole face is dangerously unstable - Calvin Torrans shouted escape directions to them as he says it's not been done for 30 years since a rockfall? (Not sure about this, I couldn't hear him - repeating what others said). None of us had done much at Fairhead before, so a lovely day to get a couple of decent climbs in."
• Andy Reeve has sent in some useful info: "Tried Hell's Kitchen Arête whilst I was there, but this has a loose flake on it where the arête steepens. It wobbles a couple of inches with very little force and unavoidable to use too! Probably needs pulling off before the route can have another ascent." Be warned and cheers Andy.
• I know, I know, this is getting repetitive but sod it, Fair Head was bunged again at the weekend of 31 May, only this time so bunged that the car park couldn't take any more cars and at one stage I could see 34 climbers at the Ballycastle side alone! Oh my God! Fair Head is like the center of the Irish climbing universe these days! Hip, Hip, Hurragh!!! Folks, if your reading this and you haven't been up recently, get up there, the place is buzzing! So what's been done, well Above and Beyond had 3 ascents this week alone, with Lucy Creamer bagging the first female ascent. Way to go Lucy!!! So think about this a minute, Above and Beyond had 3 ascents in 22 years and now it's had 3 in one week! My, oh my! All the other stuff has been done again and again and again, so suffice to say Primal Scream and The Mask it seems, are now the introductory routes for visiting climbers, with some reports that Primal Scream may even be getting a bit polished (Joke!). Some notable routes done were Track of the Cat by Brian McAlinden and Blockbuster by Ian Chestnut and Dave Millar. Geoff Somerville spent 3 hours cleaning the new corner on the second pitch of Ocean Boulevard, which was revealed after a rock fall a few years ago. This has produced a fantastic second pitch, that goes at about E1(5b) and is a real quality second pitch that adds greatly to the appeal of the route. Get onto it, the route is totally mint! Calvin has since led it too, confirming it's quality on the pointy end. I'll post more news soon...
• Some awesome late news is that Ricky Bell has established another new E8 at the crag, taking a hairy line up from the An Bealach Runda ledge. Details are on the message board.
• Dominic Douglas has spotted that Fair Head's was featured on the telly on Sky 193, on Monday 26th May. Hot Ache Productions were doing a show about hard core climber Ken Shields. View info here. Did anyone catch this?
• Oh my, oh my! Sitting at the top of the crag there on Sunday 25th I had to chuckle heartily as a convoy of climbers dandered towards the crag. Must have been 15 people at the top of the Ballycastle Descent gully at one stage with loads of other folks scattered all over the place. Flipping cool as! So what's been happening, well there's 3 groups over from across the pond, with there eyes firmly focused on the classic hard stuff. The big news is that Above and Beyond got it's 4th ascent, by Andy Reeve, seconded by Sophie Whyte. Andy has recently flashed E7 on grit (Never Never Land at Ramshaw) and coupled with a handful of E6 onsights was keen to get this! Some going, eh! Primal Scream has had multiple ascents, including an onsite by Steve Robinson of Sheffield. The Wall of Prey too had a clatter of people up it, plus The Mask was done and then you get to the normal stuff by the rest of us. Geoff Somerville and Angus Millar started off with Ocean Boulevard, before doing Mizen Star. Geoff says: "Flip Ocean Boulevard is tight, sustained jamming that builds up and builds up till your arms get the full on pump before the last spicy wee section. Totally fantastic! I'd say it's a harder than GBH. " Ryan McHenry and Anja Jones raced up Run Fast Run Free, then also doing Ocean Boulevard before Ryan did Equinox in a oner. Ryan says "Yeah, Ocean Boulevard is tight, but I only got pumped at the last bit, so I'm chuffed to bits with that. I reckon GBH is the harder lead." Anja seconded it clean too, which means once she gets her lead head on she'll be rollin'. Dave Millar and Ian Chestnut headed over to the far side for The Brasser, Toby Jug and Sandpiper and Ian says: "Yip, a quality day!"
• On Saturday 24th Dave Millar and Geoff Somerville headed down for Cinnabar, with Dave on the pointy end. Dave says:"Cool route, full on 48m pitch with a loads of interest all the way, especially the top bit which is a jug fest, on really steep ground. Bring a few slings to extend your runners for the traverse out right to finish" Geoff then headed down for Clare Sheridan's new route Reileg. Geoff says: "Hats off to Clare for that one. A totally mega route, with 3 hard sections, totally absorbing and has a real quality feel about it. Maybe 6a, but certainly 3 sections of 5c moves." Elsewhere people were everywhere so I'll wait to get their news before attempting to write it up, though Calvin and Clare also headed down for Cinnabar. Clare says: "Although I'd put this route up in '88 I'd totally forgot how good it was. That top bit is sooo out there!"
• Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 May saw another massive crowd at the crag. Mark McGladdery climbing with Tim Wilson got a rattle at Jolly Roger, having had his eye on it for a while, before Tim had fun on The Brasser. Sonia Olofernes ripped over from London for her first visit to the crag, climbing with Geoff Somerville and knocking out Girona, Hell's Kitchen, Fáth Mo Bhuartha (both variations), Midnight Cruiser, Fireball, Good Morning Judge and then getting the big first lead in on The Black Thief. The Prow ended up totally packed with Eddie Cooper, Rachael Cooper, Ryan McHenry, Andrew Colligan, Jeremy Colandairaj, Dayle Smyth, Cheryl Jones and Malcolm McNaught, all cranking out the classics like there was no tomorrow. Andy Marshall cruised Rusty Halo, with Sam Gordon, before Sam had a tussle with Talking Heads, with Sam also reporting that Rusty Halo is totally NAILS! Hmmm... a common report. Nice one Andy.
• Mark Raine and Mark "HoseyB" Dicken, the English dudes from last week, sent us in a few lines on the routes they did. Check this out for a tick list: Fireball, Mongrel Fox, Midnight Cruiser, Face Value, X-Men (top two pitches done as one), Promised Land (felt hard needed some garden leave on steep bit, well, I rested and pulled out some grass!), Hells Kitchen, Track of the Cat (went really well for me - would suggest a good one to go for after Face Value, lots of good rests and never too hard), Sandpiper (hard!), we had a very brief look at Striapach but opted out - very silly might be worth XS!, Fáth Mo Bhuartha, Wagger Moon (actually quite steady, mostly hands and fists, I abbed it first and cleaned of some good ledges either side of the crack and used 3 friend 4's and one 5), Concubair (my second time - a favourite) and Cinnabar (I echo your comments excellent and well worth any ones time, a marvelous pitch which just keeps coming - wonderful Fair Head stuff definitely two stars now, probably 3 anywhere else!), The Mask (my first E5 for five years, we were totally inspired! first pitch is prob E4 with one well protected 6a move, the second pitch is amazing and just keeps coming, I thought it was hard!)
• For your info, Mark Raine's ascent of Wagger Moon was the third ascent, with the second going to Jonny Adams of Black Magic fame, who also was over at the crag at the weekend, after about a 15 year gap.
• Wednesday 15 May saw Danny O'Neill, Angus Miller, Scott Corkin, Michelle O'Loughlin, Eddie Cooper and Geoff Somerville hitting the crag again for more beaming sunshine action. Danny started off leading Conchubair with Scott and ended up doing it in one pitch cause he says, he just missed the belay, so "kept her lit!" Eddie took Michelle up Face Value and Michelle says "that's my more my style, flipping ace, gimme crimps any day." Geoff and Angus did Cinnabar first which is a superb line, a bit of everything lonnngggg pitch, with a funky finish and for all you E2 climbers it's a must do, as it hasn't been cleaner for years and though there is still a bit of dirt in the cracks low down, the climbing is superb. Geoff then did Talking Heads with Angus doing it as a single pitch for speed more than anything else, as the second pitch is handy and in a nice straight line. Danny and Michelle headed over for Roaring Meg to finish, while Eddie took Scott up Mizen Star, and Angus and Geoff finished off on Run Fast Run Free. Another superb afternnoon, total bliss!
• Ben Heason has sent us in a full report and comments on the routes he did on his recent trip over, finishing on the 11 May. It's always great to hear what other people think of the routes so thanks to Ben for taking the time to send us his comments: "Just back from a fantastic 10 day trip to Fairhead. Had a couple of light showers but awesome weather on the whole, felt rather lucky! As I'd only done 4 routes at Fairhead before this trip (Wall of Prey, Equinox, Hell's Kitchen arête and Girona) I felt compelled to stick mainly to the classics and I certainly wasn't disappointed by their awesome quality. On my next visit I will try to make sure that I have a look at some of the lesser done climbs, and clean one or two lines. My climbing partner, Miles Gibson, had a go at Closing Tune but was shut down trying to get into the upper groove as he said it was filthy dirty (that was last Saturday so it was also drizzling whilst he was on it which probably didn't help…) - we should have abed and cleaned it first. Here's a list of routes I did, with a few comments :- "

  Midnight Cruiser, Railroad, Fireball, Thunderhips, Embankment, Marconi, GBH – all on the prow. Not much to say about these, except to mirror others views that they are all fantastic 3 star routes!

  Salango – a classic thrutch. Slightly awkward from the belay on pitch 2. The top roof was much easier than expected, 5b max?

  Face Value – first pitch – much easier than it looks! Second pitch – move over roof was straightforward 5c, but intimidating (E3 5c ish), the move into the groove was probably 6a though.

  Buttons and Bows – a great pitch. Seemed like the hardest E4 we did. But I did do it in the full on sun so all the holds were very hot – and there are some not great slopers on the lower crux moves. Two tricky and airy sections at the start then great gear. I got a bomber rp 5 in, not sure where the beta for an rp 4 comes in? Would take varying sizes well. Easy but bold climbing rightwards to reasonable gear in the crack before a final tricky sequence to bomber gear and locks. Not sure if it was because it was earlier in the week and/or it was very warm, but it felt pretty close to E5 (and tricky 6a to boot) for the on-sight without chalk on it compared to everything else we did… Top pitch E2 5b?

  Track of the Cat – Seemed to have a hard move with tricky footwork very low down in the crack. Good gear for it, but definitely the crux. Still plenty of tricky 5c/6a moves to come though, including some 5c/6a jams up the final short crack. Very good rests quite frequently, even some hands off on the main part of the wall. I was first on it, so had no chalk to follow which was fun, but the other two from our group who did it afterwards thought it was a fair bit harder than Face Value. A superb pitch!

  Rusty Halo – The first few moves off the deck was about 5c/6a, then about E3 5c to the upper crack. The middle of the route is quite easy, followed by a great rest. The crux was the couple of half decent but not great jams leading up to a great jam just below the roof. After this it eases off in difficulty, but feels a bit sustained. I thought it was the pumpy-est of the E4's I did (because the others are actually surprisingly pretty slabby), but of a similar overall difficulty to Track of the Cat, and not as hard as Buttons and Bows.

  Wall of Prey – Hard to grade, but I think it deserves English 6b for the crux reach. Although, for anyone 6 foot or taller it's definitely no more than 6a. It's a very reach dependent crux. It's not unusual for routes like this to get split grades 6a/b. Awesome anyway, as was the airy second pitch, a great E3 5c.

  The Mask – I was expecting the first pitch to be more E5 ish. More like tricky E3 5c. Not really that exposed getting to the arête as there is bomber gear. Bomber gear at the arête for the tricky move too. Second pitch a fair E5 6a. No desperate crux move but you have to climb for quite a way before you get a truly thank god hold or position to chill in.

  Primal Scream – Not certain of the history of the "new" gear placements on this. I was expecting it to feel bolder. I can't comment on the history of the placements but the totally bomber rock 4 (in a vertical slot on the right) just before the crux sequence, has not been "manufactured" in any way, perhaps just cleaned out. They peg left of the ledge is very shonky indeed, but can be backed up with a good albeit tiny rp just above it. I was pleased to on sight this without a chalk trail (would make a big difference). It had also just rained, when I was about to clip the peg – I had to abort and wait about an hour for it to dry out, so some of the holds were a tad clammy still. I went right, instead of left, at the top. Rock was very crumbly (I cleaned this section properly afterwards), ball bearingy (a bit like the rock on the top out of face value, only hard climbing and much looser). Was probably the physically hardest move of the route (when I tope roped the complete scream I had a look at the left hand finish which was much easier, and very clean). As people say, probably a baby E6 6b - the crux is harder for anyone shorter than about 5'10. I'm 5'10.5'' and I could just do it the easy 6b way, harder 6b for anyone shorter.

  Complete Scream – I didn't expect to do this on the trip, but after on-sighting Primal Scream it seemed silly not to have a look. A fantastic line with great moves. Would probably be E7 6a with just one of the foot holds being about 1.5cm instead of about 8mm. In 58m, the E8 part lasted just one small foot movement for me, the rest felt secure and great fun. If you've top roped it first, the only way you're likely to fall off the crux is if you lose it mentally and have leg shake. I would not be surprised f it gets at least flashed, or perhaps on-sighted if well chalked. Someone of about 6'2'' and a decent reach would not have to do a 6b move at the crux and every single move on the route would actually feel quite secure – if they got it right. I used 5 sky hooks (3 of which were quite good, one fell off immediately. I didn't have gaffer tape so the hooks were much more vulnerable to falling off. The placements are actually quite good. The only slight tricky part on the route for me was extending the two sky hooks out left, just before the crux. We had a plane to catch so I was in a bit of a hurry and didn't really plan things properly, regarding how much to extend them – and we'd used most of our slings in the top rope belay. I had to faff around for a few minutes, using random friends (their tapes) and linking spare quickdraws, to try and avoid pulling the hook off. A sling might have been useful!! But you're never in a pumpy position on the route so, as long as you keep your head, you'll not get tired.

  "A great route to finish the trip on!"

• Flipping heck is all I can say about Sunday 11 May. Manic, climbers everywhere, so I'm not even going to attempt to list it all. The big news of the weekend was the 3rd ascent of The Complete Scream by Ben Heason and he was totally cruising on it. Nice one Ben. Ricky Bell and Andy Marshall got a massive tick too with the 2nd ascent of Infidel and Ricky says it was hard, like about 10 times harder than Rusty Halo, and everyone says that's nuts. Elsewhere it was uncanny, all the big lines with climbers on them, Calvin Torrans and Clare Sheridan on Cuchullainn, English dudes on The Mask, Geoff Somerville and Danny O'Neil on Face Value plus Danny O'Neil doing Equinox in a oner, with only 10 bits of gear!!! Nutcase!!! Dayle Smyth on Mongrol Fox and Marconi, Jeremy Colandairaj on Fireball, Rachel Cooper leading Midnight Crusier, Dave Millar and Ian Chestnut on Jolly Roger and Blade Runner, plus there were a load more climbers and routes done, so that's only the few I heard off. Flipping awesome weekend all round...
• LOST:
  DMM Boa screwgate krab, at the Prow on 5 May, and a
  120cm Sling and screwgate krab on the same day.
  If ya found em, could you drop me an email to get em back to their owners. It's all good karma, to get folks their stuff back again :¬)
• Met the English dudes who were over last week, one of which did Wager Moon, which was the 3rd ascent! Megatastic! Most folks never look near it because it looks like such a big fat crack, but he was telling me it's mostly fist jams, only the odd time needing to get an arm or leg in. Flipping cool, who's up next!
• Paul McGarrity recently put in a bit of cleaning time on Cinnabar recently and it's had a couple of ascents since, with Paul climbing it with Ian Chestnut. I hear it's well worth doing.
• Scott Corkin, climbing with Eddie Cooper on 9 May, raced up to the crag yet again for a quick evening session on Hell's Kitchen before white out fog enveloped the crag. Scott led the first pitch, good going for his first HVS at the crag. Geoff Somerville and Angus Miller had a blast on Crib Pad Crack Direct and Marconi. All good stuff :¬)
• Michael Murden and co visited the crag over the weekend and reports: " Just to let you know what the lot from Durham got up to over the weekend! Six of us from Durham Mountain Sports Club came over on the late night ferry on the Thursday, for the weekend. First trip here and couldn't wait to see the place for real, after perusing the website. Friday morning was looking damp and not being sure of how the crag dries up we headed over to The Small Crag for a nose about in the sunshine. We had fun and gardening duty on Backwoods Jellyroll and Droughting About, before calling it a day and heading over to The Prow for mid afternoon. Bumped into 4 climbers from Sheffield over for the weekend there, who were blasting through routes right through the weekend (they were round on the Main Wall on Sunday afternoon with the other 4 from their party). We had a great time on The Black Thief, The Fence and Foxy, whilst Eddie Cooper and Scott Morgan ab'd in next to us and started to blast through stuff! Saturday was a wet start, so we headed off to do the tourist stuff before it cleared up. Windy day though, so not knowing how sheltered the top outs would be round at the big stuff (we now know!) headed over to The Small Crag again for a couple of easy routes, Rubberwrist and Spinola, late in the day, but good fun getting in and what a view as the wind whistled up your legs! Sunday saw a return to The Prow late in the afternoon after the sun came out again and fun on The Black Thief, Contortions and Balooba (the guys thought the bottom pitch of this was still a bit mucky and loose, but that's because we're used to routes in Northumberland and they're polished!) Monday was the day to head back, rather reluctantly given the sunshine. All in all a brilliant weekend at a fantastic crag and we will be back!"
• Oh my, oh my, Fair Head was packed during the bank holiday weekend of the 5 May. There were about 15 teams at the Ballycastle side alone! The weather was fantastic, from Sunday afternoon on. Michelle O'Loughlin, psyched as ever and climbing with Geoff Somerville arrived late Sunday afternoon for a session on the three star E2's doing Conchubair and Mizen Star and then on the Monday Hurricane and The Brasser, before heading over to meet the mob to finish off on Fáth Mo Bhuartha. Jonny Curran and Stephen Hopper arrived in the late afternoon for Hell's Kitchen with Jonny ending up leading the top pitch in the dark! A whole possy of Queens University climbers were up too and Jonny Parr reports: "I had a blast of a weekend first on Fireball with Jenny Firth, Mongrel Fox with Mcloy (That route is tight!) and Blind Pew with John Orr, will get back to ya soon with what everyone else did!" John Orr reports: " Was great to see such a crowd up at the head on Monday! Myself and Jason Slevin did Railroad and Fireball...what a great route! Then went over and did Blind Pew with Jonny Parr and finished off the day on The Fence with Kelly Doherty." Dayle Smyth sent in a few lines too: "Jeremy Colandairaj with Dirk seconding done The Fence, I seconded Danny O'Neill on Railroad then led The Embankment with Danny seconding.  Nipped down to the airport to drop Dirk off then back up to do Aoife with McCloy - Amazing first pitch.  Final route was Hell's Kitchen in a one pitch and I was seconded by Carrie, just about squeezed it on 50m ropes.  Danny and Jason did Hell's Kitchen too with Danny leading both pitches." Another whole mob of Belfast Activity Centre climbers were about as well but dunno what they did. Angus Millar, Lylle Montgomery and Scott Corkin left Belfast at 6pm for what had to be the fasted race up and session ever. Scott confidently got his first lead in on The Black Thief and Lyle discovered the joys of Fáth Mo Bhuartha and The Black Thief before Angus had another tussle with GBH. The Queens mob had the portable barbeque out and the sausages were still sizzling away at 10pm in the dark as we left! It was some day, everyone was cranking, route after route, great to see!
• If you've climbed at Fair Head then you're a fairheadclimber and your picture should be on here. If not, send me one in and I'll stick it on. The only rule is it must have been taken at Fair Head and have grins all round. It's a good way for people to get to know people, that's what it's all about.
• Well I never. The crag was positively bunged on Sunday 27 April for the beaming sunshine and no wind. It was roasting a the base of the crag! Alan Blair, Ken Lindsay, Colin Coligan and Davy Andrews, swopped leads for Girona and Cheiftan to make the most of the sun hitting that part of the crag. George Carleton and Geoff Somerville, brushed the cobwebs of the rack for a blast on The Fence, Fireball, Aoife, Stone Mad, Railroad, GBH and Simple Minds which defo wakened the arms up again. Paul and Lorraine Keely on a straight 3.5 hours drive up from Wicklow hit Farrangandoo for Pangur Ban and Crib Pad Crack and then over for The Black Thief and Fáth Mo Bhuartha. Over on Rathlin Wall, Ian Chestnut and Paul McGarrity did Cinnabar, with Paul having cleaned it the previous weekend. Finally Danny O'Neil, John Orr and Sam Gordon headed over to the Grey Mans Path, which turned out to be a bit damp, so plumbed for Burn Up, before heading over for Sandpiper. All in quite a day at the crag!
• Ryan McHenry reports: "Just a quick note saying that me and Anja Jones managed to squeeze out some climbing from the slightly cloudy weather on the 2nd and 3rd of April. On Wednesday the 2nd, I got some air time onto a No.1 wire after pulling a hold off Marconi. I think I've cleaned everything off but if anyone's going up they should take a wee bit of care at about mid-height. Anja then went on to lead The Fence, cutting loose and pulling over on the final overhang just as the drizzle came in. On Thursday and back to the Prow for me to fall off GBH just after the crux (again). And then to Girona with a mini-epic of a dropped guidebook but a spectacular lead, you can't help but love the top pitch. Also, we found a sling on Girona, name the make and colour and it's yours. And I managed to throw a snap-link off the top of the prow so if anyone picks it up I'd quite like to get it back if they're feeling helpful. Email me ryan.mchenry[at]hotmail.com for either."
• The sun's out and there's been a splattering of activity up at the crag to kick the season off again. On Monday 17th March Jonny Parr, Dayle Smyth, Dan O'Neill, Jen Firth, Tatjana and John Orr headed up for what turned out to be a perfect day at the crag. Between them they did Fáth Mo Bhuartha, Midnight Cruiser, Thunderhips, The Black Thief, Marconi and Hells Kitchen. John managed to take quite a bit of air time on GBH before eventually running out of steam on it while Michelle O'Loughlin did her first lead at the Head on The Black Thief. There were a few others up that day doing bits and pieces.
• Jonny went back up on Tuesday 19 March to give Kelly Doherty her first experience of Fair Head on Girona and Midnight Cruiser and Sam Gordon headed up to enjoy the scenery and have a play about on his shunt...
• Some great news is that there is a new hostel opened in Ballycastle, which replaces the Castle Hostel, which closed last year. It's expensive for a hostel and they only allow bookings of 2 nights or more. Details on their website here. The Backpackers hostel overlooks the harbour, so is ideally situated and they boast this view from their front door. Nice!
  
  

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