Ailladie
Ailladie | |
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Aill an Daill Ballyreen Cliffs | |
Single pitch | |
Ratings |
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Rock type | Limestone |
Quantity of rock |
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Development |
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Cliff aspect | West |
Elevation | At sea level |
Camping | |
Classic climbs | |
Website | Climbing.ie Ailladie |
Ailladie (
Naming
The name Ailladie is an
Geography
Ailladie is an 800-metre (2,600 ft) long west-facing
Access
The cliffs of Ailladie are hidden from direct view, and are situated just a short walk from the R477 road, 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi), at a point before the road turns inland and south-east to Lisdoonvarna. The Ailladie car-park (grid M0901102910), is marked on online maps, and it lies directly opposite the Stone Wall section of the cliffs (see Ailladie map below). Beside the car park, to the southeast, is the smaller rock climbing crag known as Ballyryan (climbers on the Ballyryan crag can be seen by the passing R477 traffic).
Access to the base of the cliff is only possible without abseiling at the northernmost end, where a 3-metre (9.8 ft) roped fisherman's descent gives access to a large limestone platform at the cliff-base of Ailladie.[1][2]
Rock climbing
Reputation
Ailladie is a
Ailladie has remained at the "cutting edge" of Irish outdoor traditional rock climbing, along with the
In 2019, On Reflection (E6 6a), on the Mirror Wall section, was listed in UK Climbing's "The Five Best E6 Routes in the UK and Ireland".[15]
Layout
Ailladie's northern half includes the sections known to climbers as the Dancing Ledges and the Aran Wall,[16] and sits above a large rock platform that is accessible, via the 3-metre roped fisherman's descent (see Access), regardless of tides. Experienced climbers use a climber's descent at O'Conner's Corner (10-metre, Diff).[17] The Dancing Ledges are the lowest cliffs of Ailladie with routes of 10–15 metres and many below the E-grade, which makes them the most popular section for intermediate climbers; whereas the Aran Wall routes are up to 30-metres in height and mostly E-grade.[1][2]
The first part of Ailladie's southern-half is Mirror Wall (mostly
The rock is limestone, of a clean blue/grey quality and mostly hanging in a sheer vertical form, with both vertical and horizontal cracks described as reminiscent of
History
The climbing potential of Ailladie was discovered in August 1972, when it was visited by a group of Dublin climbers who would return several times culminating in the November 1972 ascent of one of Ireland's most classic rock climbs, the 30-metre corner of Pis Fluich (HVS 5a) by Jim McKenzie.[21] Word of Ailladie's quality spread, and development also began alongside the smaller nearby crags in The Burren area, which became the only on-shore limestone rock climbing locations in Ireland; the others being mainly granite, sandstone and dolerite.[22] Early pioneers of the crag in the late 1970s included Dermot Somers and Calvin Torrans (The Ramp E1 5b, 5a), but it was with the arrival of Tom Ryan and Keefe Murphy, that many of the crag's most important classics began to appear by the early 1980s, including Skywalker (E3 5c), Kleptomaniac (E3 6a), Through the Looking Glass (E3 6a), and Wall of Fossils (E4 6a).[9][21] Throughout the 1980s, classic lines were put up by Eddie Cooper including Quicksilver (E5 6a), Damn the Torpedoes (E5 6a), and White Witch (E5 6b), and a visiting British climbing team of Gary Gibson, John Codling and Martin Manson, who added Ice Queen (E5 6a), Refraction (E5 6a), The Cutter (E4 6a), On Reflection (E6 6a), and Prism Sentance (E5 6a, 6b) in a June 1985 visit.[1][2][23]
The 1990s saw new harder 3-starred routes such as Welsh climber George Smith's Very Big Springs (E6 6b, 1993), and Seeing Things (E6 6b, with Alan Wainwright, 1993), and
Facilities
Visiting climbers either camp in the fields above the crag (however, there is no source of freshwater), or stay at one of the many hostels in the surrounding villages (particularly Doolin for nightlife and additional bouldering,[24] or Fanore for serviced camping grounds).[1] There are several nearby inland 10–20 metres (33–66 ft) high limestone crags with a good range of graded rock climbs, especially in the grades below VS, that are within walking distance (e.g. Ballyryan) or a short driving distance (e.g. Murroughkilly, Aill na Cronain and Oughtdarra), from Ailladie; however, these do not have anything like the quality or popularity of Ailladie.[25]
Other sports
Cave diving
Starting at circa 9.5 m (31 ft) below sea level, Cliff Cave (also known as Mirror Wall Cave or Pollaillte), extends inland from the crag. It was discovered in 2012, and containing over 2.7 km (1.7 mi) of passages, is the longest-known marine cave in Ireland. Exploration of the cave can only be undertaken after a prolonged period of calm and stable conditions to avoid becoming trapped.[26][27]
Shore angling
The limestone ledges at the base of Ailladie's cliffs (at the far north and far south ends), are regarded for their shore-angling and are described as providing "superb bottom fishing".
Because of the proximity of these low limestone ledges to deep Atlantic waters, the ledges have seen several fatalities over the years of anglers who were caught by sudden swells or large waves, and were carried out to sea.[5][30][31]
Accidents
As well as accidents from rock-climbing activities (there are no recorded rock climbing fatalities at Ailladie), and accidents and fatalities from shore-angling activities,[5][30][31] Ailladie has also seen a number of accidents and fatalities from tourist activities as a result of falls at the cliffs.[32]
Filmography
- Ricky Bell in Ailladie and Fair Head (Antrim): Egner, Jamie (director) (2007). Underdeveloped (Motion picture). Posing Productions. Retrieved 3 June 2022.[33]
See also
- Aill na Cronain, inland rock climbing limestone crag in County Clare, right beside the Aillwee Cave
- Ballyryan, inland rock climbing limestone crag in County Clare, right beside Ailladie
- Fair Head, major rock climbing dolerite mountain crag in County Antrim
- Dalkey Quarry, major rock climbing granite quarry in Dublin
- List of long-distance trails in the Republic of Ireland
- List of mountains in Ireland
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-902940-12-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-902940-21-5. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b "Aill an Daill (Irish), Ailladie (English)". Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b "Ballyryan Townland, Co. Clare". Townland.ie. 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b c "Ballyreen Point". Doolin Coast Guard. 7 November 2009. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
A person had fallen into the sea from the rocks at Ballyreen Point while sea fishing, the sea was quite rough at the time with high waves and strong winds
- ^ "Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands, Wild Atlantic Way from Galway". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
Turning right at Ballyvaughan, your local, driver guide will take you south following the Wild Atlantic Way along the coast of Clare, via Black Head, Fanore Strand, and the baby cliffs of Ballyreen.
[permanent dead link] - ^ "Ballyran Townland, Co. Clare". Townland.ie. 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Crumlin Townland, Co. Clare". Townland.ie. 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Rob Greenwood (27 June 2017). "Ailladie, the Burren – Ireland". UKClimbing.com. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b Michael Reardon (9 July 2007). "IRISH VISIT: Ailladie (Burren, Co. Clare)". climbing.com. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
The following day brought me to one of my favorite climbing areas on the planet — the great sea cliffs of Ailladie.
- ^ "Ailladie (Burren, Co. Clare)". UKClimbing.com. 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ Dan McCarthy (July 2011). "Feel on top of the world". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
The mecca for rock climbing in Ireland is Ailladie, Co Clare. It sounds like a lost Himalayan kingdom but in fact it is a rural townland just outside Doolin in the Burren, Co Clare.
- Irish Times. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ O'Donovan, Barry (4 July 2014). "Remembering the extraordinary life of free climber Michael Reardon". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ Greenwood, Rob (24 July 2019). "The Five Best E6 Routes in the UK and Ireland". UK Climbing. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
- ^ Rob Greenwood (10 June 2017). "Outline of Ailladie's 5 Sectors: Dancing Ledges, Aran Wall, Mirror Wall, Stone Wall, An Falla Uaigneach and Boulder Wall". UKClimbing.com. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Ailladie: Climber's Descent and O'Connors Corner (Dancing Ledges Sector)". climbing.ie. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b "Ailladie DWS Routes". Irish Climbing Wiki. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ a b "Colm Shannon's Deserted DWS Heaven – Irish West Coast's Ailladie". UKClimbing.com. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b c "Ailladie". Irish Climbing Wiki. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84889-242-2.
- ^ "Rock climbing in Ireland". climb-europe.com. 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ISBN 978-1913071097.
- ^ Peter Owens (2008). "Doolin Bouldering" (PDF). Mountaineering Council of Ireland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
- ^ "West Clare Crags". UKClimbing.com. 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ISSN 0332-4907.
- ISSN 0332-4907.
- ^ a b "Fishing in Ireland: Galway Bay & North Clare". Angling Ireland. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
There is superb bottom fishing from the rocks at Ballyreen where ray, conger, dogfish, bull huss, and plaice are common. Garfish and wrasse can be caught while float fishing, pollack, and mackerel to spinners. Occasionally tope will take a bait here and porbeagle shark have also been landed. Ground close to the shore and rocks is very weedy and broken. However, a cast of 60 to 70 Metres will land bait on clean ground. As at Black Head, this area is a popular venue for anglers and the rocks have numbers painted on them for club competitions.
- ^ "Clare: Ballyreen". SEA-ANGLING-IRELAND.ORG. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
Ballyreen This is yet another rock platform mark that demands care and attention. It will require a drop net to land the bigger fish. Species & Techniques: Bottom fishing onto mixed ground will produce thornback ray, dogfish, bull huss and conger eels ... and reputedly it also produces Flatfish including a fair share of plaice. The conger eel fishing in the autumn 2004 has been reported as exceptional with lots of fish over the 13 kilo (30 lbs) specimen mark. There is a very foul bottom close to shore but it moves to sand from 40-50 metres out. This is one of only two marks in Clare (the other being Green Island) from which shark (porbeagle and blue) and tope have been successfully landed, but landing large fish off the cliffs is not a simple task.
- ^ Irish Times. 10 July 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
A 53-year-old woman has drowned after being swept out to sea by a wave in north Clare on Sunday morning. [...] The woman was part of a group that had been fishing at Ballyreen, south of Fanore.
- ^ a b "Anglers return to Ballyreen as search continues for missing Latvian man". Clare Hearald. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
The 42-year-old father-of-two from Latvia had been fishing for mackerel at an area known locally as the Fisherman's Climb at Ballyreen near Fanore.
- ^ "Search called off as body lost in Ballyreen is found in Salthill". Clare Champion. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
Drone technology had been deployed during the week in the search for the 22-year-old who was reported missing after he failed to return to his tour bus which had stopped at Ballyreen, on the Wild Atlantic Way, between Fanore and Lisdoonvarna, at the designated time of departure.
- ^ Brown, Nick (1 May 2020). "Underdeveloped - Climbing in Ireland". UKClimbing. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
Climbing bibliography
- Torrans, Calvin; Stelfox, Dawson (1984). Rock Climbing In Ireland. Constable. ISBN 978-0-09-465320-7.
- Torrans, Calvin (1986). Rock Climbing Guide to the Burren. Mountaineering Council of Ireland. ISBN 978-0-902940-07-9.
- Torrans, Calvin; Sheridan, Clare (1997). Climbing guide to the Burren. Mountaineering Council of Ireland. ISBN 978-0-902940-12-3.
- Owens, Peter (2008). Climbs in the Burren and Aran Islands. Mountaineering Ireland. ISBN 978-0-902940-21-5.
- Flanagan, David (2014). Rock Climbing in Ireland. Three Rock Books. ISBN 978-0-9567874-2-2.
External links
- IrishClimbingOnlineWiki.ie Ailladie Online Database
- UKClimbing.com Ailladie Online Database
- Forever Young (E7 6c) Ailladie An Falla Uaigneach Sector
- The Ramp (E1 5a 5b) Ailladie Mirror Wall Sector
- Siren (E3 5c) Ailladie Stone Wall Sector
- Eliminator (E5 6b) Ailladie Aran Wall Sector