Dalkey quarry, dublin - camping/rack

Ericwalshe

Hey guys I was just wondering would anyone mind if 3 lads camped in the quarry for 1 night during the summer and they wouldn't leave any rubbish or vandilise anything, also is there a fine for camping there, also if so how much is the fine?

Also can someone give me a list of gear I need for my rack to climb in the quarry, I'm in America now so i can get it cheap so repond ASAP please thank you

Sev

Hi Eric,

I've no idea about camping in Dalkey, dunno what the rules are on it. You would probably get away with it if you were discreet about it.

With regards the rack for Dalkey.

Luckily, there's already a current thread on this exact topic here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055091393

Well, the same rack you'd use anywhere really will do. There are plenty of cracks and features in Dalkey granite, so you can climb a lot of routes safely without the need for expensive cams (friends).

I could give you a detailed and comprehensive list of everything you'd want if you had cash to burn. But that's not very practical advice. So instead I'm going to build the list in order of importance. Everything builds on the previous gear. (Although you only need the rigging rope for toproping).

In other words, cams are great. And it would be fantastic to go out and buy a full rack with a full set of cams to start with, but it's a big chunk of change. It's better to buy a basic rack first with wired nuts etc, and buy more cams and build the rack as you progress.

Basic necessities:

Harness ~ 60e
Shoes ~ 80e
Belay Device, e.g. ATC ~ 15e
Chalk ~ 6e
Chalk bag ~ 12e
*Helmet ~ 50e

With this kit you can go climbing in Dalkey if you go with somebody who already has gear. The helmet question is very much a matter of opinion and personal safety. A helmet is essential for mountaineering, and climbing in the bigger mountains where loose rock is common. However, in Dalkey, every route has been climbed so much that rockfall is very rare. If I'm climbing in my comfort zone, then I don't wear a helmet. But if I were leading a poorly protected route that I was genuinely in fear of taking a big nasty fall on, then the helmet would come on.

Basic gear for toproping:

Rope ~ I'd recommend a 60m single rope ~ 100e? (varies)
Slings (dyneema or nylon):
1 x 240cm (a nice big sling for slinging big boulders) ~ 10e?
2 x 120cm (two smaller slings for slinging gorse bushes/trees) 15e?
2 x 60cm (useful for protection and extension) 12e?
Screwgate carabiners:
1 x Big screwgate ~ 13e
3 x small screwgates ~ 3 x 10e

1 x 30m rigging rope ~ 60e

[For many top-rope applications in Dalkey you only need to sling trees or gorse bushes. But the anchors will be back from the cliff edge and you'll need a separate rope to set up your equalised anchor system. This can be a static rope (cheaper and more appropriate for the job), but I'd recommend buying a 30m dynamic climbing rope, so you can use it when climbing indoor at the climbing wall too.]

Basic Lead-Climbing gear:

1 x Set of nuts (wires) [1-10] ~ 70e + carabiner to rack em 10e
6 x Quickdraws (length 18cm is best for trad) ~ 6 x 14e
4 x wiregate carabiners (combine these with your two 60cm dyneema slings to make two extendable quickdraws) ~ 4 x 10e

With just this humble rack, you can do quite a few short routes in dalkey that can be protected with just a small set of wires. E.g. ivy chimney, streetfighter, the eliminates. I did my first lead with this kind of rack. But it would better to have a few cams. This is because a cam is one of the only types of gear that can protect a parallel or flaring crack. So, to allow you to do some more routes, I'd recommend these in order of importance:

Expanded lead climbing rack:

3 x Cams (Wild country sizes 1,2,3) 3 x 45e? (and a carabiner to go with each +3x10e)
3 x Large hexes (e.g Rockcentrics size 5,7,9) ~ 3 x 13e (perhaps one carabiner to rack them all? +1x10e)
1 x Dalkey Tricam (The size 3.0 (navy) camp tricam is a very dalkey specific piece of gear that is very effective at protecting routes that have boreholes) ~ 15e

Three is a nice number of cams to have on your first rack in Wild Country/DMM size 1,2,3. See http://info.rockrun.com/attachments/download/29/cam-size-comparison-chart-v3.pdf for cam sizes.

Hexes are a matter of taste and opinion. They basically serve the same purpose as nuts. They're "chocks", you jam them in a crack. They range in a variety of sizes, but are generally larger than nuts. If you buy hexes, I would recommend buying large ones, because they get to sizes that are much larger than a typical set of wired nuts and allow you to protect large cracks. However, hexes are cluncky and unwieldy and nowadays I have a large cam rack, so where I may have used hexes in the past to protect big cracks, now I just use cams. Also cams have the advantage of being able to protect parallel cracks. You can only manage this under ideal circumstances with a hex. Hexes, are however, lighter and much less expensive than a similar sized cam.

With regards cams... some people rack a few cams together on a single carabiner. When climbing, they place their cam and clip in a quickdraw. I prefer the cams with extendable slings, like DMM 4CUs or dragon cams. I then rack each cam on it's own carabiner. This means my cams are always ready to deploy and because they're on an extendable sling, I don't need a quickdraw to go with it. It means I can carry fewer quickdraws.

Further extensions to the rack:
1 x Another set of wires [1-10], a different shape and brand to previous ~ 70e + carabiner to rack em 10e
2 or 3 more quickdraws

Another set of wires and more quickdraws will allow you to take on longer pitches and multipitch climbs in Wicklow etc. Two sets of wires can also be handy on short single pitch climbs, so that you have more than one of each particular size of nut.

If you have all the gear above. I would then focus on buying more cams, first fill in the gaps between your 1,2,3. i.e. get 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5, then get size 0. Then get size 4, then some microcams for taking on harder to protect routes in the E grades.

1 x Set of microwires (1-6) e.g. black diamond microstoppers ~ 50e

Is also useful to have on your rack. Not sure when exactly you'd want to buy them. I find them useful in dalkey for a wide variety of grades

Sev

Also see:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72401661

Ericwalshe

Thank man really helped a lot !!

Ericwalshe

I have a budget of about $350 (dollars) I already have shoes,harness,rope,helemet,chalk,belay, so on the budget what should I get to be able to trad climb and if possible top rope too

ClimberC

When i was first starting to climb i was obsessed with cams. I was convinced i would need loads of cams and a few nuts. I guess this cam from watching the dosage series, mainly the climbs in america where you tend to get more streight sided cracks.

Basically to climb in dalkey (in my experience), you will need nuts, quickdraws, slings and krabs.

If i where you i would invest in a size 1-10 set of nuts and then a size 1-6 of a different shape/ brand. About 10 quickdraws should be enough.

This is what i use to climb in dalkey:
Wild country rock on wire nuts size 1-10
DMM (cant remember the name of them but wall nuts comes to mind??) size 1-6 x 2 sets.
10 quickdraws of various lenghts.
3 long slings
5m of "static" rope
size 1,2,3 DMM 4cu cams.

Sev

Ericwalshe wrote: »

I have a budget of about $350 (dollars) I already have shoes,harness,rope,helemet,chalk,belay, so on the budget what should I get to be able to trad climb and if possible top rope too

I constructed my post in such a way that you'd be able to deduce this yourself. Start at the top and work downwards! If stuff is cheap in the states, then $350 should get you quite a bit of kit. You could maybe get a full lead rack with that? complete with a full compliment of mid sized cams.

Although, as I said, if you want to top rope in Dalkey, you will probably need a second rope for rigging.

Mark#1

Sev - that's a fantastic post. I know this is an old thread, but my kids and I have just recently started climbing - been to a wall centre a few times, and now have our own harnesses & shoes, and a couple of screwgates and belay devices (me & my eldest belay the younger two, and I belay him).

The kids deffo want to stick with it and eventually move out onto rock (likely Dalkey), so your post is really helpful - not only for listing the most appropriate gear, but also for listing them in the order most likely needed on the path of progression along our climbing endeavours.

If it's not already, that post should be made a sticky, or grafted into one.


Mark

Carawaystick

I'd say to pitch tents late, to avoid attention.
Climbers wouldn't care, but the dodgy element about would pay notice.
The carpark on Killiney hill has cars regularily broken into and stuff stollen, so there's thieves about in the day.

you will be overlooked everywhere in the quarry, so will be seen.



Re. Climbing, a tricam or 2 provide bombproof protection once correctly placed in boreholes

Sev asterisked the Helmet in his list of stuff, but didn't elaborate.

Climbing helmets are designed to protect against small falling stones; not falling or bumping your head. They will protect against bumping your head against overhanging rock though.

There is often falling gravel from your belayer or just loose rock, and many climbs have sharp overhangs so, it is worth having a hard-shell climbing helmet

I don't wear a helmet climbing indoors, bouldering or cycling. I do climbing outdoors. You need to make your own mind up.