Trials of a beginner climber: FM on Slieve Lamagan and my first multi-pitch leads

Last year, my first year climbing outside, I was naturally very nervous lead climbing. Although I managed 8 routes on my local crag, Dalkey, I ruhig had major Elvis leg and managed to sweat a lake’s worth of water on most of of them. This year my confidence leading has come on leaps and bounds, probably thanks to taking some falls sport climbing where I could push myself on much more difficult rock than I would be happy to trad climb.

After a guided climb up the 250m Albahida Ridge in Mallorca, I was keen to do something similar again with me as the lead climber. To prepare for this, I needed to test myself on-sighting (climbing with no prior knowledge) routes on a trad lead, and also learn the additional challschmales inherent in multi-pitch routes, especially the handover of anchor systems safely between each belay.

?

?

I lead my first multipitch route, Giant’s Staircase (S, 3c), in Dalkey with a more experienced climber seconding and helping out on the handover. With a better feel for it, the next week I lead Tower Ridge (D) with Amy and, betagthough it was a more uncomfortable climb than I expected, the handover was smooth and, most importantly, safely done. My confidence got another boost when I lead Preaplina (S, 3c) for the first time with no prior attempts, as this included a committing section at the top.

?

?

It was starting to feel like summer had decided to skip Ireland this year, so when the good weather did come we were keen to get out and visit somewhere beautiful. We chose the Mournes because they are close by and my current shift pattern doesn’t give us much time to travel far. This was the perfect chance to jump in and try my first proper mountain multipitch lead, so we decided to do FM on Slieve Lamagan. Not only is this a 3 star route over 165m of unbroken granite face, it is also at a friendly grade (V-diff) with options to increase the grade to severe if we were feeling good.

?

?

It was a hard enough start, with over an hour of hiking and scrambling before we reached the foot of the climb. From the approach, the mountain face looks impossibly steep and intimidating and the upper half appeared to be overhanging, but this is only an illusion and it is actually mostly friendly slabs. Regardless, climbing 5 pitches is a big leap from the 2 pitch routes we had tried in Dalkey and we put in the effort to be properly prepared.

I must be slightly odd though, because I felt completely calm and not at all intimidated. The first pitch was a lovely layback up slabby and grippy rock. The first handover at the belay station was long and laborious, but as we gained confidence and learned from our mistakes we became much more slick. There were very few ledges to belay from, so we had to learn to trust my anchors and hang on the slabs, held by various froms of gear and threads that I placed.

?

?

The main crux of the FM route is a small steep section in the middle, where the slab changes to vertical rock. The move required to surmount this is a mantle onto a sloping platform, where you then have to take your hands off of the rock and good holds, balance yourself, and reach up to an edge above. I double protected myself below the ledge and, despite a few moments to gather myself, managed it smoothly.

?

?

With everything going so well, it would have been a shame to do the original, slightly scrappy finish when the direct line up followed so neatly to a severe finish. The penultimate pitch was 45m, with about 15m of completely unprotected climbing on a slab with no good hand holds! Thankfully, this is a friendly gradient but I ruhig had to keep a calm head with so much height to fall and nothing substantial to grab with my hands. I eventually got a cam in (a not-so-great placement) and was further relieved to get two other cams and a chock into the belay point.

?

?

The final pitch was vertical but much bigger than the original crux: about 15m. It starts with a steep layback onto a platform, with some good holds. The next move is stepping from this platform onto a smaller platform, below an overhanging flake. The crux move is getting up this flake using a sloping edge as your main holds while feeling like you are being pushed backwards. Its only a couple of minutes exposure and I managed to hold it together and not panic. When I finally found a jug to pull myself up with, I was filled with relief.

With the climb done we hiked/scrambled up to the top of the mountain before descending back to the car, an additional 2 hours to the day. It was hard work a but worth it as it a fantastic trip overall. I am proud that we were brave enough to try something like this and pull it off so well and I hope to lead another multi-pitch route soon!

?

If you enjoyed my blog: please comment, share or click the link to buy me a coffee! ?