Learn To Lead Rock Climb Course - Places Available

Two spaces left, if anyone is interested, in a Learn To Lead Climb Course, running over six days; 27th - 29th Jul plus 3rd - 5th Aug.

Beginner friendly, but intensive course, with all the gear provided.

At the end of this course you will be safe, competent and self-sufficient at bottom roping, top roping, abseiling and lead climbing. This includes the rope work needed for each type of climbing; the set ups needed, anchor placement and climbing techniques.

Block one runs in the Gap of Dunloe/Killarney. Block two runs on Dingle Sea Cliffs/Dingle. Price is €480 per person. For more details please contact Nathan: 086 860 45 63 / info@outdoorsireland.com

Sundew

We see a lot of this amazing little carnivorous plant, sundew, in the Irish hills and bogs; however rarely see it in flower for some reason. Here it is in flower - tiny white flowers at the top of each green stalk.

The reason the flowers are held high above the sticky meat-eating leaves is to allow pollinating insects like bees do their flower pollinating without being accidentally eaten by the plant!

Forest & Jungle & Bushcraft Navigation Skills - DDECKSSS Card

For Mountain Skills we teach Route Card; for Forest/Jungle Skills we teach DDECKSSS. This is a simple page to be carried plus memorized.

D / Direction = What Is North/South/East/West Of Your Terrain
D / Danger = What/Where Is Your Main Terrain Danger
E / Escape = Simple Escape Route – Handrail Ideal
C / Conditions = Prevailing Wind Direction/Weather Forecast
K / Known = Known Point In Your Terrain To Re-Focus/Re-Group
S / Size = Max Length/Max Width
S / Shape = Square/Circle/Triangle/Mess
S / Slope = Approx Slope Aspect

You may need to do our training course for this to make full sense! It ties into Forest Skills 1. Next date is Glengarriff on 21st & 22nd Nov.

Portwest Malin Jacket

Loving the new Portwest Malin Jacket. Using it as a kayaking jacket at moment.

Super impressed with it's toughness and breathability.

Nice to have a hood to pull up when the heavy summer showers come!

The velcro cuffs fasten in well, the zips are pretty sturdy, a useful chest pocket for compass/phone.

The Portwest breathable system, which they call Ventron, is superb and as good a breathable system as I have found anywhere over the years.

I have not spent much time in the mountains in the past weeks, but I am looking forward to putting it to the test in the Cork, Wicklow and Burren Mountains all in the next month!

Top Things To Do In Killarney!

With this stunning hot weather we have spaces available for our Killarney Lakes Kayak Trip and Killarney Lakes Sunset Kayaking for the coming days.

To book please text 086 860 45 63. Thanks, Nathan

Sea Kayaking In Glengarriff Bay, West Cork

Sea Kayaking In Glengarriff Bay, West Cork. Some beautiful photos sent in by a client this morning.

Sublime Kayaking On The Lakes Of Killarney

Kayaking Tour on the Lakes of Killarney yesterday, Saturday, in stunning sublime conditions! Saw so much wildlife, including dragon flies, damsel flies, jumping trout, red deer, a young stag and drying out cormorants... Had a superb day with a morning kayak trip, an afternoon kayak trip and a sunset kayak trip out across the Killarney Lakes and deep into Killarney National Park.

 

Looking After Your Rock Climbing Gear

On climbing courses we get asked about equipment care - it is pretty simple.

Firstly look after it while climbing. Don't stand on anything and don't drop anything, including the metal gear. Keep out of mud and definitely keep out of salt water.

Rinse harness, helmet and metal gear in fresh water and hang to air dry. Rinse climbing shoes in fresh water and perhaps add some disinfectant (only for shoes); then hang to air dry.

For ropes and slings (especially if you have been sea cliff climbing) soak overnight in at least two clean sets of fresh water; then hang to air dry.

Canoeing & Portwest

Two weeks ago I was back on the Kerry rivers, doing some work for an invasive survey of our waterways. The Brown Flesk was high and brown, with nice flow after several days rain.

Weather was wet and cool - a real Irish summer day! I was in the Portwest Erris Softshell Jacket plus the Portwest Salzburg Salopettes and delighted with both sets of gear. Warm, breathable and really nicely waterproof.

Especially impressed with the Salzburg Salopettes - I have been using them a bit recently for canoeing and kayaking work - they seem to be well beyond their advertised level of waterproofness which is awesome!

High point of this day was following a kingsfisher downstream and seeing it's waterside perch, covered in droppings.

Erris Softshell Jacket - Portwest

The Erris Softshell Jacket is one of the pieces of gear from Portwest I have been using over the past months and is rapidly becoming my favorite piece of kit; bar my flask of tea!

I have worn a few softshell jackets over the years and this is my favorite and best performing.

It fits nicely and has a tapered body, so does not get buffeted on a windy day in the hills. The arms have good length to them and the cuffs close really well with good grippy velcro. On climbing courses, especially on a cold or wet day, when reaching outward or upward sleeves can often ride up; same with the waist of a jacket. Great thing about the Erris is neither sleeve nor waist rides up.

Super breathable. Warm to wear, without being heavy. Good chest pocket for my compass or my session plan! The zip on the chest pocket is waterproof and I imagine the jacket would let in water before the zip would. Good draw cord at the bottom to keep the wind out and having had a couple of wet days in it I can testify to how efficiently it drys out. In fact on a recent rock climbing course and a wet wet day, I gave away my proper waterproof coat to a student who had forgotten their coat. I therefore ended up wearing the Erris in proper wet rainy conditions beyond what it is designed for and was super impressed with how waterproof it proved.

The final thing I really like about this softshell is that the hood pulls snugly over a climbing helmet, which is a great little design feature.