Fair Head Meet 2015

Wind, heavy showers and grey skies.  Summed up the Saturday of the meet!  Didn't put off 200+ people though.
Pic. Matt Pycroft - www.coldhousecollective.com

Over the weekend of the 5-7 June 2015 the 6th annual Fair Head meet took place and true to form it was even better attended this year.  Once again, climbers from all over Ireland and further afield came together to experience some of Ireland's best climbing whilst begging the weather gods to be kind! The now commonly known "Fair Head Meet" typically runs from Friday to Sunday on the first weekend in June and the agenda is always pretty straight forward - just to climb as much as possible!

Wall of Prey direct start. John sporting it up!

This year we were lucky enough to have speakers on both Friday and Saturday nights, kicking off with Will Sim on Friday night who made us all jealous with stories of his adventures around the world.  We were all pretty inspired by his approach to climbing and the aesthetic lines that motivate him - so it was nice for him to experience some of the best traditional and aesthetically pleasing lines you can find in the world at our very own Fair Head.

Hell's Kitchen Arete.

Will was followed on Saturday night by Hazel Findlay, who was unable to climb due to a shoulder injury but was blown away by the crag and is already talking about returning next year!  Hazel impressed us all with her presentation on how to be "brave and courageous" which you would have to be to have experienced some of the things she has!  Everyone had a smile on their face when she told us about the present she received from her Dad on her 11th birthday - a new route at Pembroke!  Nice one Steve!








Myself and John McCune were pretty stoked to be involved with some filming by Rab for the weekend, Matt and Dan from Coldhouse Collective should have some pretty awesome footage from the 6 days they were over.  None of us had much of an agenda - we just went climbing and luckily we managed to do a new 3 pitch E6, repeat some classics, get a bit scared bouldering between showers and generally have some good clean fun.  A big thanks to Rab for the support they are showing us, the Coldhouse Collective crew for coming...and the aforementioned weather gods for not being to brutal!

Tom Grant on Dark Forces. This was Toms first trip to the head and I am pretty sure he will be back next year!

After the original event in 2009 which saw about 50 attendees, it is great to see how much the Fair Head meet has grown, with over 200 people in attendance this year.  It has become something that is on most Irish climbers' agendas and I only see it getting bigger and better. It couldn't happen without the support of a lot of people, one of the main ones being Sean the Farmer. Big thanks also to Mountaineering Ireland who fund the meet and all the climbers who support the event - look forward to seeing you next year!

A typical end to an evening.......