Some Lead Climbing Course Photos

Some photos from our six-day Beginner To Lead Climber Course (RC3). Mix of climbing in two of Ireland's best single pitch climbing locations; Gap of Dunloe and Dingle Sea Cliffs!

Learn To Lead Rock Climb Outdoors - Course Coming Up In May

Our next six-day Beginner To Lead Climber Course is coming up in May (six days divided over two separate weekends). Two places left to book if anyone is interested.

You can come on this course as a complete beginner, or with previous experience - both are fine.

You will leave the course as a safe, competent and self sufficient climber; able to place anchors, set up and deal with bottom roping, top roping, abseiling and lead climbing.

Date: Fri 18th - Sun 20th May Plus Fri 25th - Sun 27th May
Price: €480 Per Person
More Details Click Here

Guided Kayaking Trips Available Over Coming Days - Glengarriff Bay & Killarney Lakes

I have some spots left available to book on upcoming guided kayaking tours next few days; and conditions are looking pretty super! Plus brand new super-duper buoyancy aids arrived yesterday!

Glengarriff Bay Dawn/Sunrise Kayaking
Sat 21st : 630am : €60pp

Glengarriff Bay Sea Kayaking
Sat 21st : 10am : €60pp

Glengarriff Bay Sea Kayaking
Sun 22nd : 10am : €60pp

Killarney Lakes Kayaking
Tues 24th : 1pm : €60pp

Glengarriff Bay Sea Kayaking
Fri 27th : 2pm : €60pp

Glengarriff Bay Sea Kayaking
Sat 28th : 2pm : €60pp

Glengarriff Bay Sea Kayaking
Sun 29th : 10am : €60pp

To book please touch base: info@outdoorsireland.com or 086 860 45 63. Thanks, Nathan
 

Recent Work Photos

Some recent photos from driving to a rock climbing course in the Gap of Dunloe, guided kayaking tours on the Lakes of Killarney, and guided sea kayaking on Glengarriff Bay.

Mountain Skills 1 Photos From Last Kerry & Wicklow Courses

Mountain Skills 1 Photos From Last Kerry & Wicklow Courses; including two mallard ducks (male and female) hanging out on a high, cold, misty mountain lake.

Simple Butchering & Cooking Of Venison

Young stag, most likely killed by a car. 2/3 days dead. Body in good
condition, outside and inside. Cold air temp keeping meat well preserved.

Took two hind legs, with the utmost respect for the animal. Then took the
body off the road to lie discreetly in the heather, ready to feed fox and bird.

Skinned.

Hung for five days in cool place.

With a little care while skinning (sharp blade and small'ish knife) the skin
will come off neatly.

Hot and settled fire, with red hot ember base. This is two hours after lighting.

Freshly cut green withies, in this case sally willow. One of the few times it is
alright to cut a living bough. Green sappy wood will not burn easy, which
is what you want for your spits.

Using one spit or two spits will depend on your meat size and shape. In this
case two spits were needed to spread the meat out evenly to ensure even
heat and cooking.

You will see two spits here and two forks. Spits are de-barked and sharpened
to slide easily through meat. Make sure your timber is not toxic, for example
not yew wood.

Take your time to really securely set up forks and spits, possibly using
heavy rocks. After all your work butchering, skinning and fire lighting
you do not want a flimsy cooking arrangement dumping your meat into
the mud or the fire.

Five hours cooking, cooked hot and well all the way through. Test and taste
the meat as you go. What you want to avoid is burnt on outside and
under cooked on inside. Hold your hand to heat at a point where after 5
seconds the heat is too much for you. This distance from fire is ideal for
cooking.

Flip the meat over on the spits from time to time, so the top side of joint gets
equal cooking to bottom side. Play around with your spits, forks and
rocks for this. The righthand spit here shows another method for getting
your spit height just right.

Ready to go. Good to mention taking meat from a dead animal, and even
more so when taking an animal's life, should be done with the utmost respect
to the animal. Even catching and killing a fish should be done with a little
sadness and a lot of respect - it is giving up it's life to feed you.

Using strong green sap-filled withies prevents them burning. You can see here
just a little scorching after five hours of use.

Learn To Rock Climb Course (RC1) This Weekend, In Gap Of Dunloe

Learn To Rock Climb Course (RC1) coming up this weekend in the Gap Of Dunloe, Killarney.

Places available to book. For more details please contact Nathan 086 860 45 63 or info@outdoorsireland.com.

This weekend is completely beginner friendly, all gear provided, €160 per person and the weather looks decent! You will be bottom roping, top roping, abseiling (all outdoors); plus covering knots, belaying, rope coiling, climbing techniques and placing sling anchors.

Here Are The Climbing Techniques You Will Begin To Work On

Mountain Skills 1 In Glendalough, Wicklow Mountains, This Easter Weekend

One, possibly two, places left available on our Wicklow Mountain Skills 1 this Sat 31st Mar & Sun 1st Apr. More details here: http://www.outdoorsireland.com/mountainskills.php. This two day, beginner friendly, course is recognised/certified by Mountaineering Ireland. To book please contact Nathan on 086 860 45 63.

Mountain Skills 2 In Killarney This Weekend

Places Available For Mountain Skills 2 This Coming Weekend (Sat 24th & Sun 25th Mar) In Killarney/Kerry.

Click Here For More Details
Click Here For Course Syllabus

Over the two days you will cover navigation/map reading techniques, compass skills, night navigation, steep ground skills, route planning and emergency procedures.

To Book A Place Please Contact Nathan:
info@outdoorsireland.com
086 860 45 63

Naishmith's Rule - Five Different Mountain Travel Speeds

Naishmith's Rule: You are generally told that the average hill walker does a speed of 5km per hour on the average hillside. For flat or downhill just stick to that rule. For uphill add one extra minute for each uphill contour climbed.

However no one says you need to stick to that 5km per hour. For different mountain conditions, different weather conditions, different navigation tools (such as following a compass bearing), your walking speed will increase or decrease. Generally it will decrease!

The key is to know what different walking speeds feel like and to know what speed you get in various situations; for example coming downhill on a forest track you may get 6km per hour; night navigation over boulder fields, following a compass bearing, you may get 2km per hour.

Here are some examples.


2KM Per Hour
Example: Slow tricky ground, such as boulder fields, at night and following a compass bearing
2km = 60 mins
1km = 30 mins
500m = 15 mins
100m = 3 mins


3KM Per Hour
Example: Careful navigation, either by day or by night. You may often hit this speed when navigating in misty conditions by day
3km = 60 mins
1km = 20 mins
500m = 10 mins
100m = 2 mins


4KM Per Hour
Example: This can often be a more realistic mountain speed, allowing navigation to happen, and allowing for a pace that lessens sweating and dehydration
4km = 60 mins
1km = 15 mins
500m = 7.5 mins
100m = 1.5 mins


5KM Per Hour
Example: This is the 'official' Naishmith's Rule taught on Mountain Skills Courses. 4km per hour can often be more realistic for proper mountain terrain and mountain navigation
5km = 60 mins
1km = 12 mins
500m = 6 mins
100m = 1.2 mins


6KM Per Hour
Example: This is a decent 'fit and fast' speed, achieved on flat or downhill moor-type friendly ground, or coming down tracks
6km = 60 mins
1km = 10 mins
500m = 5 mins
100m = 1 min


These are just my own ideas and suggestions from being in the mountains. The main thing to take from this is - you do not need to stick to 5km per hour - come up with your own speeds for different situations - and get to know them.

A trick when starting your hill walking career is to have these written in permanent pen on the back of your map.