What does Sligo Climbing Club do?

About the Club

Our Aims

The club's purpose is to provide opportunities for people in the Sligo area to enjoy climbing and develop their climbing skills. One of our main aims is to build an indoor climbing wall in Sligo.

What we Do

We do bouldering, top roping, trad climbing and sport climbing. Outdoor at crags and sea cliffs in Collooney, Glencar, Mullaghmore, Donegal and further afield. Indoor at Gortatole in Belcoo, Foyle Arena in Derry and Awesome Walls in Dublin.

Try it Out

We hold outdoor occasional public events where beginners can try out climbing, announced on the club's Facebook page. Or you can just join the club. It's inexpensive and will give you plenty of opportunities to climb indoor and outdoor.

Why Climb?

Climbing has physical, mental and social benefits. It builds physical strength and endurance. It can act as a form of mindfulness helping you to focus solely on the now and leave behind the stresses of everyday life. Through climbing you can develop a more positive mental attitude by overcoming phantom fears and achieving things you may never have thought possible for you. Climbing is also very social because climbers of all ages support and encourage each other rather than being in competition. And climbing is safe. Studies show that injuries are less common than in other mainstream sports such as basketball, sailing or football.

Who Runs The Club

Meet our current Committee members

Declan Walsh

Secretary

Declan originally started indoor bouldering but after a trip to Costa Blanca a few years back, he soon realised how much fun can be had when Sport and Trad climbing. He's now busy exploring the fantastic crags Ireland has to offer!

Gavin Conlon

Chairperson

Gavin has been climbing for 12 years and is really keen to see more people get the chance to climb in Sligo. Some of his climbing highlights include adventure trad in Morocco, via ferrata in Italy and sport climbing in Spain. But he still thinks some of Ireland's coastal cliffs are hard beaten.

Luke Slaughter

Treasurer

Luke keeps hold of the piggy bank and organises membership. He started climbing 4 years ago and quickly fell in love, finding his poetic muse in trad climbing, although sometimes he's more of a faller than a climber! Nonetheless he lives for the experiences and places climbing takes him to and finds himself googling crags far too often.

Jonathan Gillmor

Training Officer

Jonathan has been climbing, on and off, for 30 years, so he thinks he knows it all! He does know when to lead and when to follow, and enjoys watching others suffer at the sharp end!

Linda Barber

Events Officer

Linda is an avid mountaineer, having explored in the French Alps, Southern Alps and Himalayas. She is particularly interested in trad climbing and believes Ireland offers a wide variety of grades, rock types and scenery. Linda learnt trad with the support of Sligo club members and thinks the active climbing community is very encouraging towards people who want to learn or progress in the sport.

What does Sligo Climbing Club do?

We meet regularly for different types of climbing. Most of these can be done both indoors and outdoors:

Bouldering. This is low level climbing (5 metres max) without ropes but with safety mats to protect falls.
Top roping. Higher climbs where you are secured on a safety rope so you can’t fall.
Trad climbing. Traditional roped climbing where you place small anchors (nuts and cams) in cracks in the rock as you climb, clipping the rope to them to catch you in case of a fall.
Sport climbing. Like trad climbing, but the anchors are already in place, permanently bolted to the wall or the rock.

Three climbers scaling the 12 metre indoor wall at Awesome Walls, Dublin

Bouldering at Mullaghmore on a Summer evening

Members climb regularly and use the club Facebook page to post suggestions and invitations. In addition, we have regular club outings on the first Sunday of every month which is a good place for members to get to know each other. Ideal for new members or people thinking of trying climbing with a view to joining the club. Non-members can guest in at up to three club events before having to join. Details of the next club event can be found on the Facebook page.

Where Does Sligo Climbing Club Climb?

One of the main goals of the club is to organise group events and introduce new members to climbing. Another one of our main aims is to build an indoor climbing wall in Sligo for club members. If all goes to plan, we hope to have our own wall in operation in the coming years. At first, this will be bouldering only but our longer term aim is to get a bigger space and extend it to make an indoor roped climbing facility.

It may look like the bouldering wall at Galway Climbing Co-op. And eventually like the Gortatole Outdoor Education Centre in Belcoo, Co. Fermanagh which we regularly visit.

The indoor wall at Gortatole in Belcoo, County Fermanagh

We love climbing outside though. Ireland has a huge range of great rock to climb on and some of it is close to home in Sligo. Take a look at some of the awesome locations we go to.

Gavin Conlon topped out on Neptune's Wall, Malin Beg, Donegal

Stunning sea cliff climbing at Cruit Island, Donegal

Sligo Climbing Club Equipment

The club has a range of equipment that members can use. Climbing can be expensive if you have to buy all your own equipment, so we provide a lot of the basics for members to use until the time when they want to invest in their own kit. We have ropes, helmets, harnesses, shoes, and all the gear needed to set up top rope anchors for safe climbing.