A new climbing wall makes Dingle a great place for the family to spend a wet afternoon. It's good value, too, so could this type of attraction be a winner, asks JOHN G O'DWYER
THE APPROACH IS deeply unpromising. Just beyond Dingle, in Co Kerry, we turn into a nondescript industrial estate and follow the signs towards what seems to be a mundane warehouse. Surely this can’t be the location for one of Ireland’s most innovative visitor attractions. But it is.
Indifferent to the miserable weather outside, people aged from about six to 60 are having the time of their lives in Play at Height, an impressive new adventure centre that incorporates Ireland’s largest indoor climbing wall.
My daughter Aoife is instantly infected with an adrenalin rush and can’t wait to get a climbing harness on. I am horrified to discover that, in what seems just a twinkling, she is 10m up a wall with nobody holding a safety rope. It comes as a relief when the centre’s manager, Cian O’Driscoll, reassures me that a state-of-the-art automatic belay system allows climbers of all ages to practise safely without a partner.
Then it’s my turn to have a go. I admit to rock climbing a few routes in the past, so I decide to try a middle-grade ascent. At first the handholds seem reassuringly large, and I make good progress. Then, as my fingers ache and my forearms seem on fire, I realise that the route is cunningly designed to get harder as you ascend.
When I stop for a breather the clutches of middle age become all too apparent. With a cheery smile a girl who can’t be much older than 12 climbs past. I puff my way to the top in her slipstream, then, with great relief, jump off, to be lowered gently by the auto belay back to terra firma. After a few more climbs my muscles go resolutely on strike. It’s time for a coffee.
Arms tingling in my recovery armchair, I gaze at the climbing walls, which are dotted with an eclectic bunch of individuals, groups and families having fun at a variety of altitudes. My attention is drawn to a young man dealing nonchalantly with improbable overhangs on the hardest climbs. To achieve such competence, I conclude, he must surely have had a mini climbing wall in his playpen.
When he returns from the stratosphere I ask him about himself and how long he has been climbing. He is David O’Neill, aged 14 and, I later discover, the son of the well-known local artist Liam O’Neill. He practises about four times a week and hopes to take part in climbing competitions soon. Then, astonishingly, he tells me he has been climbing for just five months.
And, of course, that is the secret of indoor climbing facilities. Just as access to 50m pools is a prerequisite for Olympic swimming success, top-class rock climbers will develop only with access to quality climbing walls. Such facilities bring competencies in months that would take years or decades to achieve on Ireland’s relatively few and weather-dependent outdoor crags.
Indeed, Play at Height has led to a surge of local interest in climbing. According to Cian O’Driscoll, a vibrant climbing community is now developing in Dingle, an area that, surprisingly, had little tradition of cutting-edge rock climbing.
But the centre is clearly more than just a Mecca for rock jocks: it is also a major visitor attraction, offering bouldering, freefalling, abseiling, zipwiring and a children’s play area – everything to entertain a family on a drizzly Dingle day.
For too long our tourism industry has concentrated on oversupplying hotel rooms while depending mainly on scenery and the friendliness of Irish people to keep our tourists happy and occupied.
Now local businessmen Mike O’Shea has spotted this gap in the market and provided a compelling attraction that he is hoping to replicate across Ireland.
When I catch up with him I commend him on the quality of his new venture but ask if, in view of falling tourism numbers, this is a good time for such a start-up. On the contrary, he says, a recession is when people become less concerned with foreign travel and most appreciate a novel experience that comes at a modest price.
“The principal markets we are focusing on are school tours and holidaymakers, and here we have a family- focused venue,” he says, adding that climbers are coming to Play at Height from the UK and have rated the centre as among the top five such facilities on these islands.
Certainly, Play at Height is a fine example of straightforward but innovative thinking. Take a compelling and high-profile sport with a guaranteed adrenalin rush that has remained largely inaccessible to the public. Package it and make it safe and reachable for all comers. Locate it in a place where holidaymakers and families are looking for new experiences and you have what looks like a winner.
So even if your greatest climbing achievement so far is a conquest of the Gravity Bar at Guinness Storehouse, Play at Height should still merit a top spot on your tick list for a Dingle visit. It has climbs and activities to suit all ages and aptitudes, and when its high ropes course opens, later this year, bringing a multitude of new challenges, you might find that one visit won’t be enough.
Where else to go if you're heading for Dingle
Play at Height, Unit 1e, Ballinaboola, Dingle, Co Kerry, 066-9152822, www.play atheight.com. Climbing costs €10 for adults and €8 for children. Climbing shoes cost €2 to hire. Harnesses and helmets are provided. The outdoor freefall facility, similar to a bungee jump, costs €8 for adults and €5 for children
Oceanworld. The Wood, 066-9152111, www.dingle-oceanworld.ie. Oceanworld features all manner of sea life – silver-dollar fish, sharks, sea horses, a 60-year-old oyster and a Portuguese man-of-war, to name a few. Open daily from 10am to 5pm; admission €12 adults, €7 children and senior citizens, €32 family (two adults and up to four children).
Tour Dingle offers activity, cultural and sightseeing holiday packages tailor-made to the individual’s interests. Contact Lisa Hennessy at Tour Dingle, Kilshannig, Castlegregory, Co Kerry, 066-7139712, www.tourdingle.com, e-mail info@tourdingle.com.
For a great family outing on horseback, try O’Connors Horse Riding (The Maharees, on the north side of the Dingle Peninsula, 066-7139216).
Divers are catered for at Waterworld Dive Centre, Scraganne Pier, Castlegregory, 066-7139292.
A boat trip to the Blasket Islands is offered by Eco Marine adventure tours. 066-9154864, info@blasketislands.ie.
For more wet adventure, contact Jamie Knox Windsurfing and Watersports (The Maharees, Castlegregory, 066-7139411, info@jamieknox.com).
Fungi the dolphin, who is about 35 years old, is celebrating 25 years in Dingle this year. Boats constantly leave the pier in Dingle to visit him. The journey takes about 45 minutes, and money is refundable if you don’t see him – which very rarely happens. A one-hour trip costs €16 for adults and €8 for under-12s.