A pair of climbers successfully scaled the face of Sybil Head last weekend in what they believe to be the first ascent of the dramatic Co Kerry seacliffs.
Colin Struthers and David Ormerod, experienced climbers based in the north of England, made the 11-hour, 385m ascent on Saturday, after Storm Lillian had scuppered earlier attempts by them to scale the cliffs.
“The climb is magnificent,” Mr Struthers (65) said, speaking to The Irish Times this week. “I hesitate to big myself up too much, but I’ve been climbing for 40 years, and this is one of the finest things I’ve ever done.”
Sybil Head – Ceann Sibéal in Irish – is located on the Dingle Penninsula, and offers views of the nearby Blasket Islands. It was a filming location for The Last Jedi, a recent instalment of the Star Wars film franchise.
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Mr Struthers first became aware of the cliffs at Sybil Head about four years ago following a trip to the region with his wife.
“For the last three years, I’ve been try to get friends who wanted to come all the way across to Dingle to do it with me,” he said.
Mr Struthers said that, for a number of reasons, he believes that he and Mr Ormerod are the first people to make the ascent. There was no evidence of climbing equipment previously left on the cliff face, no records of previous climbs online, and inquiries made with locals – including a local climber – led Mr Struthers to believe that no one had made the ascent before them.
Mr Struthers said that the climb, while not technically difficult for the most part, was extreme, given that a potential rescue from the cliffs would require a helicopter. “You could not get a stretcher anywhere along it,” he said.
Reaching the bottom of the cliffs was a task in itself – waters surrounding Sybil Head are too hostile to reach it by boat, Mr Struthers explained. He and his partner instead used ropes to get to the bottom.
Mr Struthers named the route they took up the cliff face “Yer Only Man”, a reference to Flann O’Brien’s At Swim-Two-Birds. It is traditional for climbers to name first ascents.
Two other UK-based climbers, Ginny Douglas and Matt Kemp, joined Mr Struthers and Mr Ormerod in an earlier climb of the cliffs last week, and completed the first part of the ascent before bad weather ended the attempt.
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