Sensory Overload

Sensory Overload

By Ramon Marin

Overcoming sensory overload, finding peace and tranquility in nature's embrace.

Travelling the UK for about six weeks sampling the wide range of trad climbing and enjoying it all from the comfort of a van. Only a days drive from London I pitch up in Ireland to enjoy some classic sea cliffs, endure typical West coast weather and view some amazing sunsets.

Yes, I can only describe our last two weeks climbing in Ireland as a sensory overload. From the world class climbing, through the amazing people to the stunning landscape, Ireland has truly impressed me. To top up the sensory overload, we did feel the full force of the Atlantic on our west coast leg of the trip, with gales blowing the sea up the entire length of Mirror Wall at Burren.

Climber ascends a crack on sun-blushed rock
Climber ascends a crack on sun-blushed rock

Ireland climbing had only entered my radar in the last couple of year. It's hard to believe that such a premier destination has escaped my cunning eye for world-class rock for such a long time. Having gathered enough information, me and Dave Pickford headed over to scope the main attractions, Burren, Donegal and Fairhead. The idea was to get a taste of the best crags for future trips. Fairhead stood out as the winner, no surprises there, but there's so much good rock worth various lifetimes of exploration.

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Large taco bouldering pad for frequent boulderers, 134 x 100 x 11cm
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When I casually mentioned to friends and family that Alpkit were taking me to the Ice Festival in January and that it would involve a bivvy at arou...
January 19, 2009

Majorca DWS trip

Well with summer coming to an end and not getting much sun it was a time for a trip away, the plan was a deep water soloing trip to Majorca for 7 d...
October 07, 2009
ICE Fest - 2009 Ice cliimbing festival

ICE Fest - 2009 Ice cliimbing festival

This trip was a true team bonding experience, while also giving my Supersofts a chance to come out of retirement for another shot at the big league...
January 16, 2009
Leading Ladder Final 2012

Leading Ladder Final 2012

The leading ladder final, held in Redding yesterday had a small but strong turn out of team Crush members. Flo and Billy were both in category C un...
April 15, 2012
Looking up and Mixing it up

Looking up and Mixing it up

It took a while to recover from the 3 pitch lead “Rise and Shine”, and not being able to finish the route left a sour after-taste. Trying to find w...
February 01, 2011
Bouldering in the Tropics

Bouldering in the Tropics

The idea of bouldering on sun kissed beaches surrounded by a tropical paradise might be every climbers dream but give me a grit crag any day. My fi...
November 13, 2012

Deep s*** soloing and a windy whip

The last month or so has been a bit sensitive in our house. We mused at the beginning of the year that we were all going to get really strong or re...
December 11, 2012

Lip Project

A few days later we were driving again in the dense Welsh rain. Are we going climbing, really? Yes, drytooling will sort you out in the grimmest da...
January 05, 2012
Head in Gear

Head in Gear

It feels that finally I’ve got my head in gear to do stuff, despite not at the level I expected due to many factors. Still, I’m having loads of fun...
February 17, 2011
M12 Mixed climbing

M12 Mixed climbing

Virtually no low level snow has made a couple of trips up to the Breitwangflu easier than normal partly because no skis are needed and partly becau...
February 17, 2011
Greenland - a dirtbag expedition

Greenland - a dirtbag expedition

“we just want to go and climb big and make a statement for the everyday dirtbag climber” Fed up with reading the same old stories of the proclaimed...
April 14, 2011
Euro rock trip

Euro rock trip

My bags are packed to bursting, have I got everything? 2 days have passed since the weight of A levels was lifted mercifully from my shoulders. The...
June 29, 2011
Waiting to climb in Yosemite

Waiting to climb in Yosemite

The weather is pretty tasty in Yosemite National Park right now, there is no way I am going to start complaining about clear blue skies and tempera...
September 10, 2008
Driving to the Mountains

Driving to the Mountains

Moggy at the cattery, CHECK. Fridge defrosted, CHECK. Passport in top pocket, CHECK. Car full of ‘essential’ gear, CHECK. August is holiday time fo...
August 05, 2008
CWIF 2012

CWIF 2012

The Climbing Works International Festival, CWIF has a big reputation for a UK competition, world class route setters at one of the biggest boulderi...
March 19, 2012

Red Bull Drytooling Event at the White Cliffs

This month, the Red Bull White Cliffs event took place on the Isle of Wight. It involved scaling 90metre highoverhanging chalk cliffs using axes an...
October 22, 2015
Kelsey Kerridge Reunited

Kelsey Kerridge Reunited

We were a pretty close bunch of climbers and we liked to get our climbing fix on a regular basis. The Kelsey Kerridge wall in Cambridge was our hom...
January 30, 2011

Wirksworth Winter Bouldering Aggregate

The winter bouldering season is drawing to a close and one hopes that all those hard earned points were worth it. If not for the scraps between poi...
February 27, 2014

Euro Training Camp

I've never spent a single Christmas in the UK, it's always a good chance to either get some winter sun in Spain or some early ice or skiing in the ...
January 09, 2015
New trad route in Oeschinensee, Kandersteg

New trad route in Oeschinensee, Kandersteg

On Monday we went up to have another look at the unclimbed line we spotted after our retreat from “Buch Dich”. The good thing about the line is tha...
February 08, 2011
No Fondue!

No Fondue!

After the initial flip upside down he kept falling. W.t.f.? Am I actually holding the ropes? I remember trying to take in slack to stop his headfir...
March 03, 2011
Fairhead and more

Fairhead and more

Well, where do I start! It has been a busy month. It started with Mountaineering Ireland’s Fair Head Climbing meet. I started organising this 3 yea...
July 05, 2012

First trip to Albarracin

I was pleasantly surprised on my first trip to Albarracin. We were there for a total of 10 days. In those 10 days, only one day provided us with a ...
January 28, 2015
Troll Wall - A (very) short story

Troll Wall - A (very) short story

My hope by finally writing this up is there is a little catharsis for me once it’s finished. Never have I been more disappointed in my life than b...
March 17, 2011
An inch but a Mile

An inch but a Mile

The European youth cups press on, two more rounds down and I am now ranked 4th. The 3rd and 4th European Cups have been a close affair but not clos...
July 26, 2012

Sport to Drytool

I have just returned from my latest adventure: three weeks enjoying island life on Malta, whilst doing a placement in the Accident and Emergency de...
November 06, 2015

Senja Frozen Wonderland

I went to Senja by accident really, but being far from on top form, the idea of going somewhere new and adventurous sounded just right. After a bit...
March 04, 2019
The Nuts and Bolts

The Nuts and Bolts

The sport has kicked off surprisingly well, still running on arms of capacity. No training; just been climbing recently and had some pretty good da...
April 30, 2012
On the road to nowhere... getting back to fitness

On the road to nowhere... getting back to fitness

I get asked a lot how to get fit or get better at climbing. Most of the time my answer is the same; unless you are prepared to start a specific tra...
February 06, 2012
Fontainebleau Coaching Week

Fontainebleau Coaching Week

So the annual trip to the bouldering Mecca Font has happened once again, on February 19th 12 young climbers and 8 Jurassics (older than young) hit ...
March 07, 2011

Ice World Cup

Indoor dry tooling is really quite a strange sport when you think about it! Any time I've attempted to explain it to a friend, I have stumbled over...
February 13, 2014

Slate, sunburn and snacks

There’s a lot of pressure sometimes to do epic stuff every time you get a few days off work, but you don’t have to fly or cycle or run across the w...
July 26, 2018

The Red Gold

Red River Gorge is know for its richness in oil, single pumps dotted around sucking out the black gold. But there's other gold to be found in this ...
April 27, 2017

Cragweek

It's the question that all of us dread: 'so have you been getting out much?' In fact, not all climbers dread this question, just the ones who feel ...
July 13, 2017

Against The Ebbing Tide

As climbers dwelling on British sea cliffs, we are all well acquainted with the ebbs and flows of the tides. The comings and going of bodies of wat...
August 21, 2018

Photo perfect

Sometimes it's okay to feel not okay, I think. Photos are an easy way to make life look always perfect. Since beginning this adventure I have had s...
August 17, 2018
Classic week on the Ben

Classic week on the Ben

I am just parked up in the Lidl car park in Fort William in the camper having just cooked up a nice wee chilli and even had a shower! I have a bit ...
February 19, 2013

Ridges through the Sky

There is something truly magical about being up high in the mountains, following the line joining the highest points with the ground dropping away ...
March 02, 2018

The Ascent of Nanda Devi

Posted for Vertebrate Publishing - to mark the re-release of H.W. Tilman titles H. W. ‘Bill’ Tilman was one of the greatest adventurers of his time...
December 07, 2016

Craic and Cracks: part two

There are so many things to love about Canada. It is a progressive, forward-thinking country both socially and politically, it has true wilderness ...
June 12, 2017

Hard graft & blunt picks

Up until now, Scottish winter climbing has always been an spectator sport for me. Something you watch in social media from the comfort of your home...
March 01, 2016

Himalayan Adventures: Shan-Ri - Part 2

If you've not read part 1 yet, catch up here. Base camp at 4400m Two days resting at base camp (4400m) and: “Here we go!” Since we left a big pa...
December 13, 2018

Serra da Estrela - Our Backyard

Star Mountain “Serra da Estrela”literally translatesto “Star Mountain”, and is the highest mountain of continental Portugal. This beautifulgranite ...
February 27, 2019

5 days, 5 climbs by Daniela and Paulo Teixeira

In this Covid-no expedition year, we were eager to have some days not thinking about anything else than. to climb. It is restriction time here in P...
November 20, 2020

Winter 8000 - Climbing the world’s highest mountains in the coldest season by Bernadette McDonald

Read an exclusive extract from the book 'Winter 8000, Climbing the world's highest mountains in the coldest season' by Bernadette McDonald.
August 06, 2020

The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman

What you are about to read is an exclusive extract from the book 'The Shining Mountain' by Peter Boardman. To see more books we love and books that...
February 09, 2021

Winter climbs

If you believe that the most ephemeral things are precious, then winter snow in Serra da Estrela is one of the most valuable things on the planet! ...
December 14, 2020

Structured chaos - The unusual life of a climber by Victor Saunders

What you are about to read is an exclusive extract from the book 'Structured Chaos' by Victor Saunders. To see more books we love and books that ca...
February 02, 2021

The Mountain Path by Paul Pritchard

You're reading an extract from 'The Mountain Path' by Paul Pritchard. Available to pre-order here. "Eggshell ice. That’s what climbers call the br...
September 20, 2021
Ama Dablam

Ama Dablam

Deciding to climb a peak in the Himalayas for the first time wasn’t quite a 2020 New Year’s resolution, but it was about as close as I normally com...
January 13, 2022

Eagle Crag Rescue

With our celebration of Mountain Rescue Teams we highlight some of the recent incidents our local-to-store MR teams have attended recently, to get ...
May 21, 2021

What Motivates Me To Climb | Part 1

Introducing one of our Alpkiteers, Kumbi Kariwo. She doesn't climb to be the best. She climbs to be her best. Here's how her journey started, what ...
January 04, 2023

Winter climbing in Portugal - Part 1

250m of ice climbing in Portugal. “Wait a minute! Did I read Portugal?!” It’s March, I’m sitting here still hopeful winter will return. Hope is nor...
May 18, 2021

Chasing Ice

Ramon's an Alpkiteer and old friend of Alpkit. He took the campervan on a trip this Christmas, and told us all about his trip. Christmas is a time ...
February 03, 2023

Taking on the Three Peaks Challenge

3064m and 37km with over 10 hours sitting on a bus and a great big dose of sleep deprivation, it really is a big day out!
July 13, 2022

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