Fairhead Meet 2024 (Fri 31st May - Mon 3rd June)

The Fairhead climbing meet, organised annually by the Dal Riada climbing club and hosted by the McBride family, brings together the climbing community for the long weekend to enjoy the world class trad climbing and bouldering at Fairhead, Co. Antrim.

It is the highlight of the Irish climbing calendar and not to be missed!

This year's meet will run from Friday 31st May to Monday 3rd June 2024.

We look forward to welcoming you to Fairhead for an epic weekend multipitching and adventurous bouldering, whatever takes your fancy, Fairhead will not disappoint.

To paint a picture for those visiting Fairhead for the first time, the crag itself runs for 5km, towering 100m high in places above the epansive boulder fields and crashing sea below. The rock is dolorite that has formed striking columns & cracks that provide abundent opportunities for trad protection. With over 400 routes to choose from, you won't be stuck for choice.

The meet is a weekend long event with climbers arriving on the Friday afternoon and climbing on Saturday, Sunday & Monday too.

Camping is kindly provided on the McBride family farm, the cost of which is covered by your ticket.

Please be aware that Fairhead is a working farm and home to the McBride family who are kind enough to facilitate the meet. We ask that you be mindful of this over the course of the weeekend and to be respectful. Also make sure to have a chat with Sean the farmer and show your appreciation, he loves to get to know the climbers :)

Agenda:

• Upon arrival please check in with our volunteers in the barn, you'll receive a tag for your tent etc. The volunteers are a bunch of Fairhead regulars so if you've any questions or would like some route recommendations these are the lads you need :)

• Join us on Friday & Saturday evening for some all-things-climbing entertaiment in the McBride's barn! This is a great chance to catch up with friends, chat and have a few beers. This year we are incredibly excited to announce 2 very special guests:

• On Friday night we shall welcome Niall Grimes, host of Jam Crack Podcast to the barn for some climbing themed enertainment, keep an eye on our social media for updates over the coming weeks!
• And on Saturday night we shall welcome none other than French sport climbing legend & alpinist Cathrine Destivelle to take the stage, we hope you're as psyched as we are!

• On Saturday evening there will be a barbecue in the barn - perfect for when you're absolutely wrecked from climbing all day!

• On Saturday morning there will be a tour of the boulders, hosted by Veronica Lee & Rob Hunter, further details to be announced. These guys are the authors of the Fairhead bouldering guidebook, so if this is your first time bouldering at Fairhead this is not to be missed! This is not a ticketed event & is run on an informal basis.

To get a flavour of the routes please go to the Fairhead section on the climbing.ie route database:

http://wiki.climbing.ie/index.php?title=Fairhead

Safety

Fairhead is probably the best climbing venue on these islands, climbers come from all over the world to climb there. The nature of the trad climbing and bouldering is hard and adventurous. It might be reasonably taken that the legal principle “Volenti non fit injuria” (a willing person cannot be injured in law), applies here. Climbing at Fairhead, by its very nature carries a degree of risk. The desire to undertake a challenging but rewarding activity is in part the reason we climb here. That “challenge by choice” is a fundamental principle of our event. The climbing is not organised or controlled. There will be volunteers present to help you enjoy your experience over the weekend and if you have any queries don't hesitate to ask.

At the Fairhead meet we value:

ADVENTURE –

We find fun and personal challenges in climbing at Fairhead.

We recognise the value of the unknown and the uncertain outcomes of our activities.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY –

We take personal responsibility for our actions, and we manage the risk involved.

We foster an awareness of sharing safe participation amongst our community.

Safety Brief

A safety brief will be sent out via email closer to the event. There will an in person safety brieing on the Saturday morning and we encourage all those with less experience of climbing at Fairhead to come along. Time and location to be announced.

Please see below for further details on ticket options & some frequently asked questions, if you have further queries please don't hesitate to get in touch via our social media platforms:

https://www.instagram.com/dal_riada_climbing_club/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/DalRiadaClimbingClub/

Or email us at fairheadmeet@dalriadaclimbingclub.ie

Check out this link for a podcast of Niall Grimes interview with Catherine Destivelle:

https://www.niallgrimes.com/jam-crack-climbing-podcast/jcpc-007-catherine-destivelle-that-french-bird-oft-telly

Please note EARLY BIRD TICKETS are only available until midnight on Tuesday 14th May 2024 and there are a limited number available!

For further imformation about the Dal Riada Climbing Club, you can check out our website below:

https://dalriadaclimbingclub.ie/

For more information on Fairhead please go to the Explore Fairhead website:

https://explorefairhead.com/climbing/