Dublin University Climbing Club

DUCC is one of the oldest mountaineering clubs in Ireland. It was founded in 1958 and the committee minutes from the early years are stored in the Manuscripts Library.

(Glynn Cochrane, 2nd President of DUCC, about 10 feet from the ground!!, Luggala,
November 58, taken by Frank Cochrane)

The minutes open with a quote...

"go, madman, and traverse the rugged Alps; that you may please the boys and become the subject of a recitation"

- Juvenel

very 1950's I know... the minutes go on to explain how the club was founded...

INTRODUCTORY

The Trinity College Climbing Club was the brain-child of RJ Watten and DG Cochrane in 1958. Ideas were matured throughout the summer of that year, and many of the climbers in college were canvassed. About 30 members of the college, many of whom were in the Irish Mountaineering Club, proved to be interested. The other members of what later became the 1958-59 committee co-operated in organizing an opening meeting in West Chapel Building College. This was held on 24th October 1958. It was decided to apply for membership of DUCAC.

In 1961, while a hippy revolution hit the rest of the world, DUCC became obsessed with the eccentric sport of rooftop climbing... or as it later came to be known, buildering.... the club even kept a guidebook for the college. Understandably, some first ascentionists were reluctant to have more than their initials included...

ROOFTOP CLIMBING:

The season was notable for the development of roof climbing in Trinity. A number of good routes have been put up. These are listed below with their guides. The crowning achievement however was the ascent of the campanile during trinity week. On the morning of 11th May the undergraduates of the university were delighted to see a red top hat spiked on the cross at the top of the tower. The top hat remained in situ until the following Tuesday (15th May) when it was recovered by steeplejacks who ascended inside the tower cost £12-10-0. Frank Winder and Frank Cochrane both offered to climb up and retrieve it but were refused permission by the board.

NEW ROUTES AROUND COLLEGE:

Coffee Bar Corner,15 feet, Mod
Up the wall by the incut holds. Mantelshelf over the overhang. Exit into rooms?

Reading Room East Wall, 20 feet, V.Diff
Start at gate - up reading room wall into warden's garden.
M.V. W.D.

GMB South Face Traverse, 120 feet, Diff - Exposed but easy
Out Billiard Room window along either way, awkward steps around corners but simplified by drainpipe. In a friends window.
D.W. P.D.P

New Square Traverse, 25 feet, M.Severe
1) Chimney up door of no.34. Mantelshelf on top of door.
2) Hand traverse along heading to either C.R.O.'s window or C.B.'s window.
D.W. B.W.

1st Floor Overhang, 20 feet, H.Severe
Start at center of the steps. Climb the corner of loo. Step onto bannisters - from bannisters step across to bar on window. Lean across and get hold of edge of stairs, swing up (hard and exposed). All in no.34.
B.W. D.W.

The Campanile, 96 feet H.Severe
Start at the library rubrics corner.
1) Up half columns to overhang (Diff). Step into corner and bridge up until it is possible to stand on the capitals of the columns. Mantelshelf over ledge - belay on statue at top of steps
2) Climb the window grille behind statue (runner at top). Surmount overhang. Runner on scroll. Step on scroll (rotten). Frictiony step up dome to pillows aided by fingerjams in vertical crack between decoration. Belay on upper arches.
3) Stand on seconds shoulders and throw sling around cross. Pull up on sling and fix top hat on spike. Note: the spike is a suitable abseil point.
M.V. W.D.
Time 45 minutes, 3 - 4 a.m. Difficult to be seen when on top.

The crowning glory of the buildering craze was the ascent of the campanile during the 1961 Trintiy week... the club never admitted to placing a pink top hat on top of campanile and the identity of the perpetrators was a mystery for the rest of the college community...

The Campanile received a repeat ascent in 1965...

The minutes describe a very active club with trips around Ireland and abroad. The 1965 trip to Snowdonia is particularly well recorded with photographs...

Nick Miller in Wales

K. Price and Nick Miller walking towards Tryfan

M.Lister in Wales

N.Miller being belayed by K. Price - nice harness...

The last picture is of Price and Miller. According to the minutes, Miller had left DUCC by Easter 1967 to devote his time fully to the Marxist-Leninists Internationalists (chairman Mao variety). When spotted in TCD in 1971, he had changed his proletarian ways and was an executive in his father's very capitalist business.

The club wasn't always as desperate for... i mean, er.. as welcoming of women. The original 1958 constitution barred women members. This was changed in 1964...

The letter refers to a club hut. DUCAC rented a hut from Coillte (the people who run the state forests). The hut was in the Glendasan Valley very near the IMC hut. The club held onto the hut until the 1970's. Its not clear what happened to the hut but rumor has it the students destroyed the hut, burning floorboards etc. Coillte decided to up the rent, DUCAC said no and the climbing club lost a valuable resource.

Once women were allowed to join the club they started to thrive, as demonstrated by this nomination for pinks... (pinks is the college's way of honouring it's best athletes)

Cenotaph Corner is an awesome - and strenuous - looking corner on Dinas Cromlech in Llanberis Pass, North Wales. Today it is graded E1 5c.

The junior deans view on the 1963 dinner dance...

In the early 1960's some members of the club attempted to organise an Irish universities expedition to Patagonia. As it turned out the expedition only consisted of TCD students together with some British climbers (including Don Whillans). The expedition was a success. On 31st January 1962 Frank Cochrane and Don Whillans reached the top of the previously unclimbed Aiguille Poincenot (3002m). Their route is graded TD, 5, 50 degrees, 600m.

The following articles appeared in Irish Independent over a period of 6 days from 19th March 1962. The trip was sponsored by, among others Guinness; I wonder would that be allowed under the current College Alcohol Policy / Nanny rules???

Trinity College Dublin