Green Lizard

Printed guidebook available here

This small crag near Cullenmore is immediately under and west of the N11 (Dublin - Wicklow) road (Ref. O 281 001) about 6km south of Newtown Mount Kennedy and 3 km north of Ashford. The crags are on private land and climbers are not welcome. Descriptions are recorded to avoid anyone becoming overexcited by "discovering" a new climbing venue in the future.
Once upon a time there was a good parcel of routes on this crag but they are now buried under and incorporated into the N11.
The rock is a brownish, fine-grained, blocky quartzite. It is generally sound though not as reliable as the granite of Glendalough or Luggala so caution should be exercised. There is a superb eye-catching line, The Ganch, up the central overhanging area of the crag. Protection is variable, often rather sparse or even poor but sometimes excellent as well. The climbs are mostly steep and overhangs are a feature of the harder lines. Routes are described from left to right or north to south.

KOMODO DRAGON     VS    (4c)
Start behind the closest of the multi-stemmed oak trees to the wall on its left side. Climb the wall and left-hand corner directly to the top.
M. McSherry, J. Lyons, 5/9/1992

IGUANA     VS    (4c)
Start as for Komodo Dragon. Climb into the recess to the left of the rocky overhang and then move right onto the edge of the overhang. Continue up vertically by a series of steps to exit by the stump of a furze bush.
G. Moss, B. Norton, L. Convery, 1985

GECKO     VS    (4c)
Start 1m right of Iguana under the overhang with an obvious spike extending to the right at about 6m. Go up straight to the base of the spike and a small foot-ledge below it. Surmount the small bulge above via a short crack and ascend directly to the top.
G. Moss, L. Convery 1985

CHAMELEON     HS    (4b)
Start 4m right of Gecko at a right-facing corner. Climb the rib to the left of the corner and then the wall above to the base of a large undercut block slightly to the right. Pull up over the block to gain a shallow vegetated groove which is taken on its left side extending upwards to the left to finish.
R. Higgins, L. Convery, 1985

SKINK     VS    (4c)
Start 3m right of Chameleon where there is another right-facing corner. Climb the wall left of the corner and the face above to a ledge beneath the impending wall visible higher up on the right. Move left to finish as for Chameleon. A direct finish is still awaited.
G. Moss, L. Convery, 1985

THE GANCH **     E3    (5c)
This is the obvious crack going up the central overhanging wall. Wicklow's answer to The Gnasher gives the aspirant climber a flavour of what to expect. Climb up to the ledge, place gear (which you won't be able to remove after falling) and then go for glory.
C. Torrans, July 1991

BEARDED LIZARD     VS    (4b/c)
Start 5m right of the triple-trunked tree near the right-hand end of the buttress. Move up a shallow broken groove and the rib of rock above it. Finish up via a short but steep wall.
G. Moss, L. Convery, 1985.

<googlemap version="0.9" lat="53.040026" lon="-6.09179" zoom="15"> 53.036521, -6.089586 </googlemap>