Cruit Island sits at the western tip of The Rosses area of western Donegal. It is one of the most developed rock climbing venues in Ireland with over 300 recorded routes from Diff to E5 in a relatively small geographical area. The climbing on the island is found on 24 sea cliffs around its entire coastline.
With a little bit of nautical planning, it is possible to climb under almost any sea state with many crags facing both south-west and northeast. The majority of the climbs are in the sub extreme grades and live less than five minutes walk from where you parked the car. The entire coast of the island is dotted with short compact sea cliffs and each one has a complimentary tropical sandy beach.
Cruit Island provides an outstanding venue with most of the routes in and around the severe grade.
The climbing on Cruit is on the many granite sea cliffs located around the island. The immaculate rock is characterised by its mixture of coarse granite crystals and it's immaculate smoothness where the sea has scoured it over the centuries. In the main, the cliffs are 12m high with the largest cliffs at 20m high being found in "The Albatross Zawn" area. Climbing is possible at all tide states and in all sea conditions as the multitude of cliffs on the island have many orientations allowing climbing on lee cliffs whilst other are being battered by the monstrous seas that frequently roll onto the island with westerly sea motion.
Access to Cruit could not be easier as it is joined to mainland Donegal by a wee single track bridge joining the island to the R259, Annagry to Dungloe road. Once on Cruit, the access to the cliffs is even easier as a wee single track road runs the length of the island coming within 10 minutes walking distance from even the most "remote" of the climbing locations on the island. The major crags in this guide are easily located using the Google Maps location pin linked into the description of each crag.
Cruit Island provides an excellent family-friendly venue, for equally good venues nearby but which require short ferry crossings try Owey Island and Gola Island.
