UKC

In the southwest of Ireland winter conditions are fleeting and this winter has been utter rubbish. With this in mind we took advantage of a good fall of snow followed by a frosty night and headed back to Carrauntoohil to see what was on offer. We did a variation of "The Step" which went at a very respectable Grade 3 and offered us great sport for it 300 meter length. The pictures and story can be found here..
.http://howlingmist.blogspot.ie/2016/03/winter-climbing-on-carrauntoohil-ste...

In reply to goatee:

beautiful

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Cheers Dan. Hoping to have more great days out when I head to Scotland in a couple of weeks.

In reply to goatee:

Looks fantastic! Slightly embarrassing that I've been as far as New Zealand, but I've never been to Ireland (Republic of anyway). Those pics make me want to go.

In reply to goatee:

The green and red lines on the photo seem to show completely different lines rather than variations.

In reply to goatee:

Looks great, I walked up Carrauntoohil as the in mid summer joining hundreds of people walking up for religious reasons. For us it was the end of a long day walking and scrambling all the peaks on the ridge. 23 years ago now, I should probably head back some time.

Lovely mountains, but it never occurred to me that they might have winter potential.

In reply to goatee:

Great stuff

In reply to TobyA:

Thanks Toby. If you ever decide to come over give me a heads up. It would be nice to show off some of our finest places.

In reply to aln:

You may be right. The start is a little lower down and is the same for both but I agree that it is a different line. I just don't know its name. If I find out I will update it.

In reply to The New NickB:

That's a new one for me. I never saw anyone climbing Carrauntoohil for religious reasons. Whatever the reason it is a great mountain. I often think if it could be transposed 400 miles north then what wonderful winter climbs it would offer.

In reply to goatee:

your a lucky man, I did it a few years ago via the devils ladder ( is that what passes for a path in Ireland ?) with my over eager son in law who resides in northern Ireland.
despite the absolutely dire weather forecast he scoured the internet till he found a weather forecast site that was telling him what he wanted to hear.
spent the wettest night I've ever had in a tent in a field at Cronin's yard after a 5 hour car journey and walked it the next day and saw bugger all except cloud.
even the owner at Cronin's yard refused to charge us for the camping as he had gone home sure that no one would show up in that weather.
was an interesting day all the same and got some cracking weather for Slieve Donard a few days later.
one thing that did stick in my mind though was I met some of the friendliest people I've ever come across in Kerry.

In reply to goatee:


That's what they said. Doing some research it seems it not an official pilgrimage, but I guess it Ireland's highest mountain with a bloody great religious symbol on top, so plenty treat it as such.

In reply to goatee:

Friendly people? We spent a weekend in Cork in '94, met some nice folk. Then spent 5 days travelling round the W coast where we found a whole gamut of attitudes including being ignored at bars in favour of locals and open staring and hostility towards a Canadian pierced female in our party. I hope attitudes have changed since then.

In reply to aln:
Attitudes can and do vary and the west coast of Ireland is no exception. However I've travelled extensively on the west coast and thankfully found nothing but friendliness; some definitely a little bit too friendly at times!

After an Easter-time ascent of Carrauntoohil via the Coomloughra Horseshoe and the fantastically exposed Beenkeeragh Ridge (btw - one of the best mountain walks/ scrambles I've ever done), my then 16 year old son and I stopped at the Climber's Inn in Glencar for a celebratory drink. Apart from one other 'customer', the bar was deserted. A friendly greeting to the other customer - a middle aged woman in a short skirt and a very revealing top - I immediately realised was a grave error on my part. She was quite drunk and, er, 'over-friendly', so over-friendly in fact that I'd been propositioned (twice!) in front of my lad while waiting for the Guinness to settle. Killarney's fifth-rate equivalent of a Thai bar girl she may well have been, but nevertheless it was one of life's more interesting little encounters ....

To the OP: Nice to see Carrauntoohil in winter raiment. Clearly a very rare day, well-spent. Thanks for sharing.

In reply to goatee:

Brings back memories of my only visit to that part of Ireland back in the early 1980s when we climbed Carrauntoohil on a wet misty day, although I can't remember by what route. But I do vividly remember walking the last section towards the summit & becoming aware of something on the summit. At first I thought it was a large cross but getting closer realised that it was a cross but with a bicycle attached. Once we got to the summit/cross/bike we also found a small plaque attached to the crossbar saying something like "in memory of the third policeman" - obviously a Flann O'Brien fan had been at work.

I suppose the bike has long gone, but did anyone else see it ? I don't think we were hallucinating as I have a photo somewhere

In reply to Dave Williams:

The ridge over to Beenkeeragh is great. I'm long overdue a return bout with the Reeks.

In reply to Doug:

Ah the three speed gears - they're a power for the hills

In reply to aln:

Experiences will always differ, I travelled around a lot of the Irish Republic in 1993, of more than a dozen places we stayed it was only in Cork we encountered unfriendly people. Probably just bad luck. I loved to London later that year, that put things into perspective.

In reply to goatee:

Stunning photos, thank you. I still have high hopes of coming over to Ireland and climbing Howling Ridge. You may remember I wrote a few years ago. My mother is Irish and it would be good to combine a family visit with a winter climbing route. One of these days - when weather/ conditions oblige and suitable partner found. Ruth

In reply to goatee:
Brilliant! Good one. Nice to see such good pics of Carrauntohil with proper winter conditions, too. Funnily enough I was asking my partner when we were climbing in Clova on Wednesday if he'd ever winter-climbed in Ireland. I suppose the conditions are so fickle that scoring any routes at all is quite an achievement. Maybe the ultimate prize, though, would be a new winter route on St Kilda

In reply to Ruth Love:

Hi Ruth. When you come over give me a shout and if possible I will arrange for you to do Howling Ridge. It is a lovely way to the summit of a great peak.