This Year

3 Oct

Boughaill

Very wet and foggy. Lots of people.

10 Oct

The Comeraghs

Not so wet or foggy. Lots of people.

17 Oct

Gougane Barra

Not as many people. No fog, bit of rain.

24 Oct

Hungry Hill

Hungry Hill:(not Hungary, Bryan!!:) ) As you will see from Emily's pics on the website, this year's trip to Hungry Hill was quite grim weatherwise anyway! The group was pretty class though as the wind, fog and rain were with us for most of the day!! There were two groups, lead by Rory and Tom, which made their way up the left and right side of the main peak respectively. Both were scambly walks!!:) I was a floating member in Tom's group which was really relaxing...Dave and Giueseppe backmarked.

I was needed to help with the scambling at times on the way up the main face of the 667m peak(now, what did Helen Ryan say about 667m i wonder!!:) )though most people where fine. Having reached the summit, we set up the Kishu and as some sheltered, the rest of us chatted(or chattered!) with members of the other group. They soon abandoned us to make their descent to the bus. The plan by both groups to go anticlockwise around the horse shoe was scrapped, as the weather was not looking any better and people were cold and miserable enough....

Having had a bit of lunch, the group moved across the plateau towards the second summit and towards the gully (by the left ridge where the other group had come up). The summit was foggy so a bearing pointed us to our descent route. Having scrambbled down(and slipped and slided quite a lot!!:)) the group arrived below the cloud line, by one of the streams we were bearing towards....Happy days!! The next point of interest lay in the fact that the rivers were all overflowing due to the persistant rain....having scambled up the left flank the valley a little, Tom found a good crossing point....the only casualty was one of Dave's swanky new climbing poles! the rain had stopped at this stage!:) We got back to the bus after the other group and as the group started to get changed the clouds opened...TYPICAL! We all scampered onto PJ's bus ASAP and made our way to Bantry for feeding and watering!:) (not sure what the food set up was in Bantry though as I considered a hot port the best option in one of the pubs on the main square!:))

by Susie Heck

31 Oct

The Horses Glen

The day we did the horse glen was an amasing day. We arrived at the parking spot outside a house...Unlike last year, the house was no longer being built, but there was no one living there yet so it was all good!:) There were two groups, I lead up Stoompa with Ruadhri as a back-marker and SuperRory headed up on the Margerton side. It was the Eve of All Hallows.

It was a fab day as we were lucky to observe the phenomenon of cloud inversion! It was amasing! The walk went well overall, though i was aware that night fall might be a problem...We slogged up the hill and had lunch on Stoompa. Moving along the ridge towards Mangerton allowed us to cover ground quite quickly, and I was amased to see the nice sharp ridge between Stoompa and Margerton. Having met the other group at the col a little after the half way mark, i took part of Rory's group as he and a few oldies(and newbies) ran the ridge in the opposite direction. My group went and chilled by the Devil's Punchbowl lake in the col and a few (crazy people, JC, Hortense, Emma, Sean and Barry to name but a few) went for a swim!. We then took the "path" down from the lake to the road. That was an interesting bit of nav as the path disappeared quite quickly!! I had a fab day....though Rory's super group did beat us to the bus!!!GGGR!

We went to Kilarney to the vintage as with most sundays!:)

by Susie Heck 

5, 6, 7 Nov

Dingle Weekend

BESTEST WEEKEND EVER :) :) :)

14 Nov

Coomsaharen

This year, the first walk which was 8 instead of half past was Coomsaharn, due to where this poor disfigured mountain is....

We stopped in Killarney a little earlier than usual and then made our way to Glenbay with three minibuses as we had a reasonable size crew! We had two groups, I led one and Tom lead the other,on the ridge anticlockwise and clockwise around the coom respectively. Brad back-marked for me. Tom lead up a scamble route, I considered a narrow ridge option.

Having slogged up the road to the right of where we left the buses, we passed a farm(but no farmer) and as we moved up toward one of the gates by the road side, the land owner appeared and appearently asked to know which man was leading the group. I assume I was not exactly what he expected!!:)

 Having seen all was ok with the land owner, we passed the gate and moved up towards the ridge...a wee bit of a slog, though the weather was reasonable as it was overcast and dry! I remember noting a ray of sunshine on the beach north of Glenbay and thinking the typical thing that in this part of the world, the sun is never where you are!:)

Having moved up the ridge move, the ridge narrowed and the group moved in single file, before it widened again as it met the main ridge above Coomsaharn lake. We had some lunch and then moved along the main ridge(cant remember any of the names of sp.peaks and have no OS map in Dublin so cant check!:( ). As we did so, we were hit by two or three bundles of clouds which lingered on the ridge for a while before being blown away again. The ridge on the left of the main summit was amasing enough, as the wind left stange errosion patterns. Just before reaching the main peak, we met Dave who was trail breaking(about ten mins ahead of the other group)who did not have a map and was surprised when clouds came in. We walked up to the main summit with Dave and saw the charming man-made erosion that was made to put an aerial on this set of mountains. It was grim! The weather was still foggy so we said goodbye to Dave and slogged on again along the ridge. As we descended into a col, we met the other group slogging up...the mist fadded.

Two mud flights were started between a pair of oldies(Bryan and John)and Tom and Beog. The use of mud was soon abandoned as Bryan resorted to testing his new three quarter shank boots against JC's head, and Beog and Tom got a bit too close perhaps, especially when powerstretch is involved!:) Lads, lads, lads! The groups then bid their fairwells, and we moved off along the main ridge. The mist blew in again and having reached the point on the ridge near a small coom, it was time to decide whether to consider a wet and muddy down-scramble or move a little further along the ridge and come down gradually. I decided on the latter, though it did get us back to the bus a wee bit after the other group, as my walk ended up being 5km longer than Toms....

The other group were chilling and playing frisbee when we got back to the buses. The return trip involved the usual stop in Den Joes/Busy B's and the Vintage.

by Susie Heck

21 Nov

The Reeks

Wet and windy but all groups made it to Irelands highest summit!!!

28 Nov

Crohane / Stoompa

5 Dec

The Galtees

12 Dec

Purple Mountain

Big Christmas walk - no snow though :(

Sat 16th Oct

UCD, Dublin

Sat 13th Nov

NUI, Galway

Sat 4th Dec

Ozone, Belfast

Sat 15th Jan

St. Colmans, Midleton, Co. Cork

Sat 12th Feb

DCU, Dublin