Carrauntoohil...Easy Winter Climbing...Curve Gully and the Grey Area

A cold snap and a reasonable snow fall on the mountains was enough to tempt me to rise early and head back to The Reeks in the hope of getting some winter climbing done. I shook the dust off the ice axes and shoved the crampons into the bag and headed west. It was a lovely morning. Perhaps not as cold as I had hoped as the temperature hovering just above zero while I drove in the dark towards Killarney. Still as long as there wasn't a huge thaw wintry conditions should be found on high. It was a beautiful dawn. First the sky turned red and once I was beyond the town the first rays of sun hit the snow clad mountain tops and it was indescribably beautiful. The early start was worth the effort just to witness this sight. As I drove in towards Cronin's Yard the view into the Hags Glen over the woods and then across the plain towards the Dingle Peninsula, which glowed pink in the morning sun, was also very special.

The Slieve Mish looking rosy

I parked my car and I was on the move at 08.20. It was calm and in the still air it wasn't too long before the gloves and hat came off. It is always a joy to regard the shapely peak of Carrauntoohil as you walk into the glen but today it was especially lovely with its dusting of snow down to below 700 metres. Indeed the full horseshoe was lovely and each route offered different adventures. Today I hoped to head up The Step which would offer a nice Grade2 outing so I headed up into Coumeenoughter. As I got nearer the mountain it became clear that the amount of snow down below 750 metres was pretty sparse and nothing in the way of ice was in evidence. When I reached the second level it was clear that The Step was not in condition and neither was the bottom section of Curve Gully so I continued on to the third level. Here thankfully things felt and looked more wintry and I headed up towards the upper section of Curve. The Grey Area looked properly snowed and rimed up so I decided to include that in my day as well. Before I entered the gully I put on the crampons and got the axes out and I must say it felt great to be getting a proper taste of winter.

Inviting or what?

Not exactly plastered

The second level

The upper part of Curve

The gully was nicely snow covered but not banked out and a little ice and firm snow coupled with turf that held the axe nicely made it a delight to climb. It was pretty straightforward though so I decided after rising sixty or seventy metres to break out and up to the left and climb the remainder of the way to the summit in the Grey Area. Exiting the gully provided perhaps thirty or so metres of wonderful interesting fun Grade 2 climbing. Nice firm turf made for secure axe placements and plenty of rime and frozen snow made it a joy to climb. Once above this the going averages about 45 degrees and some nice rocky spurs gave some nice mixed climbing. All too soon the summit arrived and I relaxed awhile in the calm weather and enjoyed the wonderful views in the odd light that winter can sometimes provide. Once I stopped climbing I realized that I was actually quite tired so I decided to descend via the Devils Ladder. It must be a couple of years since I last went down this way and I enjoyed it. It was ice and snow free so the going was easy. I sat at the bottom and enjoyed my lunch and savoured the magnificence of my surroundings. Back to the car about five hours after I set off and I was well satisfied with my morning. Here's hoping for more chances to get the hardware out this winter..

Quite steep in the Grey Area

Amazing views in all directions