Wednesday 23 December 2015

Trying For A Pre Christmas Mountain Run On Tomies

Looking across Lough Leane towards Crohane
I finished my week of nights this morning and as there is yet another storm coming in this afternoon I decided to head back to the Kerry mountains first thing to see if I could get a quick blast of mountain air in before Christmas. The skies were mostly clear and there was nothing more that a stiff breeze down in the valleys so I opted to head for Tomies Wood and I hoped to go up Tomies and from there on to Shehy and around towards the end of Tomies Wood and so back to the car. I set off from the car and shuffled in the track to the wood. I was delighted to see plenty of Deer on the trail and the views over Lough Leane once I gained some height was lovely. I was struggling with fatigue this morning but it still was great to out and about. I was under no pressure and I walked when I felt like it and I certainly had no choice but to walk when I left the forest trail at it highest point and I broke out onto the open mountain. It was steep and out here the wind was becoming more problematic and it was a bit of a struggle to climb into it. The long slog all the way to the summit of Tomies was a chore but I reached the top in just under 70 minutes. As I neared the top the wind really increased in speed and I had to drop to my hands and knees at times to prevent myself being whipped aside. The chance to a nice long high level run was gone so I decided to give up the fight with the wind and I turned for Tomies Rock and I descended the long spur that heads for the road near Kate Kearneys. Once on the road I ran easily back to my car. Just about 7.5 miles and around 2200 feet of climbing in just over two hours and I was well pleased with my morning. Hopefully I will get the chance to return and complete the original route in the near future.
Yhr view across towards The Reeks.

Sunday 20 December 2015

A Quick Blast Up Cnoc an Cuillinn

Working nights is always a bit of a drag but it does enable me to sometimes make the most of the day and today I took the opportunity to travel back to the Reeks once again with Denis O'Brien for a hike. Denis is in training for a winter trip to the Scottish Highlands in the first week of February so it is necessary to take every chance he can get to get some hill-time in. The weather was its usual unsettled self but at least the rain came in swift sharp heavy bursts that left reasonable clear spells between and when we could see the mountains some of the tops were clear so there was a chance we might even be able to enjoy an occasional view. We left the car in Cronins Yard again and I decided that the north spur of Cnoc an Cuillinn 958 mtrs would make a worthy outing. Off we set at a good pace and once we reached the outlet of Lough Callee we contoured up and around the shoulder of the bone and entered the coum. A couple of squalls had come and gone but we could see the spur rising steeply above us so off we set. It is steep but it is straightforward and we rapidly gained height and soon we were on the pleasing ridge that offers a little scrambling to the summit. We reached the top on a very respectable 1 hour 45 minutes and as the wind was fairly fierce we set off towards Carrauntoohil. More bad weather rolled in and after a short debate we decided to shorten our day and we set off down a very wet Devils Ladder and the long track back to the car. The temperatures were a few degrees colder today (but still much too warm for snow) so it was nice to get into dry clothes at the car a little over four hours after we set out. A good lung-filler before Christmas.
Plenty of water in the river and even a little sunlight to welcome us. Our route rising in the centre up into the cloud.


West from the summit.


Monday 14 December 2015

The Andy Kirkpatrick Show and A Climb On The Reeks

After the delights of a sunny day on Friday the weather were back to its dismal wet norm on Saturday. There was however one thing to brighten the day...I was heading back to Killarney to see the "Cold Mountain" talk given by the famous "hard core" mountaineer Andy Kirkpatrick. He is a guy that seems to specialize in extreme cold big wall climbing and this talk was about his trip to Antarctica last year. He is a funny self deprecating guy whose talks tend to vary from the account of his latest adventure to the stories that make him who he is. This one was no exception and covered both the expedition and his personal "issues" and problems. Sometimes his brutal honesty was a bit uncomfortable to listen to but he didn't let it spoil the overall comedic content of the show. Personally I wish he would give a deeper nuts and bolts insight into the difficulties and complexities of climbing these big walls in full winter gear but it was still a very enjoyable evening. It was a little disappointing  to see such a small attendance but perhaps the awful weather had played a part in that. I did however win a Thermarest mattress in the raffle..Happy days

Andy Kirkpatrick on the summit of Ulvertanna in the Antarctic.


 That took care of Saturday and as I stayed in a Killarney B&B overnight I was able to meet Denis O'Brien on Sunday morning in town and we headed to The Reeks for a bit of a burnout. Denis is a very fit climber and I knew there would be a good workout to be had today. Unfortunately I awoke to the joys of a stuffed up head and basically aches and pains all over which put a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm but I reckoned that once I was out in the open air I would feel better and so it proved to be the case. There was a good improvement in the weather in the sense that it was merely overcast but not raining as we set off from Cronins Yard. Anything like a ridge or gully was out of the question so we opted to climb Brother O'Sheas and head from Carrauntoohil over to "The Bone". That would give around fifteen kilometers and 1300 meters of climbing so it would be a worthy outing. I was pleased to find that I was feeling much better once I got going and we set a good pace all the way to the top of the mountain. The wind was a good fifty miles an hour here and the high traverse all the way to the bone promised to be invigorating. We didn't tarry and made rapid progress the whole way. No views were to be had but the company was good and it was great to hear Denis' enthusiasm and plans for his trip to climb Ama Dablam next year. We made it back to the car in five hours flat and it was now I found myself very weary. An early night ensued.
Denis O'Brien

Looking back out over the first level