First Trip Of the Year

First Trip Of the Year | Mangerton

We took off on our first trip of the year to Mangerton near Killarney.To get there you go out the Muckross Rd. and turn left after Molly Darcys pub, so it is not too far away.

Torc seen from Mangrton path

The first thing we noticed yesterday when we arrived at the starting point was the amount of cars that were there, I have often been here both in Winter and Summer but never had to conquer a parking problem like the one on Sunday. Working off the Christmas and New Years Resolutions, I suppose they had a big bearing on the parking issues.

We had 9 in total that is including a few young boys so we had a nice handy crew for our first day out in the year and hopefully we will have more the next day out.

Going up to the Punch Bowl

The reason why we chose Mangerton was there is a defined stony path nearly all the way to the top and once you get over the first few hundred yards you are nearly over all the really mucky parts and that is one major advantage Mangerton had over most other places. After the low down section there is a stone path all the way up to a lake called the Devil's Punch Bowl.

Yesterday the higher you went the deeper the snow was getting and especially after the Punch Bowl to the summit in places if you strayed off the snow path you could find yourself knee deep in snow, it was just take your time and get there safely.

Mangerton Summit above the Devil's Punch Bowl

Near the top

Most of the way up the views once the sky is clear are as spectacular as ever and it leaves you with no option but turn around and take the scenery in, this all helped for an enjoyable day out to clear the head and get some fresh air in the lungs as well as get rid of some of the Christmas excesses.. It is no wonder people from all over the world come to visit. The only thing the view on the plateau at the top was fairly blurred and it was quite blustery so we did not hang around as there was a mist coming and our intention was to get back down to the Punch Bowl quickly.

The Boys at the top

One of our group Anna did the complete loop of the lake where of the 5 that got to the top went back down the same way as it could be a bit icy and slippy on the descent doing the complete loop of the lake. But yes we had one brave soul.

The day that was in it we did not hang around having chats, so we headed for the cars and back down. Not much more to say on Mangerton that I have not said before. A good challenge, as probably safe as you can get taking in the height, not that mucky and one thing I always find great about this place is that there is always loads of people around if for any misfortune of something going wrong especially like us with a few young hikers.

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