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Carrauntoohill Climb

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On Sunday 19th August we headed west for our walk. Leaving town at 08.00 we journeyed to Killarney,where we met up with some more members. Unlike previous walks the gender balance was biased towards the men.We had a break for tea / coffee and then set of in convoy for Cronin’s yard. Here after some more refreshments, we finally worked out the logistics of conveying our group to the start of the walk at the hydro road, and returning transport to Cronin’s yard for the end of walk. There should be an app for this...

Finally kitted out we started the thigh burning climb up the hydro road. This is a steep hard slog up the slope of Cnoc Iochtar. After awhile the path turns right and the climb eases off. Eventually you cross a gate and arrive at the old hydro dam at Lough Iochtar at 438 meters.Crossing the outlet we set our course South across some boggy ground then turning South South Eastwards to gain the ridge leading to Caher West top at 975 meters. On our left 500 meters below us was Coomloughra lake shrouded in fog.To our right the Bridia valley also hidden from view. We descended a little then climbed again to reach the summit of Caher the third highest peak in Ireland at 1001 meters. Occasionally the veil of cloud lifted slightly, to afford us tantalizing views to the valley floor. Onwards we trudged around the rim. Descending from Caher we reached a coll, before the short climb up to the Summit of Carrauntoohill....
Here there was quite a crowd so after taking some photos, we began our retreat down towards the Devils ladder. Passing the top of the ladder we continued to the summit of Cnoc na Toinne at 845 meters...
We picked up the zig zag path and began our descent. This time the zig zag presented no difficulty. Unlike our previous decent which was in icy and snow covered conditions.....


Finally reaching the valley floor we trekked back to Cronin’s yard for a welcome tea / coffee. We managed to see the final few minutes of the All Ireland, where Limerick stumbled over the line to claim victory. We then picked up the cars we had left at the Hydro road car park. Then made our way homeward. It was a great walk. Unfortunately the visibility was poor....but that’s the luck of the draw on the mountains....All in all not a bad day out with the highest and third highest peaks in Ireland conquered.Thanks to the leaders.


       “ Going to the mountains, is going home” ........ John Muir.
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