Stephen's Day's wintry experience | Carrauntoohil | The very last walk of 2017

There was a lot of comments made in social media after Stephen's Day about the safety of hill walking in bad wintry weather. Some of them were saying that people should check the forecast and not go to the mountains in this conditions at all. Some of them wanted walkers to pay for the rescue action if  one gets lost or injured while risking hiking during snow warning. Well, first of all, we do check the forecast and we know what to expect. Well, most of us... We're talking about regular experienced hill walkers, not occasional chancers in runners. Why do we still go?

Winter in the Reeks

We don't get much winter in Ireland.  But some of us love it and only wait till the white stuff finally covers the mountains for one or more days... Some of us will gear up and run up there straight away after seeing 'heavy snow' in the forecast. I'm one of them. And not the only one in our club. Is it safe?

Mountains are never 100% safe. You can injure yourself on a sunny day or get lost in warm summer fog. Is winter more dangerous than summer? Yes. And that's why you need to be more careful, more experienced and have more gear. And of course have very good navigational skills. If you don't feel comfortable in strong cold winds and very poor visibility, stay home and wait for the spring.

The way to O'Shea's Gully

So, on Christmas Day we checked the weather forecast and smiled. Heavy snow - YES, we're going tomorrow! The car park was quite busy as climbing Ireland's highest on Stephen's Day is a popular thing to do. We took off and headed towards the Hag's Glen in light drizzle. We decided to chance O'Shea's Gully. We could see a bit of dusting at the upper part of it but nothing major. When we got to the first rock step, the drizzle started turning into snow and at it was nice and soft for a while.... But soon we were higher, more exposed to the wind and the snow was heavier every minute. The visibility wasn't too bad as far as the lake but as soon as we started climbing up the gully it was just worse and worse every minute and, what was making our progress really difficult, was the wind blowing all the snow up he gully and straight into our eyes. And that was the one and only day when I forgot my glasses... I won't make that mistake again! Glasses or goggles are a must in the winter.

The snow was extremely soft, but luckily no ice underneath it. 

near the summit...

Misty summit selfie

Snow blizzard near the top

All the way from the top of the gully to the summit we were moving in zero visibility and the path was non existent. I stopped for a minute to fix my sticks and when I started walking again I couldn't see my companions footprints anymore... and I couldn't see them. Now we were  in the middle of a full blown blizzard. We only took one picture at the top and met no one there. It was even hard to keep the camera lens clear... Straight away without stopping we started our descent. The original plan was to go down the Heavenly Gates, but our leader Denis decided to escape quick via Devil's Ladder. It can be extremely dangerous in this conditions but it's fast, straightforward and with an easy access just in case anything bad happens. Heavenly Gates Route has a steep and dangerous section as well and we didn't feel like doing the Zig Zags because this route involves more climbing and it's much longer than the other routes.

The Ladder was quite busy and everyone was moving extremely carefully. Once again I missed my glasses so much.... I couldn't stop cursing in my head. We made it back to the Hag's Glen and we couldn't even recognize the place. It was all white and even the car park was white and about 15 cm of snow on our car (!) That's how heavy the snow was that day.

It was one of the days when you get tougher and get experience. A day to remember.

An Important Notice

When we were changing our wet clothes at the car park, Kerry Mountain Rescue Team's Land Rover arrived. It wasn't a surprise for us as the conditions were extremely challenging. We later found out that there was 4 rescue actions all together on Stephen's Day...

We realize that there's a lot of walkers going up there in wrong gear and not prepared, but even an experienced hill walker in a proper gear can have an accident.

Some of Kerry Mountain Rescue Team members were out hiking themselves that day. 

Some of us like wintry conditions and challenging ourselves. Of course the experience is essential but you're not gonna get any experience in navigation if you only go out when the sun is shining.

Enjoy the winter, stay safe.

The last walks of 2017 | Cummeenapeasta Ridge | Carrauntoohil | Tyrolean Alps | Giant's Mountains

In the last months of 2017 some of us were busy with other things, especially this blog's author who got married and had to go to Poland 4 times during the year and even got as far as the Alps by accident... 

The blog got a little bit neglected, but not forgotten. 

And It's finally back! :)

Alpine View

We did a few nice walks since our last post and a few in very bad weather conditions. I discovered some nice new places abroad for future club trips as well.

But from the beginning...

22nd July 2017 | Eastern Reeks, Cummeenapeasta Ridge

Walking down the Bone

Denis leading to Cummeenapeasta Lake

On that Sunday, myself and Denis did Cummeenapeasta Ridge starting at Cronin's Yard. We were hoping to see the views this time (we did a part of this ridge earlier while doing the whole Reeks Range and we had to go down earlier due to bad weather). At Cummeenapeasta lake near the memorial plate of  the plane crash, we met two nice guys, Tim and Ruaidhri who joined us later and showed us the exact place where the engine of Douglas C-47 Skytrain was. We all walked down there on our way back and enjoyed some stories while having our lunch. If you want to know more about the plane crash itself, here'e a good video: The Lost Skytrain

We found the engine!

Misty ridge...

But before we got there, we climbed up Cruach Mhor and scrambled the ridge to The Big Gun and Knocknapeasta and then we walked as far as Maolan Bui where we begun our descent via The Bone. The ridge itself was enjoyable but windy and with no views again. It's a lovely scramble if you like this kind of things, we'll be back there in 2018 for sure.

That was my last walk before I got married. The rest of the club climbed Carrauntoohil on 6th of August, Brandon on 20. August which as far as I know was wet and windy. Later on 3rd September, they tried to complete our annual 5 Peaks Challenge but they had no luck with the weather again and only did The Paps which is the first part of the challenge. They tried their best as always.

17th September was the next day out which I missed again, because of my trip to Poland which ended in Austria after visiting Germany an Czech Republic... While the club was climbing Carrauntoohil, I was just back in Poland after exploring new routes in  Tyrolean Alps...

15th September | Wankspitze loop, Miemingen Range, Tyrol, Austria

Zugspitze 2962 m

It all happened because the weather forecast for Tatra Mountains was very bad. We were planning the trip there for a weekend. Instead of that we just decided to go different direction, packed my brother's bedroom-on-wheels, bought 2 guide books and a map on the way and off we went, making plans on the road. Our goal was to do one or two via ferrata routes and check what is there for a regular hillwalker non-climber as well. We took the motorway all the way down to Munich and slept at the car park about half way between Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Early in the morning we headed South towards Austrian border and it was a cracker of a day with the sun shining down the alpine slopes making them look just magnificent... We passed Zugspitze to the left, the highest point of Germany, leaving it for the next time and after about an hour we arrived at our destination point, the village of Holzaiten at the bottom of Mieming Range. We parked at Arzkasten Guest house (1150 m.a.s.l)

Lehnberghaus 

We walked about 2,5 hours following roads and trails to the valley, passing a lovely little mountain hut (Lehnberghaus) and from there to the col where we geared up as it was the starting point of our Wankspitze Nordgrat Via Ferrata. Nice and not too difficult B/C graded with a spectacular view point near the summit (2209 m.as.l.). Some parts are very exposed, but that's what we love. From there we could see all the trails in the valley below. It was quite frosty and windy up there even in the sun. On our way down we found another breathtaking view spot, from where we could see higher parts of the Alps all covered with snow, just a perfect view...

Wankspitze Via Ferrata

We spend the night in the car again and it was a cold one. And forecasted night rain came as well. We woke up early in the morning and were devastated because it was too wet to do any more ferrata routes. We started checking the weather app looking for a dry spot... Our hearts wanted to go more South... Italy... Bolzano...?  Maybe Dolomites? No, rain showers everywhere... We decided to drive back towards German border and have a look at the little town under Zugspitze still on Austrian side, called Ehrwald and we spent some nice time there. We begun our journey back home stopping in Munich preparing to start their Oktoberfest.

Tyrolean Alps is one of the places we have to visit some year. There's a lot of marked hillwalking trails there with some nice mountain huts on the way. 

But before that we have a trip to Poland planned for May 2018...

The view spot near the summit of Wankspitze

15th October | Carrauntoohil Night Climb

That day I finally rejoined Hard Core Hillwalkers again for the night climb of Carrauntoohill. The goal was as usual to see the sunrise. Now, we already tried two times last year in the Summer with no luck, so this year we moved this event to the Autumn... Well, it wasn't a good idea as it was a complete washout... We still enjoyed it and had lots of fun especially when meeting people going up early in the morning and seeing their surprise when finding that they're not the first ones there on the day :) Apart of that short video we have no good photos, because there was nothing to photograph that day really. Nothing but the fog... And our prosecco at the bottom of the Devil's Ladder :)

15th November | Karkonosze (Giant's Mountains) | route planning for May 2018

In November I was back in Poland and this time I used my chance to walk through snow covered Giant's Mountains (Karkonosze) and think about the route for us for May... I stayed in a mountain hut for the night and enjoyed peace and quiet with a cup of tea and a map in my hands... Planning... And I've planned... All the six days of it!

I started from my father's house in Kowary town and followed the road to the forestry office called Jedlinki and from there to the place where long ago existed a settlement called Budniki. I'll write a bit more about the place when we get there with the club. My route after that point started climbing up to the main ridge, which I followed as far as Śnieżka Mountain and walked down to Dom Śląski mountain hut where I spent the night. The next day I walked to Lucni Bouda, Czech Hotel with the highest located brewery in Central Europe (1410 m.a.s.l.) Nice place to stay with the club for one night :) From there i just followed the trail down to Karpacz town, passing two other mountain huts, Strzecha Akademicka and Samotnia.

On the way to Śnieżka Mountain

Lucni Bouda Hotel visible in the distance (top right) .We'll be staying there for one night in May

Weather Station on the top of Śnieżka 1603m

The top of Śnieżka. I couldn't resist :)

The very last climb of the year was Carrauntoohil again on Stephen's Day, but there will be a separate story about it here soon...