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...