Mangerton x3 |25th February | 11th March | 1st April

It happened lately that we visited Mangerton 3 times in the last few weeks.
First was our scheduled trip on 25th February which was this time a bit shorter than expected... They say that the last word always belongs to the mountain. And it's not only true for the big ones, smaller mountains and hills have their right to say that last word too.

Waves in the Punch Bowl

When we started walking the weather looked quite promising. It didn't take us long to get to the Devil's Punch Bowl. There was only three of us, so we could set a good strong pace and enjoy some nice workout to get the heart pumping :)

At the Punch Bowl the weather started changing dramatically. It still seemed to be good enough to continue, but we soon found out that we were wrong. As soon as we started climbing up to the summit, we started struggling keeping ourselves upright. The wind gusts were unreal... I saved myself from falling a few times using my poles. Even Denis couldn't stay on his feet and soon when we were about half way up from the Punch Bowl to the top, he said turn back. There was no point in going any further. Mangerton is one of the places that we visit quite often and this time the thick cloud didn't want to leave the summit so there was no chance for any views anyway.

We carefully walked back down to the shelter near the Punch Bowl and we had our lunch before going back to the car park. We could feel some drizzle coming from time to time, but it wasn't rain... The Devil was shaking his bowl with anger and spilling his punch on top of us...
When we were nearly down at the car park we met a group with maps in their hands going up. We later found out that they were doing Mountain Skills 2 course there that  day and stayed there till late evening. They definitely got a good training in that tough conditions... Well done:)

On Sunday, 11th March, we had a scheduled Carrauntoohil climb but after meeting in the morning and checking the forecast Denis decided to do Mangerton instead. Two were going do do Clara but as well but in the end all five decided to do Mangerton together. They had better luck this time with the weather and even a chance to see some views from the top.

On Easter Sunday, 1st April, we were planning to climb Carrauntoohil, but after checking the forecast in the morning, we changed our mind and did Mangerton again instead. This climb is much shorter than Carraunttohil, so we had a better chance to escape before the worst weather started.

We had to face strong winds at the Punch Bowl again, but this time we didn't give up and decided to go to the top from the other side, which means turning left and going around the lake first. That side feels a bit more sheltered from strong gusts and the climb itself it's more gradual apart of the last steeper section.
The top wasn't as windy as the lake level which was a surprise.
Coming back down to the lake the windy side was very challenging but we manages to save ourselves from falling. After lunch in the shelter we headed down to the car park and off for a pint at the Oaks Hotel:)


Some nice photos taken by our new member Joanna: