Snow conditions on Lugnaquilla

Jelly2

If anyone was on Lug today I'd be grateful to know what the conditions were like please.

Alun

I wasn't there but even on Mullacor we were getting snowed on in the morning, and some friends who were up on Kippure the same day said it was a white out and couldn't even see the mast until they were about 40m away, so I'd imagine there'd be plenty of snow on Lug if that's what you're wondering.

SNAKEDOC

I climbed camaderry yesterday and the rain turned to snow as we got higher on the ridge from glendalough. The peak was pretty well covered but was also completely cloud covered too i dont imagine too much snow having fallen on lug the bit that does will melt dairly quickly it wasnt a blizzard.

Thargor

I went up there today, Fentons>Camara>Lug, only my second time up to the top and I brought 4 people from work who'd never done it before, think they thought they were headed for a walk in Glendalough or something, they thought we were nearly there when we reached the top of Camara Hill, they couldnt believe how the climb kept going and going, lots of bitching and threats to go back to the jeep every 15 minutes but it was worth it in the end

Lots of snow, not frost either it was proper powder and even a few small drifts to push through, very fresh looking virgin powder, the rain last night must have fell as snow up there. When we reached the snowline visibility dropped to nothing and the going got pretty hard to be honest, nothing major though and I was happy as it was the first white Id seen all Winter.

You can see how it gets dangerous though, there was a good track to follow from a large group of people from the slope to the cairn (who headed off to the south, I thought that was a no-go up there but they looked like professionals) but without that in the zero visibility I probably would have just turned back down at the top of the slope instead of blundering around looking for the cairn, it was a lot further from the trail than I remembered and we were really blind at that stage.

Alun

Due south, well a teensy bit west of south, from the cairn is OK, you'll end up at the top of the Ow Valley, although if they'd come up from Fenton's like yourselves that''d be an odd choice of route.

Jelly2

Thanks everyone for the feedback. In the end, we went up by the south prison, but turned back below the cliff as the conditions didn't allow great navigation through the rock bands. Good trek up anyway along the Ow Valley. Will go up the prison again on a day of better visibility!

Alun

Yes, it can get a bit tricky in the South Prison there depending on your exact route and the conditions. I've been up there in the snow and if you keep a bit more to the right hand side as you look at it it's a lot easier.

WAPAIC

Probably worth saying that t's really not a good idea to go up there if you aren't confident you know how to get back down without following people. There's cliffs everywhere and a military artillery firing range on one side of the mountain which is full of unexploded ordnance. There are much more accessible mountains for those who don't have the navigation skills such as the Spinc route around Glendalough and the boardwalk route up to Djouce from Pier Gates.

Mycroft H

Was up kippure Saturday night and we couldn't see the mast even from the fence of the transmission station when we were turning around.

Snow conditions were just a couple of inches of powder snow which had froze in places. Lug may have a bit more snow depending on the direction of travel.

Halloween Jack

Anybody have any idea what conditions are like in Wicklow currently, heading up Djouce, Tonduff, Maulin on Sunday, just wondering if there's lying snow up there at the momnet.