Scrambling

Halloween Jack

So I completed the coumloghra horseshoe at the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the ridge section over the bones.

I'm aware of a couple of other such routes, the eastern reeks traverse and faha ridge on Brandon.

For anybody who has done either of those, how do they compare to the beenkeragh ridge in terms of exposure etc, furthermore how does the route compare to some of the ridge walks in the UK? Lastly, can anybody recommend similar routes elsewhere in Ireland?

The scramble at the weekend has whetted the appetite so any responses welcome;)

BarryD

You might look out for a guidebook 'Carrauntoohil & MacGillycuddy's Reeks' by Jim Ryan, published by Collins Press in 2006. Has a number of routes like above.

The Beara Peninsula has lots of rough, rocky ground on which you can make up such routes but ditto parts of Connemara, Sligo and Donegal.

Halloween Jack

BarryD wrote: »

You might look out for a guidebook 'Carrauntoohil & MacGillycuddy's Reeks' by Jim Ryan, published by Collins Press in 2006. Has a number of routes like above.

The Beara Peninsula has lots of rough, rocky ground on which you can make up such routes but ditto parts of Connemara, Sligo and Donegal.

Many thanks for the tip!

Carawaystick

The ridge from the top of the Devil's ladder to Cruach Mor is a bit more exposed than the Beenkeragh ridge.

Then there's an easy rock climbing route up Howling ridge -- This is a big step up in difficulty and objective danger, some loose rock.

In Conemara there's Carrot Ridge on Benn Corr in the Inagh valley. It's a rock climb, but 2 grades easier than Howling ridge at Difficult( this is the second lowest rock climbing grade -- you should not need any gear in good weather.

In Wicklow theres the south prison of Lug, & a few gullies on the left side of the fraughen rock glen.

In the Comeragh's there's a mountain you need to scramble/climb to get to the summit, who's name escapes me.

I'd say there's scrambles up the north side of Galtymore too.

Halloween Jack

Carawaystick wrote: »

The ridge from the top of the Devil's ladder to Cruach Mor is a bit more exposed than the Beenkeragh ridge.

Then there's an easy rock climbing route up Howling ridge -- This is a big step up in difficulty and objective danger, some loose rock.

In Conemara there's Carrot Ridge on Benn Corr in the Inagh valley. It's a rock climb, but 2 grades easier than Howling ridge at Difficult( this is the second lowest rock climbing grade -- you should not need any gear in good weather.

In Wicklow theres the south prison of Lug, & a few gullies on the left side of the fraughen rock glen.

In the Comeragh's there's a mountain you need to scramble/climb to get to the summit, who's name escapes me.

I'd say there's scrambles up the north side of Galtymore too.

Many thanks for all the info, regarding the big gun ridge, is it safe to assume that as I found beenkeragh good fun and didn't feel nervous with the exposure, it would be ok to tackle that next?

I've read up a bit about howling ridge it is certainly on my to do list but I think I'd hire a guide as it requires ropes etc.

I hadn't heard of carrot ridge, sounds good.

Regarding fraughan Rock glen myself and a friend made a semi scramble up a gully onto benleagh, which was great fun. It was fairly close to the northern edge of benleagh and we speculated whether or not some of the other gullies could be tackled without ropes

BarryD

Carrot Ridge on Ben Corr is more of a rock climb than a scramble, I would think. The dividing line between climbing and scrambling is vague and depends on your temperament and experience climbing etc. Also most rock climbers would avoid wet, mossy, loose etc. rock which is often the sort of terrain you find in mountain gullies and which can be lethal. So different types of risk. A lot of gullies have hidden steps and steepnesses in them, so take care!

If you're looking for routes like the Beenkeeragh ridge, there aren't a huge number of them in this country, in the sense of a mountain ridge with rocky steps and pinnacles. There's short passages here & there but most people who are looking for that type of terrain end up in gullies and ascending back of coums etc

Halloween Jack

BarryD wrote: »

Carrot Ridge on Ben Corr is more of a rock climb than a scramble, I would think. The dividing line between climbing and scrambling is vague and depends on your temperament and experience climbing etc. Also most rock climbers would avoid wet, mossy, loose etc. rock which is often the sort of terrain you find in mountain gullies and which can be lethal. So different types of risk. A lot of gullies have hidden steps and steepnesses in them, so take care!

If you're looking for routes like the Beenkeeragh ridge, there aren't a huge number of them in this country, in the sense of a mountain ridge with rocky steps and pinnacles. There's short passages here & there but most people who are looking for that type of terrain end up in gullies and ascending back of coums etc

Again, many thanks for the info. I have friends in North Wales, has anybody done crib goch and if so how does it compare to beenkeragh?

BarryD

Halloween Jack wrote: »

Again, many thanks for the info. I have friends in North Wales, has anybody done crib goch and if so how does it compare to beenkeragh?

Quite similar in overall character from my memory of Crib Goch, but you'd expect to meet a lot more people on it Tryfan is also good.

Halloween Jack

BarryD wrote: »

Quite similar in overall character from my memory of Crib Goch, but you'd expect to meet a lot more people on it Tryfan is also good.

Cool thanks again for the info, was up snowdon before from the other side and it left me with the feeling there are too many people on that island;)

Stumpa an tSaimh ridge up to Beenkeragh, North ridge of Mullaghanattin, SW ridge of Hungry Hill, none as exposed as Big Gun or Faha Ridge but all nice and airy.

Howling Ridge is best undertaken with ropes unless you are a little mad or have a lot of experience and nerve. You don't want to try it as your second outing, because unlike Beenkeragh turning back is not an option and if your nerve goes you could be stranded.

Halloween Jack

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Stumpa an tSaimh ridge up to Beenkeragh, North ridge of Mullaghanattin, SW ridge of Hungry Hill, none as exposed as Big Gun or Faha Ridge but all nice and airy.

Howling Ridge is best undertaken with ropes unless you are a little mad or have a lot of experience and nerve. You don't want to try it as your second outing, because unlike Beenkeragh turning back is not an option and if your nerve goes you could be stranded.

Again, thanks a bunch for the great info, sounds like there's plenty to keep me occupied;)

Carawaystick

the british mountaineering council have a few guides, but scrambling is a lot more popular there. very little polished rock here...
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/articles/tag/scrambling

Halloween Jack

Carawaystick wrote: »

the british mountaineering council have a few guides, but scrambling is a lot more popular there. very little polished rock here...
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/articles/tag/scrambling

Thanks a mill, a couple of the Scottish routes look pretty serious!

Have a look at this too, though most are really for rock climbing, even if ropes only needed for short stretches.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QlSvBnnyL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Halloween Jack

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Have a look at this too, though most are really for rock climbing, even if ropes only needed for short stretches.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QlSvBnnyL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Many thanks again, was heading for the south prison on lug today but life intervened....

BarryD

Deleted User wrote: »

Have a look at this too, though most are really for rock climbing, even if ropes only needed for short stretches.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QlSvBnnyL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

That's a book I was trying to recall when giving Jim Ryan's book above. I have/had a copy of Munsters Mountains somewhere.

Thargor

Where is the pic on the cover of that book taken from does anyone know?

EndaHonesty

Thargor wrote: »

Where is the pic on the cover of that book taken from does anyone know?

If you use the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon, for that book, it gives the location of that photo as; "Looking down at Lough Akinkeen from the top of north-east gully, under Knockboy."

EndaHonesty

EndaHonesty wrote: »

If you use the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon, for that book, it gives the location of that photo as; "Looking down at Lough Akinkeen from the top of north-east gully, under Knockboy."

Yep, one of the most spectacular inland cliffs around, there is that route in the book which gets tricky just near the top and an easier diagonal route that runs across the front of the cliff face.

Thargor

Thanks, never even heard of it and Ive passed by it a few times, definitely on the must-do list if we ever get a bit of sun.

Halloween Jack

Might look to pick the book up, although I could probably only make it Kerry etc, once or twice a year....

The standard route up Knockboy is just a walk across a bog from The Priests Leap, from the Caoinkeen side it's a lot more dramatic.

Gasherbraun

Halloween Jack wrote: »

So I completed the coumloghra horseshoe at the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the ridge section over the bones.

I'm aware of a couple of other such routes, the eastern reeks traverse and faha ridge on Brandon.

For anybody who has done either of those, how do they compare to the beenkeragh ridge in terms of exposure etc, furthermore how does the route compare to some of the ridge walks in the UK? Lastly, can anybody recommend similar routes elsewhere in Ireland?

The scramble at the weekend has whetted the appetite so any responses welcome;)

If scrambling is something you love you may want to consider the full Cuillin traverse on Skye. It involves a lot of climbing (some can be avoided depending on route choice) and navigation is far from simple but the route is considered one of the very best in Europe.

In winter is is a very serious route but if you are doing it at any time you should seriously consider a local guide unless you are very competent and confident in your abilities particularly in terms of roped climbing.

Unless you are very fast it may take two days so a bivvy may be required.

Maybe even if you do not feel right for this now it can be a target to aim for..

Halloween Jack

Gasherbraun wrote: »

If scrambling is something you love you may want to consider the full Cuillin traverse on Skye. It involves a lot of climbing (some can be avoided depending on route choice) and navigation is far from simple but the route is considered one of the very best in Europe.

In winter is is a very serious route but if you are doing it at any time you should seriously consider a local guide unless you are very competent and confident in your abilities particularly in terms of roped climbing.

Unless you are very fast it may take two days so a bivvy may be required.

Maybe even if you do not feel right for this now it can be a target to aim for..

That looks awesome, just watched some vids... Winter looks hairy indeed!

Alun

Gasherbraun wrote: »

If scrambling is something you love you may want to consider the full Cuillin traverse on Skye.

Piece of cake, somebody even did it on a mountain bike ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_IQS3VKjA

unkel

Most impressive was to climb over a fence like a boss

Gasherbraun

What this guy did is also very impressive and hard to credit really. I think he is a Skye local so would know the ridge well but still takes some doing in a time of 3:15.

I actually think this time has been reduced further but cannot find the article.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=68133