North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Hanging On

Detail from woodland in Muckross House and Gardens, just outside Killarney, Co. Kerry.

"Ye're right to be heading home", said our taxi driver on Sunday night, "sure, would ye look at that", as a young lass the size of Idaho tottered in front of his car dressed in a Munster jersey and very little else. It's been nearly 2 decades since I visited Killarney, and I was down for the long weekend to do some hiking and hopefully see some native wildlife of a different sort.

As it turned out , I managed to see both a red deer and a red squirrel within 30 minutes of each other on Monday morning near Ross Castle…by nearly running over them in the car. Apart from the jaw-dropping number of hotels and guesthouses clustered around the town, Killarney is staggeringly beautiful at this time of year with the Autumn colours and the dramatic cloudscapes. For a place that depends so dearly on tourism, a few things surprised me:-

(1) There were still plenty of jaunting cars operating. None that I passed on the road had either a light or a reflector, despite operating in darkness

(2) The Gap of Dunloe is an internationally promoted part of the Ring of Kerry, and a wonderful drive. If you approach it from the far end (I.e. from the Black Valley and driving north), you won't see a single sign for it. Better still, Kerry County Council are resurfacing it, so on a Bank Holiday weekend, tourists are forced into the verge or have to do plenty of revering to make way for a constant flow of sand trucks

(3) For one of the main starting points to hike up to Carrauntoohil (Glancuttaun Upper), there isn't a single parking spot provided. It's one of the busiest climbing routes (outside of Wicklow), you have to drive there, and it hasn't occurred to anyone to level a bit of ground to provide safe parking.

Despite several warning signs by Kerry Mountain Rescue, people still insist on hiking in the Reeks without adequate preparation or in very small groups (groups of 4 are recommended). On the day we did Carrauntoohil, a young couple tagged along with us because they were lost. We found them on the Caher ridge, one thousand metres up in zero visibility drizzle, and one of the two didn't have waterproof gear. In fact, we came across a few groups of pairs and, while they were probably experienced climbers, two people climbing face a dilemma if one of them gets into difficulties - stay or go for help ?

By European standards, the Reeks (or indeed any Irish mountain range) are not high. But they can be dangerous - during Christmas 2004, two climbers died - both were climbing alone, and one of them, a Swede, has never been found [UPDATE Nov 02 2006: It looks like the remains of the Swedish climber have finally been discovered].

When I was driving home yesterday, the news had a report that a family had to be rescued off Torc mountain just outside Killarney. It's only just over 500 metres and there is a well-defined path, but even the best path can't be seen in the dark.

Despite the rain, the climbing was good fun on both days, and we even got to see a bit of scenery between the showers and the fog.

Camera = Canon 5D , lens = Canon 100-400mm@400mm, ISO=250, aperture=f5.6, speed=1/640 sec.

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Posted by Monasette at October 31, 2006 01:28 PM