Reeks 2004 - De La Salle Scout Group Expeditions Series

Reeks 2004

Above: Brian Walsh ascends Screig Mhor in the Reeks with Loch Iarthair, Loch Com Lothair, Loch Iachtair and Loch an Chuais all visible below.

The Macgillycuddy Reeks are Ireland's most captivating mountain range. They of course include Corran Tuathail (1039 metres) - the nation's highest peak and also some of the best mountain routes in the country. After a recent winter hike in the Comeraghs, Maurice Kavanagh, Barry Kelly and Brian Walsh (the Senior Patrol Leader's of the 7th) had their minds made up to make their first trip to the range. They decided to allow the prodigal leader, Colm Ennis to drive the car and carry the kishu and so they had the exact same team that had made the long trip to the Donegal Suas way back in 2001. Warnings issued on the way down to Killarney included advice from the shop assistant in Statoil in Ballincollig not to chance eating their sandwiches the day after purchase and also from Brian to Maurice that in no way would he swap his place in the front seat even if it resulted in Colm crashing the car.

Above: Com Lothoir in The Macgillycuddy Reeks.

The An Oige youth hostel in Fossa, just outside Killarney is probably one of the best in the country. It contained, as hostels often do, a large group of loud Germans who were sitting around laughing at the television even though it was switched off. It also had a games room where despite everybody's best efforts, Maurice could not figure out how to play Junior Scrabble. Colm would be legendary in the unit for insisting on early starts and so it was that the alarm on Maurice's phone went off at 6.20am and woke everybody in the hostel apart from its owner who was asleep just inches away. Eventually people were dragged out of bed, breakfast was had and the car was loaded.

Above: A Russian looking Maurice Kavanagh photographed while descending from Corran Tuathail.

The intended route for the day was the classic Com Lothair horseshoe which is described as the finest ridge walk in Ireland and includes Ireland's three highest mountains. We made it to the starting point near Loch an Chuais before 8.00am. After a while Barry Kelly was noticed searching nervously in a very small bag for a very large pair of boots. Needless to say they were back in the hostel. The car was turned around and a rabbit was run over and an hour or so later we were walking up the very steep track to the hydroelectric installation at Lock Iochtair.

Above: The lads in the mist on the summit of Corran Tuathail and Below: Shock horror, a 2 litre bottle of coke on Ireland's highest point.

Some easy scrambling brought us to the rugged summit of Cnoc Iochtair before we dropped to the grassy gap beneath Screig Mhor. Barry and Colm were both spotted running uphill at this point and that's never a good sign. The lads kept up however and as we ascended the slopes of Binn Chaorach and entered the clouds, the spectacular view down into Com Lothair disappeared. From Binn Charaoch you normally get a great view of the ridge across to Corran Tuathail and also down into the Eagles nest below. Neither could be seen but as we started to cross the ridge there was no mistaking the feeling of having 500 metres of steep slopes falling away on either side of you. There is a track running across most of the ridge but we kept to the skyline the whole way and even scrambled to the top of the last rocky pinnacle.

Above: Brian looks into the slopes overlooking Loch Com Lothoir and Below: Brian, Barry and Maurice descend into Com Lothair

From the top of O'Shea's gully to the summit of Corran Tuathail always takes a good bit of effort. Barry was well in the lead but eventually we all arrived. You could see the once green cross and the shelter cairn and that was about it. It was the first ascent of the mountain for the three SPLs but they would have to wait for another day for a view from the summit. At lunch, Colm was of course horrified to see a 2 litre bottle of coca cola on the mountain but had no difficulty accepting donations of jelly tots, munchies, jaffa cakes, fruit pastilles and all the other junk that he wouldn't buy himself. After our summit photograph we headed down through the mist in the direction of Cathair (1001m), our third peak of the day.

Above: The view from inside the Beehive shelter near the summit of Cathair.

There are actually three summits on Cathair which can be a little confusing. The last at 975 metres has a little beehive shelter in which the lads were tempted to bury Brian. They held off however and we made good time descending down the bouldery slope which overlooks Loch Com Lothair and Loch Iarthair. After taking it easy for a while at Loch Iochtair we headed back down the track to the car. Maurice of course couldn't resist the temptation of a shortcut (he'll learn) and we finished the route in a very respectable seven and a half hours.

Above: Colm Ennis overlooking Com Lothair.

Back at the hostel cooking was voted down in favour of eating out. Unfortunately the restaurant didn't do profiteroles as a main course but what they did do was pretty tasty. We resorted to cards back at the hostel and played "Hags Glen", the rules of which are too complicated to explain but involves placing your hand on your nose at speed. Sunday's route was to take us in to the Hags Glen and a positive forecast from a lady reading very slowly on Met Eireann's 1550 service meant a gully at the back of Loch Coimin Mor was on the cards before a traverse of the Cnoc na Peiste ridge.

Above: Brian and Barry at Loch Cailli in the Hags Glen.

We were the first arrivals at Cronins Yard the next morning and followed An Caol Dubh in the direction of the prominent ridge called The Bone. The weather had started to take a turn for the worst and we scrambled up the Bone for a while before finally deciding it was more a day for staying at a low level. Eventually we contoured in to the seldom visited Loch Coimin Mor. Brian reckoned it would be a great spot for a house or at least the base camp of an MPC. Who knows? We followed the river down into Loch Cailli and eventually picked up the track that leads along the side of the Gaddagh.

Above: An abandoned pair of boots in the Hags Glen and Below: Skimming stones on Loch Cailli.

A lady in heels and white trousers wandering up the track, an abandoned pair of old hiking boots, Maurice falling in the river and also Maurice ripping his trousers to bits were the high points of the route. Next time we would hopefully get better weather and take a crack at the unit record for the entire Hags Glen Horseshoe. On the way home Maurice pronounced that Colm was driving an old man's car and that it was a bad sign when he had to turn down Eminem. Perhaps. Overall it was a very successful first trip to the Reeks for the lads and hopefully there is lots more good mountaineering to come.

Above: The Hags Glen with the summits shrouded in cloud.

Entrance | Group News | Guestbook | Scouting

Outdoors | Questions | Programme