Maumturks Sionnach 2004 - De La Salle Scout Group Expeditions Series

Maumturks Sionnach 2004

Above: The team from the 7th on the Maumturks Sionnach from L-R Ian Grant, Michael Kavanagh, Barry Kelly, Eoin Kelly and Colm Ennis.

The route outline for the Maumturks Sionnach promised an area full of cliffs, streams, mountain heather and quartzite rock. It also says to arrive at the car park (in the depths of Connemara) between 20.00 and 22.00 on Friday night. When you are starting in Waterford that's easier said than done and if we were to write a route outline it would promise scouts: a boot so heavy that the back of the car kept hitting the ground, a music selection full of Jimmy Hendrix and Bob Marley, Michael Kavanagh almost being arrested by a burly Slovakian at a Statoil garage (why?), an examination of the literary greatness of Zoo magazine, an investigation into the culinary achievement that is a large garlic and cheese fries at Supermacs in Gort and a discussion on the five greatest cars of all time. Who has ever even seen a Nissan Skyliner? We also learnt the secret of how to break into Ian Grant's house as he ducked back in to retrieve the boots that he would surely have forgotten but for Colm's usual: "Now has everybody got..."

Above: A view of Lough Inagh and Derryclare from Base Camp.

There was some discussion about whether we were lost for a while but we arrived at the starting point without a single handbrake turn or emergency stop. During the tough interrogation that is the Sionnach gear check Eoin Kelly seemed a bit unsure as to the precise location of his wet gear leggings but eventually his brother managed to sort him out and we were off up the track towards base camp.

Above: Preparing to set off from Base Camp.

After we left the Western Way we crossed a river and headed up over rough ground towards a few distant head torch lights. It was noted that the so called leader took an unprecedented backwards fall into the mud. The camping area was good and boggy and perfect for pitching hydras with the wrong poles, wrong flysheets and not enough pegs (well done Maurice and John). There was a spectacular moon but a less spectacular amount of sleep.

Above: The well drained location of High Camp.

As Team I (that's aye) we checked out for the tough ascent up the river to high camp where we would be repitching the tents before heading off on the day hike. Michael Kavanagh started to struggle after a while so a halt was called to investigate why. Michael had set two new records. The first for having the heaviest ever rucksack carried by a human being and the second for carrying more liquid on his back than six camels.

Above: A well hydrated Michael Kavanagh.

His 9 litre record included 2 litres of water, 2 litres of coke, 2 litres of tango, 2 litres of Lucozade (+ 33% extra free) and a litre of milk. He also had enough High Five Carbohydrate mix to make another 12 litres of high energy drinks. As we were neither in the midst of a drought, nor on an eight day expedition or even about to run the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara desert, Colm intervened and emptied at least four litres to start off with. Now Michael could walk.

Above: At Loughaunnagrevagh.

There was a gale blowing at high camp and all tents were being secured with plenty of rocks. After elevenses and convincing Barry to carry a load of gear, we checked out for the day hike. We continued to follow the stream up to Loughaunnagrevagh. From there we navigated across to the impressive sounding Col 1 before picking up a ridge that would lead us to the summit of Binn Bhriocain (Letterbreckaun).

Above: Michael Kavanagh above the Beal Atha na mBrac valley.

We got in to a kishu (emergency shelter) for a while at the ridge top and discussed hypothermia and also why Ian Grant's hair, however long, is not better than a decent hat. It was getting very wild and windy on the ridge and we were sorry to get of the kishu.

Above: Not hypothermic but glad to be in the kishu.

We were given the option of continuing to the top or not and we decided to keep on going. A few guys from Shannon were just in front of us at the top of Binn Bhriocain where Ian challenged Colm to a final sprint to the summit cairn.

Above: On the summit of Binn Bhriocain.

There was a great view of Connemara from the top and as well as a great view of the Twelve Bens and the rest of the Maumturks we could also lakes, rivers, ponds and puddles all over the place. It's wild and it's wet. The Sionnach staff tried to educate us on the weather for a while and an examination of the clouds led us to guess that it would remain fine for all of about 30 minutes (we were fairly close). After throwing a few rocks in the lake and capturing a few beetles for lunch we headed back down the ridge and the col before the ascent to Mam Ean.

Above: Environmental art from the 7th's artistic team.

We met Dave, the organiser on the way who was wondering whether we were first or had another team perhaps walked over a cliff in front of us. Who knows? The guys from Shannon overtook us after Barry fell flat on his face in a boghole but Colm and Barry would not be beaten and had to sprint to the summit and were greeted on their arrival by the two Ladies of the Mountain. They encouraged us to create a bit of environmental art before we headed off towards Col 2. From there we made the steep descent back down to High Camp.

Above: Being shown the descent route with na Beanna Beola in the background.

It took Ian Grant 62 minutes to win his first game of Switch which is not bad going seeing as how nobody would tell him the rules. There is nothing quite like taking it easier for a couple of hours at high camp and Ian Grant even made a good attempt at breaking Ian Sinnott's remarkable record of 26 hours and 15 minutes for unbroken time spent in a tent on the side of a mountain. He was eight hours short but it was a good try.

Above: Ian Grant on the ascent to High Camp.

Saturday night was windy and wild and the mist joined the fun on Sunday morning. The ascent of Maumahoge was abandoned in favour of a controlled descent back down to the river to the car park. As we took down the tents, Barry of course lost half his walking pole which had been used a huge tent peg for his out of shape hydra. Before we departed there was a get together of everybody on the Sionnach and a few were looking a bit the worse for wear. There was a warm up with the hokey cokey before we were assigned our river descent guides. We were the last to leave high camp as we were kind of fast but still managed to overtake all the other teams and arrive back at the carpark first.

Above: Returning to Col 1 before the ascent of Mam Ean.

On the way down Michael fell in a river as predicted and for some reason Barry Kelly's rucksack started playing Thin Lizzy every time he landed heavily on the ground. After being awarded our badges the next big challenge was to stuff everything which was now wet and boggy, back into the car. To prepare for our next major expedition, we stopped in Shannon on the way back for a bit of indoor climbing. After we figured out how to use a 'gri gri' we did fairly well at it with Ian getting full marks for his stylish ascent of the overhang.

Above: No hassle with the overhang.

On a Monday, to check if you have had a good scout weekend, you must at least have (a) plenty of filthy washing for your mother, (b) tents that take a week to dry out, (c) trangias with pasta burnt to the end of the pots and (d) boots that are only fit to be thrown in the fire. We of course had them all.

Above: The elite team from the 7th De La Salle.

For more information on Sionnachs check out our Outdoors and Expedition pages and www.sionnach.org.

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