The Summit

MountainViews newsletter for guestuser

Jan 2020

HILLWALKING
NEWS - INFORMATION - RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS - FEATURES - FORUMS

UPCOMING EVENTS for HILLWALKERS

On the Slieve Binnian plateau (Mournes)

For original track, click here.

The extraordinary two step Iguazu Falls (Brazil/ Argentina)

For original comment, click here.

Selecting Photos for Awards

Regions: MOUNTAIN COMMENTS - TRIP REPORTS - TRACKS - SUMMARIES
In short: Discovery

Pico Viejo Crater

Teide

Roques de Garcia (right of centre)

When The Wind Blows

by magnumpig

MOTLEY GATHERING

The MountainViews ANNUAL, 2018.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book cover.

With their obvious aesthetic attractions and handy location for large population centres, the Mountains of Mourne have long been a very popular venue for outdoors folk. As such they are better served by the guidebook industry than most Irish destinations; for instance there is Paddy Dillon’s ‘The Mournes Walks’ (last updated in 2009) and Adrian Hendroff’s more recent ‘The Mourne and Cooley Mountains: A Walking Guide’ which adds the latter peninsula to the ground covered.

Into the arena now steps Knife Edge Outdoor Guidebooks, the brainchild of former lawyer (we’ll forgive him, probably) turned author Andrew McCluggage, the ‘County Down local’ referenced on the front of the book. He has selected 30 outings, ranging from danders along the beach in Murlough Reserve, through walks in the various forests shagging the foothills of the range, to high mountain epics such as the Mourne Wall Walk. In a group as well-explored as this there’s not many revelatory moments in terms of the routes described (and they are well-described, in a style that’s precise while still actually displaying passion for the places visited), although there were a few occasions where I found myself thinking ‘hmmm, never thought of stringing those bits together quite like that’.

There are also sensible sections on accommodation, getting there and around, weather, kit advice, flora & fauna, geology, even ‘Game of Thrones’ locations, so the standard supplementary info requirements are all decently covered. So far, so ‘normal’…but where this book does genuinely stand out is in the presentation.

A Mournes View on a frosty day.

The 30 walks are in chapters as you might expect, but beyond that expectations need to be adjusted. The route descriptions are accompanied by number bullets to pinpoint locations on the accompanying maps as you pass them (and while on the subject of maps, the ones herein are from the 1:25k OSNI sheets, an excellent inclusion). These maps are just one of numerous inclusions that make the book almost riotously colourful, with photos, tables, diagrams and text also jumping off the page to demand your attention. Margins are often disregarded as content strains to escape the confines of a conventional page layout. This might sound like a recipe for confusion and overload, but the innovations are understood and allowed for by the reader with relatively little effort.

Gripes are minor: some readers might want grid references for landmarks in the text perhaps, and individual maps cover multiple walks; those walks are clearly identified by use of colour, but sometimes you have to flick back and forth a bit to go from the description to the map.

But those really are very minor niggles. Overall this comes very highly recommended; it’s the most visually arresting guidebook I have seen in years.

CHALLENGE
Extreme Achievement

They say that the hardest thing about a success is; to shut up about it. 

So I’ll do that now.

Well, after this post.

At the end of 2016 I had done circa 59,000m in height gain/descent, hill-walking. The distance covered was about 1,100km. In October and November I was off the hills because of injury.  

That was the first year that ViewRanger introduced their ‘Walk 1,600 km’ challenge and the stats at the end of the year showed that I’d also walked about 1,000km ‘on the flat’, so that target was done.

When all this information is laid out before you, you tend to look at what you could do next and how you could improve on the challenge. It was then that I decided to try and do the full 1,600km on open mountain and bring the gain up to 100,000m.

12 Bens and Turks from Lissoughter.

To break that down, you’re talking about doing circa 30km per week and 2,000m gain/descent, on open mountain. So a challenge walk a week like the Turks, or break it into two walks and do the Glencush Horseshoes, twice. Or, to put it in international terms - a bimble up and down the height of Everest once a month. If you have weeks where you’re injured, you have to make up the deficit but you’ll also have weeks where you do two weeks walking in one outing. 

I’ve been fortunate with injuries, insofar as I found someone to ‘fix’ the issues I’ve had with IT bands and Achilles pretty quickly. I packed in the cycling - in 2016 I had done 3,000km, 1,000km in 2017 and zero in 2018 and 2019 - so the repetitive hill-walking motion led to a few regular niggles.

Other than that it’s been a wonderful three years on the mountains of Ireland and three of the Canary Islands. There have been many 3,000m and 4,000+m gain/descent walks but there have also been plenty walks with 1,000m gain/descent, or less.

The most difficult day walks in 2017 would have been the combination of the Maamturks and Joyce Country Challenges and the walk from San Sebastian to Valle Gran Rey via Alajeró on La Gomera. Both of these were over 60km in length. The longest duration for a walk was 19h 28m.

Canary Walking

2018 saw a return to La Gomera and the completion of the GR132 from Valle Gran Rey back to San Sebastian via Vallehermosa, the combination of the Comeragh’s and Knockmealdown’s at the one ‘sitting’, a Galty’s / Knockmealdown’s combo, and a yo-yo of the Galty’s. The longest walk this year was 76km and the longest duration was 16h 28m.

12 Bens, Benbreen to the left.

I had a taste of the 12 Listed Bens in 2018, doing ‘The Twelve’ a few different ways, and in 2019 I was back up there twice altering/tweaking the tracks to see if I could make it easier. No such luck, Benbrack makes this a very difficult walk. The longest walk this year was the Comeragh Challenge at 44km and longest time on the hill was 10h 40m - not the same walk I might add. 

The final year has limited my long(er) walks as I just didn’t have the energy/appetite for them and I think the cumulative effect of the three years may have had an impact. I spent so much time on the Galty’s this last year that I’m on first name terms with the sheep that hang around the Glencush Horseshoe. They now just lift their heads tentatively, look, nod, and resume their grazing. 

There’s no real cost to all of this, except time. It worked out at about 50 days in total over the three years, on the mountains, so I had 1,045 days to be doing something else. 

You draw a comparison as this being akin to doing a Challenge Walk every week. If you'd actually done it that way, which one would you have chosen?

 I don't think I could have done it that way. There would have to have been a bit of range variety to it. Repeating the same 30km 2,000m walk every week, for three years, wouldn't appeal to me. Yes, I'm aware that I've the bones of 35 Glencush Horseshoes done this last year but that was down to proximity and getting 1,040m over 13km each time. That's still only a third of a years target though. If I was to choose a general location to do the whole thing, it would have to be Connemara.    

Have you thought about what you'll do next year? Or are you awarding yourself it off?

I'll have a think about it over the next few weeks. I'd say I'll try and do less frequent walks so that I can conserve a bit of energy for long(er) walks. I've a few ideas on novel, long, challenging walks but I've found the best thing to do with those is not mention them until you've he job done. No pressure that way.  

How do you motivate yourself on those days when you're not in the mood? It's not a matter of not being in the mood.

Hill-walking just makes me happy and like the way I feel during and after it. Every walk is a reward to me. I just love going out and I'm fortunate that I can plan my days on the hills that aren't miserable; weather-wise. I've had days when I don't feel right physically but, after a few steps, I forget about that.

Any wisdom for folks who may be looking to more elongated challenges such as these?

The three biggest impediments to really tough challenging walks are weight, nutrition/liquid and heat. You have to put a lot of thought into what to carry, what to wear, figure out when to do them and what fuel works for you. Plan your walk well, go through it in your head a few times, and never think that you won't finish it.

emVee-Tube

SITE NEWS

CHALLENGE
A place for those interested in Challenge Walking

Challenge Walks Newsletter January 2020

Seeing an incredible 800 prospective applicants for this year's Art Ó Neill Challenge, as always, a biting wind is sure to await the lucky 200 who were fortunate enough to be pulled "out of the hat"!!

And if they are really, really lucky, perhaps a dusting of snow will enchant the last 23km of the Challenge which is over open mountainside. The first 30km departs from Dublin Castle making its way through the night time suburbs of the City and on to Ballynultagh Wood where the fresh air and fresh winds truly begin.

Being over-subscribed four to one is no doubt testament to many a Hardy Challenge Walker who never is going to be subdued by the possibility of inclement weather. Darkness and the month of January make this historical Challenge unique to the Calendar - so the very best of wishes to all the participants on the night that rolls into the early morning and onwards.

The Art O'Neill Challenge takes place on the 17th of January.

Approaching Slievenaglogh

Every bit as historical too is the legend that is Peter Walker! Peter, who has been a valued an active member of MountainViews for an age now, was absolutely not to be daunted by the absence of Walks during the month of December, that he decided simply, to carve out his own! Raising much needed funds to help towards the purchase of a minibus for the wonderful people at Harberton Special School on what was the shortest day of the year - daylight wise of course - just in case there are any seasonal smart-arises out there - although that said, the Challenge Calendar readership has always expressed nothing but kindness and patience to my bad grammar and long-winded rants . . . anyway, back to the shortest day of light when the bauld Peter decided today is the day to saunter off up the Mighty Mourne Mountains on the Winter Solstice.

"In my fevered imagination this was the most contrived-but-still-logical itinerary I could think of in Norn Iron: doing the classic Mourne Wall Walk challenge with the added frisson of minimal daylight. Having arranged sufficient fitness to cover the ground but not enough to do so between dawn and dusk, some decisions needed to be made. I decided to climb Binnian by headtorch and try to time my arrival on the top with the advent of decent light so that the descent towards Wee Binnian (which I strongly advise recceing in advance if you don’t know it, with a maze of tors, slabs and boulders lying in wait) can be seen properly. This also meant that a certain amount of the end of the walk would be in darkness too . . . that amount being determined by how fast I could do the rest of it!

Over the Day, progress was steady rather than sensational, but as others have found once you've completed the frustrating flog up Muck you can settle down for a while into a routine of "down a bit, up a bit" with good conditions underfoot.

The Day progresses and then you have to dig-in for the vicious climb up Bearnagh, the long stepped ascent of Commedagh, and the "final" lengthy plod alongside the wall to gain Donard. I say "final”, but with darkness having gradually overcome daylight on the way over Commedagh there is little doubt that it's the final shlepp back to Carrick Little that's the crux of the day.

The descent from Bearnagh

The descent from Donard’s summit seems exponentially rougher with just torchlight to illuminate, and then the crossing of the Bog of Donard would be horrific without knowledge of where the bogs adjacent to the Wall actually are. Turning the corner under Rocky Mountain might feel like it puts the end in sight, but there’s still a long descent to Annalong Wood where every step needs planning, a plod out to the road along a track that seems straight out of The Blair Witch Project, and then a final road stretch to the car park featuring the sort of hill seemingly placed there by the gods for the craic.

Still, it’s done now. And I’m glad I can say I’ve done it, more than I’m glad I’ve done it if that makes any sense . . . "

Peter Walker.

So if that abridged summary of Peter's endeavours doesn't inspire then you can read the full Comment (with facts, figures, gpx tracks, warts and all) here . . .

/track/4252/

So Onwards and Upwards Boys and Girls!

It's a New Year and a New Decade!

Find your own adventure here on the Challenge Walks Calendar (always inspirational) . . .

/challengecalendar/

Keep Safe and Enjoy your Day!

Jim Holmes and Peter Walker.

Photos : Peter Walker.

SUMMITEERS and PLACE-VISITORS CORNER
A place for those interested in Summiteering, Bagging, Highpointing, visiting islands and coastal places.

This month.
Kudos to our contributors.

NOTICES

• If you are contributing, please be careful to respect the interests of landowners. Suggest access routes well away from houses, gardens or that could conceivably impact farming activities. When walking, keep away from gardens or farm buildings. Use stiles or gates wherever possible. Never do anything that could allow animals to roam where the farmer did not intend. Ask permission where appropriate.
• Take care if parking and do not obstruct roads, lanes and field entrances to access by farm machinery, which can be large. Exercise your dog in parks or forests but avoid countryside or open hillside where they may worry sheep.
• Report suspicious activity to the police forces, as below.
• If your car is broken into in an upland area report it to the PSNI or Gardai as this will help them be aware of the issue and tackle it in future. Store the numbers. In Northern Ireland use the PSNI non-emergency number 0845 600 8000. In the Republic you can find the local Garda District HQs phone numbers at www.garda.ie/Stations/Default.aspx. Specifically for the hotspot of Wicklow: the Garda Divisional Headquarters in Bray is 01 6665300.
• If you hear of a problem area or route, write it up in MountainViews which does everyone a service.
  Report rubbish tipping in the Republic - ring EPA hotline 1850 365 121
  Report recreational quads in national park area (in which they are banned). They are also banned in the Mournes. For Wicklow please phone the Duty Ranger: 087-9803899 or the office during office hours Telephone: +353-404-45800. For the Mournes ring the PSNI (as above) or contact Mournes Heritage Trust. Put these numbers in your phone, take regs etc. Let MV know of contact numbers for other areas.
• If you have visited some of the less well known places, we would appreciate a place rating and also "Improve Grid Ref" for summits and other places.
• If you find errors in the basic information about places such as in their names, their heights, county name etc please use the "Propose Places Database Change" option.
• If we can, let's make MV have more than one route up a summit or to a place so as to reduce the tendency for paths to appear. Your grid refs in comments for different starting points show up on MountainViews maps as well as shared GPS tracks.
• Visit the MountainViews Facebook page.
• Visit the Challenge Walks Ireland page (jointly managed by MountainViews)

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