oldsoldier on Dromderalough

On Sat 1 aug 2009, I decided to return to a place where I practiced my map reading and navigation during my ML. I parked my car in the upper car park of Torc Waterfall and followed the old kenmare road as far as Friars glen and onto Cores, and made a beeline for the col below Dromderalough. This is an hard route as I had to constantly avoid water between high grass tossacks and rolling spurs. I crossed the stream just below the col and followed a deer path virtually to the top. The view of the Iveragh and Beara peninsulas and the Slieve mish mountains is beyond description and made the effort all the more worthwhile. This took just under two and a half hours. After a well deserved lunch I contoured on Mangerton, passed close, on my left, to the small lake in Ferta and made my way across and down to a very obvious break in the lower skyline at B (V9655 8345) leading down to the forest and the car park. It is a long time since I descended by this gully. It has wooden steps in places and joins with an old forest track that leads back down to the old Kenmare road. Follow this track as it wriggles it way down the hillside, keep left at all junctions until you meet the Kenmare road. Turn right here and the car park is 100 metres away. A super walk and two more peaks bagged. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/194/comment/3988/

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Rough Walking in Untouched Wilderness

Having previously been deterred by a series of very intimidating signs from ascending Cnoc Breac and Drom Doire Loch from the southern Kilgarvan/Mangertonbeg side, we set out instead from the Old Kenmare Road, parking just south of the bridge at C (V915 796). Armed with Paddy MacMonagle's 1980's vintage 'Mac's Guide to the Outback of Killarney', we headed in the Killarney direction until we reached the red roofed shed at the back of Cromaglan at around D (V929 808). We then headed cross country across the indistinct ridge taking in Stumpa Coimín, Loch na Beag Leice, Loch Gabhlán Coimín and eventually reaching Triangle Lake and Loch Caol near the summit. Very rough and isolated country. Took around 3 hours to reach the summit. Great views especially onto the Black Valley and the Reeks beyond. En route we encountered red deer on several occasions, their rutting season calls ringing across the hill side. We continued from the summit to Cnoc Breac and thence via the Loch na mBreac Dearg valley to Cnoc Ramhar and from there back to our starting point. Six tough hours overall. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/194/comment/14855/

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Here we go again

Ah yes...The Dromderaloughs...in cloud and rain...'climb me once, shame on thee, climb me twice, shame on me'.
I had climbed Dromderalough some years ago in Autumn, in cloud and rain, using Paddy Dillon's guide to the 2000 footers. It was before I found the MV website and realised there was another top, NE top, which is higher, so I knew that I would have to return some day. Then an MV member (?) showed that there was a third top, the NW top, exceeding the 600m mark. So, on the May Bank Holiday monday, following two days of heat and sunshine I set off again from Limerick and completed the route from the South...in cloud and rain...again. I used an approach from the South, from Kilgarvan, and although there is a 'No Trespassing' sign near the start, if you keep to the East bank of the stream coming down from the plateau, there are no signs on this side. I suspect that when the Gods was making the mountains around here, they used the Dromderaloughs as the 'Works Yard'...all the bits of rocks, tussocks, hillocks, ponds and lakes that were not used in the Reeks and Mangerton, were just left behind, randomly...I understand that the views from here are very fine. The Dromderaloughs...Ah yes. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/194/comment/19914/

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mart on Dromderalough

I approached this mountain and Knockbrack beside from a small road on the Kenmare end of Kilgarvan. This road ends at a forestry entrance and nearby there are several large notices saying that trespassers will be prosecuted. I can't imagine that there is much of a problem as this is the unfashionable end of the Kerry mountains. You have to leave the main roads to even see them. The climb is straightforward and the hills are very quiet but popular with red deer. I saw a few myself. I made my climb after 3 weeks of dry weather and was impressed to find plenty of squelchy ground left. The normal conditions were also indicated by very deep valleys carved by some of the streams. The tops offer a good view of the Kenmare-Killarney district.
It looks like walking on to Mangerton itself would be a simple enough matter from here. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/194/comment/974/

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