One of the things I’ve noticed when climbing hills with masts or wind turbines on top are the signs that warn of the danger of ice falling from them. I have never really needed to pay much attention to those signs until yesterday.

I was walking up the access road up to Truskmore. At the beginning of the road was a sign warning people to stay 200 metres from the mast due to the possibility of falling ice. There was relatively heavy snow lying on the ground, particularly above 200 metres. For the couple of hours that I was on the mountain there was frequent falls of snow and the temperature was freezing. Near the summit visibility was down to less than 50 metres, as snow and fog combined to create a blanket of white all around. As I neared the summit I heard a repeated cracking sound, which at first I thought was gunfire. But knew there couldn’t be hunters out in these conditions. Each cracking sound would be followed seconds after by either a ‘whumph’ or a banging sound. I reached a gate at the summit and the massive guy wires supporting the mast materialised. Mine were the only footprints in the blanket of snow, but I was puzzled by dozens of other random scuff marks in the snow. Just as I realised that I must be well within the 200 metre danger zone I discovered what all the noise was, and what the marks were. Large sections of ice were falling from the guy wires and mast. That accounted for the cracking sound, as the wind ripped the ice off. The heaviest lumps of ice fell straight down onto the roof of the building below, with the expected crashing sound. Smaller pieces were carried by the wind away from the mast where they landed on the snow. The impact resulted in the ‘whumph’ sound and caused the random scuff marks I had noticed.

Just as I realised all of this I was hit be some minor pieces of ice – larger than hailstones, but not big enough to hurt. I retreated rapidly to where only the smallest lumps of ice were landing. The massive mast was hidden in the freezing fog, and it was eerie listening to the sound of cracking and falling ice emanating from the whiteness around me. I had my camera out but knew that photographing fog was useless. As if sensing my wish to be able to see what was going on, the cloud magically lifted for a moment and revealed the frozen mast. As I took my photograph I witnessed a large length of ice plummet from the heights. It must have been 12 feet long and it split into several pieces as it fell. The majority of it went straight down, but the wind carried several pieces straight in my direction. I beat a hasty retreat and didn’t look back as I heard the ice impacting in the snow behind me. I will certainly be much more wary of the possibility of falling ice for the remainder of the winter! Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/201/comment/4382/