Cnoc na Toinne is an often overlooked saddle shaped peak nestling among giants of 900m+; nonetheless, at 845m it is higher than many more noted tops, including Mangerton, Nephin and Mweelrea. Given its position, it is rarely climbed by itself, but more usually as part of a traverse of the Reeks Ridge, in either direction. From the more usual, east to west direction, it is the last peak before the descent towards the top of the Devil's Ladder and the climb to Carrauntoohil.

The top of the zig-zags, probably the easiest route onto this side of the Reeks, is about 350m east of the summit, along its ridge. Given the current state of the Ladder, the zag-zags are a more sustainable route to Carrauntoohil itself; however, as you must then descend some 150m to the head of the Ladder before beginning the final climb to Carrauntoohil, it does add to the overall ascent. The views from the zig-zags however, more than compensate. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/23/comment/4783/

If you have traversed the eastern Reeks from Cruach Mhòr, you will reach the last 3000 foot summit in this section- Cnoc an Chuillinn. From this height you next gaze down upon smaller Cnoc na Toinne. Viewing it from the lofty realm of Cnoc an Chuillinn, and framed against the backdrop of the mighty trio of Carrauntoohil, Beenkeragh and Caher, it is easy to dismiss Cnoc na Toinne as a mere minnow amongst giants. It is perhaps worth pausing to consider that Cnoc na Toinne actually ranks as the 23rd highest mountain in Ireland, and is higher than Mweelrea, Nephin, Mangerton and Brandon Peak to name but a few notable summits. It is a reflection of what exactly you have just achieved in traversing from Cruach Mhòr when you can look down upon one of Irelands highest mountains and think ‘oh we’re heading down into the hills now!’

The photo shows some of our group descending from Cnoc an Chuillinn towards Cnoc na Toinne to the left, with Ireland’s three highest mountains filling the background. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/23/comment/6616/

Climbing Carrauntoohil! I had been dreaming of it since the first time I came to Ireland, one and a half years ago! And I did it on the 16th of November with Paul and our friend, Yann. We had decided to climb Cnoc na Toinne by a path (new to us) named “the Zig-Zags”, as described in Jim Ryan’s guidebook.
We parked our car at Lisleibane and we took the flat, wide path alongside the Gaddagh River. We knew we would have to cross the outflow of Lough Gouragh, but after heavy rains the river was in spate. To reach Cnoc na Toinne, we had no choice but to cross the river. The river was so deep and the current so strong, we decided to cross bare-foot to keep our shoes and clothes dry. I made the mistake of not tying my shoes together for safety. In the middle of the crossing I let go of one of my shoes in the river and I saw it being swept away by the current. Miraculously, I managed to catch it at the last minute. At least it would be more comfortable to climb Carrauntoohil with one shoe soaked than bare-foot!
The path for the Zig-Zags starts about 200m before the foot of Devil’s Ladder on the left. As the name suggests, it climbs tortuously to the summit of Cnoc na Toinne. It is a very good alternative to the Devil’s Ladder, with quite easy ground on the NW slope of Cnoc na Toinne. Above all, it is a good deal safer than the Devil’s Ladder, but as Jim Ryan says, the main difficulty is to find the start! A few hundred metres farther on, the path becomes more obvious. At the top you gain a smooth, grassy ridge, which is easy to follow to the summit of Cnoc na Toinne. (Walk description continued under Carrauntoohil.) Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/23/comment/3465/

Like denise-vosges we used Jim Ryan's book for details on finding the Zig-zag path. I put his coords into my GPS and they were spot on. We left the path into the Hag's Glen at V812 841 A and climbed the gentle slope to V815 841 B where we picked up the start of the zig-zag path. 2 hours after leaving the car we were at the top, at least an hour quicker than it had taken us to reach the top of The Devil's Ladder last April. We bagged the top of Cnoc na Toinne before returning back along the ridge and onto Cnoc an Chuillinn. Looking back we saw the more direct path... Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/23/comment/3508/

This simulation shows the ridge and environs of Cnoc na Toinne.
Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/23/comment/1182/

Taken from the summit of Carrauntoohil this photo shows the sweep up from the Devils ladder on the extreme right to the long summit plateau of Cnoc na Toinne with the three peaks of Cnoc an Chuillin , Loch Coimin Moir Mountain and Maolan Bui on the left Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/23/comment/1818/