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/