A grand day out in the west

A Christmas gift had deposited me in the luxury of the Westport Woods Hotel for the weekend, so with some time to spare decided to Traverse the Croagh Patrick Range from East to west, after a very Cold and frosty friday night drove out the R335 to Belclare Bridge. Had to walk up to Western way from here as the side roads were treacherously slippy, the climb up from the Western Way to Crott Mountain was fairly tough as there was Knee deep snow most of the way . From Crott Towards Lugnademon And Croagh Patrick there was plenty of snow to contend with but the day was fantastic with blue sky`s and Sunshine. Met a few people on Croagh Patrick then headed west towards Ben Goram, got hit with a fairly bad snow shower, the sky darkened and visibility was down to a few mts for about 15mins, but once cleared a return to blue skys and sunshine made for a fantastic finish to a wonderful experience, have had some great days out on Mountains both in Ireland and further afield but Saturday rivalled any of them. During the traverse on Saturday I reached a small Milestone as I visited my 1000th Mountainviews listed feature. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/345/comment/20396/

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A view from the west

One of the main advantages of climbing the smaller Binnion hills, besides the enjoyment of the Binnion itself, is the sometimes spectacular views afforded by the smaller hills. This view of Ben Goram was taken 3.5kms to the west on Kinknock Hill. The uniform slope of Croagh Patrick rises uniformly behind, and from this distance looks grassy and smooth. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/345/comment/17562/

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Worth The Extra Effort From Croagh Patrick

After ascending Croagh Patrick by the traditional route, continued down the west side on a steep, scree covered slope before making the short climb up to the first and highest of Ben Goram's double summits. Great views, similar to Croagh Patrick, but also giving a new viewpoint on The Reek itself. We kept going west down over diminishing bumps before a final steep drop to a minor road that took us back to the coast. There were new views on that descent over the previously hidden landscape immediately west of Ben Goram, where patchwork fields lapped the slopes of wilder hills. The only downside was the long walk by road back to the car park at the start of the pilgrims track up Croagh Patrick, but I thought Ben Goram well worth it. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/345/comment/18015/

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david bourke on Ben Goram

In January 2006 I climbed Croagh Patrick, with some fellow travellers from Sligo, via Ben Goram. The initial ascent is quite a stiff pull up and on the day in question it was not helped by the strong icy winds. However the surrounding views more than compensated. The route is less frequented that the pilgrim way and you are more likely to find yourself alone as you climb. The terrain is mainly peat and is thankfully not eroded. Let us hope it stays that way in the future. The picture was taken looking back towards Ben Goram on the final ascent of Croagh Patrick. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/345/comment/2556/

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More Pap

A view of the curiously paps-like Ben Goram from low on the Ascent to Croagh Patrick. These are actually 2 peaks here of roughly comparable height. Ben Goram is the closer, the higher, and the only MV peak of the two. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/345/comment/17959/

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