Ben Crom has a very central, and therefore quite remote position in the Mourne Mountains, which probably explains why I hadn't ticked it off on my Local 100 till now. If the range has a centre of gravity, this is probably it. I had attempted it once before with a walking club, but when a friend injured his foot, we had to abandon the walk and assist him back to the start. This second attempt was in late January, which you might think would be quiet, but on a Sunday morning with chilly but decent weather, we were just part of a huge horde of walkers starting from the car-park above Fofanny Dam. We took the well-worn path climbing gradually to the gap between Slieve Loughshannagh and Carn Mountain where a stile crosses the Mourne Wall. Then a slight descent before climbing to the rocky summit of Doan, where we had a half-hour lunch break on the sheltered side. After back-tracking for nearly a kilometre, we turned E, initially without a path across the plateau, but picking one up as we began to climb towards Ben Crom. On arrival at the summit, the plunging views down to the reservoir mentioned by other MV members lived up to expectation. My Tibetan walking companion enjoyed these alone from a perch more airy than I was prepared to venture to! We returned by the same route, but bypassing Doan. Incidentally, Slieve Bearnagh presents a very interesting profile from this central area, especially between Doan and Ben Crom, displaying some pinnacles S of the summit which are rarely seen to advantage from other angles. We took 4 hours 5 mins for the whole trip including breaks. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/404/comment/23392/