It was a beautiful September day, the last of the autumnal Indian Summer, when myself and my hiking partner Martin King tackled Ben Lugmore. The early morning mist and fog shrouded the Ramp and Ben Lugmore was completely unseen. We decided to press ahead to the central section of the Ramp and make a final decision on whether to continue or turn back. Thankfully after time, the sun increased in temperature and burnt away the heavy mist and fog. We pressed ahead.

Approaching via the Ramp, the best route is to keep left and traverse the lower slopes of the daunting series of overhead cliffs that envelop the Ramp on this side. Going this way avoids a lot of the soggy and very boggy terrain that covers the central route via the winding stream. It's then a matter of veering right and trekking across the central section of the Ramp, picking up the trail from there. The Ramp route isn't the hardest and we both covered a lot of ground in good time.

The summit of Ben Lugmore is reached by veering left at the cairn that sits atop the Ramp on the lower slopes of Ben Bury. There are a series of jagged and undulating ridges that lead to the summit of Ben Lugmore and extreme caution is advised. Do keep track of the weather as low cloud can quickly roll in. On this occasion it settled at the top of Mweelrea where it lingered for several minutes. The wind also picked up making our ascent to the precipice more challenging. We made it and were rewarded with a sensational series of sweeping vistas that included the white church atop Croagh Patrick in the far off distance. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/51/comment/23266/