I climbed up blackstairs mountain last week on a good clear but cold day,there is good parking on a grassy area near the start,following the kilkenny road out of kiltealy take a left turn at the first crossroads past the sculloge gap and follow the road uphill for about 200 metres to the parking area taking care not block access for farming.The start of the walk begins a short distance up the road through an iron gate signposted black stairs mountain,follow this lane way which is rough underfoot up to the next gateway where the track begins, keep an eye out for a tree up ahead which you need to stay left of over the wall and up the start of the track. The ground here is usually quiet wet but today it had iced over.Its a good hour and a half climb uphill steep in parts and rough underfoot to the summit which today was white with frost and ice for the last quarter of the climb.There are superb views back towards Knockroe and Mount Leinster all the way up and good views down towards Cathairs den from the summit which is marked by a high cairn.The trip back down was fairly slippy and care was needed due to the frozen ground.Trip from start to finish took around two and a half hours and we'll worth it. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/85/comment/17795/