New A Remote Mountain to Respect and Admire

I walked this impressive hill in the fine spell of early September 2023, approaching from the S and parking at A (L912 977) next to the old farm building. Access to the open hill from here was over an adjacent stile and a gate at the far side of the field and then one more fence shortly after (I was unable to find another gate though). The route to Ben Gorm is clear to follow, next to a stream and some posts indicating the presence of a "mass rock" further up the hill. I never did find the rock, but the top of Ben Gorm was reached easily enough and when the cloud cleared for a while, the views E and N opened up, with Lough Feeagh below and Birreencorragh beyond, and the next two tops to the N , marking the way to Corranabinnia itself, with its head still in cloud for the moment. It looked fairly imposing for this solo walker, but as it turned out, the undulating route over the other two tops was an enjoyable trek over good , firm ground and rocks, with the odd easy semi-scramble in places. Approaching Corranabinnia and being careful in the fast moving cloud scudding across, to keep well away from the steep drop on the E side, there was a bit more rock-hopping involved which needed a little concentration. I reached the summit in about 3 hrs 45 minutes, taking it steady. Looking across the ridge walk to the SW top, it was an easy decision, especially in poor visibility: No chance! The approach looked pretty intimidating - more so than I was expecting from walk descriptions and photographs - but I expect the conditions added to that impression. In any case, I decided to leave that top for another day and another approach. Looking back down the inbound ridge and deciding on a return route, I dropped down from the nearest col at approximately B (F914 977). In retrospect, I would not recommend this route in anything other than good , dry conditions. It calls for some concentration and a more sensible route would probably be to either re-trace the outbound route and accept the extra ascent involved, or take the last col before reaching Ben Gorm, which seemed to offer a more gentle and grassy descent. In any case, I followed the infant river from the top of the valley for a good hour or so, and the going was surprisingly good and firm underfoot. However, eventually the river takes a W turn into the forestry and the path becomes a bogfest of unresolved groundwater; there is nothing for it but to walk on adjacent to the fence for another hour or more and then cross SE from the end of the forestry , and cross the stream to reach the starting point. I would advise anyone dropping down from one of the cols to maybe stay as high on the flank of Ben Gorm as possible to keep the solid ground underfoot and cross the stream higher up to re-join the path. Total elapsed time about 6hrs 30min. All in all, a great climb, and definitely a return visit to tackle the SW top in better conditions to enjoy the views across this superb hill range. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/98/comment/24050/

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