Bishopstown Hillwalking Club Blog & News...

Under Galtee Skies

2011-10-24T17:07:00.002+01:00

When Jimmy Barry sent out an invite to Bishopstown Hillwalking club to attend his book launch in the Aherlow House Hotel I gladly accepted. It was great to arrive there and see that there were stalls set up not only by the South Eastern Mountain Rescue but also the Glen of Aherlow walking club and members of Mountaineering Ireland.

There was a considerably large turn out for the launch and after talking to other walkers we were introduced to a slide show of photographs from the book.

The book titled Under Galtee Skies is a pictorial journay of photographs taken by Jimmy of the Galty mountains over the years.

As Bishopstown members have been walking this area for many years there are plenty of photographs of areas we are all familiar with and even though I have walked the Galtees many times myself I have never seen the head/face formation above Bally david wood.

Also it was great to read some folklore of the area none of which I knew previously and will now always include when leading walks in these areas.

The photographs are spectacular and you can see from the lighting within them that Jimmy definately has a rare eye for a picture, the skies above Galtymore in a picture taken from slievecushnabinnia are such a testiment, as is the lighting in the picture of Assaroola Glen.

Though I must admit my favourite picture is of snow on the northern side over lough Curra on page 20 of the book. At first glance it looks like just another photo of the area, but on closer inspection the browns in the grass are beautiful...

With a section on flora and fauna along with poems and place names this really is a magical book which I've no doubt all our members will enjoy.

The only problem................they sold out of all the hardbacks before I'd even managed to reach it!! This book is not meant as a guide book so don't expect routes and walks, you certainly wouldn't be taking it on the mountain for fear of it getting ruined.

If anybody is interested in attaining a copy please contact me at juliereeveswalking@gmail.com and we'll see if we can get some copies.

Wales Aug 11 (The Ryan Air Fanfare Tour)

2011-09-04T10:33:00.006+01:00

No sooner had we arrived back from a full week of walking in June to Scotland then we started getting ready for our next venture, and one of the best scambling holidays you could possibly get..............Snowdonia national park.

After our trip here in 2008 we knew we were not going to be disappointed.

11 of us went over and we booked into the Swallow falls hostel which is just outside Betwys-y-Coed on the road to Capel Curig.

Saturday we left the hostel and drove across to Pen-y-pass, where we started our first walk the Snowdon Horseshoe. This walk includes a short scramble up to Crib Goch where you continue your way along the knife edge ridge across to the pinnacles, up onto Crib-y-Ddysgol and finally meeting the top of the Zig-zags, where we all follow the main route up onto Snowdon.

It was great to see the completion of the cafe, and the warmth inside along with the hot drink was most welcome!!

Sunday then saw us scramble the North ridge of Tryfan and Bristly ridge, this route contains some of the best scrambling in Britain. And once we attained the summit one of our brave walkers even jumped across from Adam to Eve attaining the title of free man of Tryfan! (Well done J.J. I could'nt think of a better man for it!)

Monday and our final walk was a short day were we climbed Pen yr Ole Wen.

Another successful trip away this year.

Scotland 2011 (The Munro Huggers Tour!!)

2011-07-17T17:23:00.011+01:00

The club trip to Scotland this year saw 12 of us walking for a week in the central highlands of Glencoe and Glen Nevis.

This area of outstanding beauty is a walkers paradise with a selection of routes that would keep everybody happy for the week.

After flying into Edinburgh we sorted out our car hire and drove up to Fort William where we stayed at the Glen Nevis Lodges.

Day 1 saw us climb Ben Nevis via the Carn Mór Dearg Arete, the weather was beautiful and the views even better! There was huge congratulations when we summited our first munro Carn Mór Dearg at 1220m and the walk got even more exciting as we went over the arete with excellent views of the Aonachs and the Mamores, then onto the top of Ben Nevis 1344m. (17km 185om ascent 8hrs 18mins)

Day 2 we drove into Glencoe and though the weather was misty with low cloud cover we walked in through the coire na Tulaich and ascended Stob Dearg our third munro at 1022m, we then headed south to Stob Na Broige our fourth munro at 956m and completing the whole of the Buachaille Etive Mór range. (14.4km 1330m ascent 6hrs 38mins)

Day 3 saw us driving back to Glencoe for a walk of Bidean Nam Bian and with improved weather we all enjoyed this walk which saw us walk into the lost valley which we entered to the left of the three sisters. We reached munro number five Stob Coire Sgréam 1072m and then onto Bidean Nam Bian which was munro number six at 1150m. (12.5 km 1400m ascent 7hrs)

Day 4 saw the group divide and after three days of continuous walking some of us felt that we needed a day off. While the other half of the group decided to do their own walk in Glen Nevis.

Day 5 was the Aonach Eagach ridge which although a grade I scamble is considered by many to be the best ridge walk on mainland Britain and I think I speak for all members when I say we were not disappointed. We bagged munro number seven Meall Dearg 953m and munro eight Sgorr nam Fiannaidh 967m whilst walking the linear ridge.

Day 6 Our final day saw us walk up Glen Nevis to the beautiful Steall meadows and falls and entertain ourselves watching each member balance across the wire bridge over the river to Steall hut. The weeks walking had taken its toll and with windy weather and low cloud cover we decided not to chance the Devils ridge but to climb our nineth munro Sgurr á Mháim at 1099m and return to Glen Nevis. (9.5km 1316m ascent 6hrs 17mins)

Hopefully we will return again next year after all there are only another 275 munros to go!!!!

Organised events in the mountains

2011-05-02T09:53:00.007+01:00

I recently received an invitation from Beverley Pierson the project officer of leave no trace Ireland to attend a workshop on the management of outdoor events which was held at the new official centre for leave no trace Ireland, Kilfinane O.E.C. on the 4th May.

Many of you may have recently read the article in the spring issue of the mountain log by Helen Lawless the access and conservation officer regarding organised events in the mountains and the marked increase in the number of festivals, fundraising and challenge events.

Attendees included such groups as Mountain Meitheal, S.E.M.R.A and cycle Ireland.

The workshop started at 10:30am with tea and coffee and time to meet others. The first presentation was the Mountaineering Irelands running events policy which was given by Helen Lawless. Helen went over the current MI policy and explained why this policy is currently being reviewed.

This was followed Carol Ryan of Coillte / Dublin Mountains Partnerships discussing the process of holding events and the correct procedures to follow in getting these events up and running.

Then a presentation was given by Jim Flynn and Fergal Somers on the events which have been carried out by the Ballyhoura Development who run such organised events as the Ballyhoura walking festival and the Ballyhoura beast among many others.

Lastly Matthew Bushby from The Mournes Heritage Trust gave a talk regarding the Mournes Event Strategy.

Finally we all participated in a practical workshop to see how we could incorporate Leave no trace into organised events.

I came away from the workshop with a far greater knowledge of how large events and groups can have an effect on our environment and how it is up to all of us going into the mountains to do our part.

We all have a duty of care to the mountains. We all gain so much from the benefits of hillwalking that sometimes it is nice to put a little something back, whether it is picking up a plastic bottle passed along the way, educating new members that it is not alright to throw banana skins or teabags on the floor, or considering a leave no trace workshop!

Some ways in which we can do our part is to follow the seven principles of the Leave no trace ethic. Join a mountain meitheal group for the day and volunteer your services, plan and organise a clean up day with the club in an area used frequently.

For any information on the Leave no trace ethics, Mountain meitheal or if any members would even be interested in becoming Leave no trace trainers please contact myself at juliereeveswalking@gmail.com or for further information follow the links below.

http://www.leavenotraceireland.org/

http://www.pathsavers.org

http://mountaineering.ie

The Lake District of England

2010-06-13T14:53:00.016+01:00

When I approached Grace asking her if she would like to organize another trip to the Lake District this time with me on board leading the B walks I was delighted when she agreed. Grace has a good knowledge of the area having organised trips previously.

I wasn't surprised by the amount of interest the trip received and we had 38 of us in total occupying 11 self catering houses in the Falls, the accommodation was placed along the stock ghyll river about 2minutes above the beautiful town of Ambleside a short stroll away (I think I will always remember penny's lane!)

Our first day in the area we decided to walk loughrigg fell just north of Ambleside overlooking Grasmere and Rydal water, this short walk provides excellent views to the east of the Fairfield area, west the Greater Langdale and away to the south lake Windermere. Unfortunately these views were hindered by the downpours that we received while ascending and the low cloud above 600m.

Monday saw the split in the group as we divided into our B and C walks for the week, I had 14 on my walk which was Coniston Old man to Dow Crag this was a very pleasent walk up the front of Coniston passing the quarry on the way and then over to Brim Fell then Dow Crag and Brown Pike (B: 806m 12.5km 6hrs)

Tuesday we climbed Englands highest mountain Scafell Pike (977m) leaving from Seathwaite heading to Styhead tarn and ascending Scafell Pike from the corridor route which was a very pleasent route up. from Scafell then onto III Crag and Great end returning to Seathwaite via Sprinkling tarn and Ruddy Gill. (B: 1057m 13km 6hrs)

Wednesday was the Fairfield horseshoe which we climbed in serious wind conditions and low cloud cover, leaving Ambleside we headed north through Rydal park and turned up Nab Scar, Heron Pike, Rydal Fell and Great Rigg in 50mph(80kph) gusts of winds! A warning to other people hoping to walk this route the summit of Fairfield will pull your compass off due to the magnetic properties found in the rocks here, we returned via Harts Crag and Hartsop above How. (B: 913m 16km 7hrs)

Due to the weather forecast for Thursday (strong gusts on higher ground impeding steady walking!) I decided to give the exposure from scrambling Striding Edge ridge up to Helvellyn a wide berth and opted instead for the shorter scramble up on Swirral Edge, from Helvellyn we walked south so as the north-easterly winds would be behind us and went on to climb Nethermost Pike and Dollywagon Pike turning east at Red tarn and walking out through Grisedale back to Glenridding. (B: 947m 13km 6hrs)

Our last walk of the week was the Langdale pikes in the beautiful Greater Langdale with a short climb up from New Dungeon Ghyll to the impressive dome shaped summit of the Pike of Stickle with views across to Bowfell and the Crinkle crags, then across to Harrison stickle and Pavey Ark returning via Stickle tarn. (B: 713m 7.5km 4.5hrs)

Despite the winds, rain and low cloud cover I think the members of the club enjoyed the walks, the Lake District is an extremely beautiful area with each dale, fell, tarn and beck a pleasure to walk in, I sincerely hope that we return to this area of England to enjoy more walks in the coming future.

Navigation Day with Irish Adventures

2010-04-25T20:46:00.005+01:00

After a recent trip to Scotland with Noel O'Leary from Irish Adventures, I couldn't help but jump at the chance when he suggested working with bishopstown hill walkers on a navigation day.

I was impressed with the amount of interest from our members and all spaces were soon filled.

Once we had decided that the date was to be 25th April, we all meet up in Killarney and commenced our days training and although the weather threatened to get miserable at times it remained fairly pleasant for the whole day.

Having split up into two groups both myself and Noel took a group each and covered such navigation techniques as pacing and distances, naismiths formula and contour recognition

After stopping for lunch we exchanged groups and went on to navigate over broken ground and introduced compass bearings. We managed to cover quite alot in the time we had and I feel confident that our members came away from there day with a larger understanding and appreciation of navigating.

Noel was as organised and professional as I've always found him to be and I hope that he provides us with another navigation day again in the future.

Irish Adventures provides Mountain skills courses as well as many others and more recently Noel is organising the Dingle Adventure race to take place on 12th June.

For further information about Irish Adventures go to http://www.irishadventures.net

BHC members spot White Tailed Sea Eagle...

2010-01-12T07:34:00.005Z

White Tailed Sea Eagle.
We had a great walk in Gougane Barra on Sunday (27th Dec 2009) last led by Joan Faherty. It was a lovely crisp day and a great reward for the 15 walkers who braved the poor road conditions on the way down. Early on in the walk we got a magnificent view of the wind farm near Lackabawn as well as a sighting of a lovely Grouse but the highlight apart from the walk itself was a sighting of a
White Tailed Sea Eagle about 1 Kilometer north of Bealick near the source of the Roughy River.

These birds are one of the biggest Eagles one can see and have a wingspan of 8 feet. We watched it ride the air currents for 10 minutes or so and it was a pity we had to move on. I entered the sighting on the web site http://www.goldeneagle.ie/ they have a section on the Sea Eagle and welcome the reporting of such sightings. These birds have been re-introduced to the Killarney national Park as chicks and some have been tracked by GPS and shown to have traveled as far as the north of Scotland and returned again.

One Male L had been gone for 8 months and returned to the Munster area. He was even sighted in Aghada in east Cork. (I dont know if it was Upper or Lower) there has been numerous confirmed sightings of him near Glengarriff on the Baurearagh ridge. This area is well known to our walkers. This well traveled chick is probably the same bird we saw on Sunday. If anybody on the walk got a reasonable picture to help identify the sighting as definite they would welcome it. You can send it through the section Report a Sighting on the web site or you can send it to me Noel Power and I will forward it on with your name associated with it..................Noel Power, BHC

Walking routes initiative aims to attract four million visitors...

2009-08-13T06:45:00.002+01:00

TOURISM leaders hope to attract nearly four million extra visitors to Ireland over the coming years by upgrading walking routes and rolling out special facilities for hikers.

The Walkers Welcome initiative is signing up 150 businesses who will adapt their shops, accommodation and facilities for walkers, particularly those travelling from abroad. Walking in Ireland attracts some of the largest numbers of visitors each year, with more than 517,000 overseas visitors taking part in walking activities here in 2008.

Under the plans, local communities have signed up to guarantee regular maintenance and upkeep of local walks. These will include developing forest tracks and shorter looped off-road walks. The majority of walking visitors to Ireland seek looped walks of up to four hours with good scenery, says Fáilte Ireland. By the end of 2009, more than 130 looped walks in 26 counties will be completed, with trails off to facilities such as car parks, map boards and picnic areas, under the plans. Fáilte Ireland says it is providing expertise and materials to upgrade trails and walks free of charge to communities. Other parts of the initiative will include putting up mapboards and signage, identifying Walkers Welcome-approved accommodation and arranging friendly services in shops and pubs such as packed lunches and spaces for walking boots and gear. Up to 11 rural recreation officers have been appointed with responsibility for rolling out the walks in their areas in conjunction with community leaders.

Five areas and popular walking regions have signed up to help perfect popular hiking spots, including: the Burren, Co Clare; Donegal town and surrounding areas; Tinahely, Co Wicklow; The Slieve Blooms, Co Laois and Offaly; and the Glen of Aherlow, Co Tipperary.

According to Fáilte Ireland, there are potentially more than one million British residents who would get involved in walking here in the next three years. This is followed by 900,000 German visitors, 800,000 visitors from the US and 700,000 from the Netherlands...........Irish Examiner, Aug 2009

BBC News...Danger on South America's highest peak

2009-05-16T23:21:00.003+01:00

"Jolting along a mountain path in a park-keeper's jeep in Argentina's Mendoza State, we are surrounded by a series of beautiful, dry sand-coloured mountain ranges.
Pinks and violets, greens and blues emerge from the shadows in the landscape around us.
We've come to see South America's highest mountain, Aconcagua, in the park of the same name, which lies just ahead up the valley in full sunlight, its summit wreathed in snow.
The mountain, in the Andean range not far from the Chilean border, hit the headlines back in January..........for the full story, visit the BBC News website. "

John Desmond..........BHC webmaster

Concerns about Carrauntoohil route...

2009-05-08T16:53:00.004+01:00

From the Kerry Mountain Rescue Website...(May 2009)
Concerns have been raised about about the current condition of the Devil's Ladder. Recent rains have caused some movement of rocks and scree in the gully and there are a number of significant sized rocks which appear to be a little unstable at present, particularly in the upper section. Extreme caution should therefore be exercised on the Devil's Ladder at the present time. Whilst many people are still using the route safely, some have suggested using alternative routes as a safer option.
In addition a similar situation exists on the 'Heavenly Gates' track, where a large rock has tumbled to a precarious position at the top of the steepest section of the track at the Heavenly Gates itself. Extreme caution should also be exercised here as it would appear to be only a matter of time before there is further movement and this rock will certainly tumble down the track itself.

.....John Desmond, BHC

Sierra nevada mountains Andalucia 2008

2009-05-07T16:49:00.007+01:00

Club trip to Southern Spain in April 2008. Picture shows the start of a walk to top of Mulhacen 3485m. Tha walk was 25km long, ascended 1400m and took 7 hours - excellent walking given the difficult snow conditions especially at the summit with drifts of 6 to 8 feet. Further photos of the complete trip may be viewed on Flickr on the following ......gallery (click here)

......Michael Carey

Carrauntoohil via the Devil's Ladder...

2009-05-07T10:20:00.005+01:00

I came across this well made video clip on YouTube and it shows a winter ascent of Carrauntoohil via the Devil's Ladder. While BHC do not usually use this route, it is still of interest.

.......John Desmond

First post to the new club blog...

2009-05-06T12:32:00.003+01:00

This new blog has just been started and it's purpose is to replace the old BHC News page that used to exist before. Updating that page was a very time consuming process and it should be a lot easier now with this blog.

If any club members come accross any items of news that they may think would be of interest to other members then why not share it? You can find my e-mail address on the following webpage......http://homepage.eircom.net/~bishopstownohc/contact.html

John Desmond............BHC Webmaster