Apparently Ireland's "Most intimidating scramble", which happens to also include three of the highest mountains in Ireland. Of course we were going go give it a pop if the weather played nicely...

It transpired to be a doozy of a day, feeling really quite Glencoe / West Scotland in places, with superb steep hills and great views. It was though a tough day, we were pretty puggled at the end.

We stayed the night before in Killarney in a good campsite within walking distance of a bar. The rest of Killarney felt very touristy and a little functional. We did not have time to explore the national park, but judging by the queues of cars turning in / out of the main road, that may not have been a bad thing.

We chose to avoid the crowds (A good decision it turned out) and take on the horseshoe. Do not believe the few reports there are citing only around 1000m of climbing and descent - there are more, better informed, guides suggesting over 1300-1400m. We found it pretty straight forward, with some thought needed on The Bones ridge area. I can see why folk with poor navigation would also get lost in poor visibility, and the rocks seem to have an odd slippiness to them in the wet. Most guides said 6-8 hours, we did it in 5.5hrs at a modest pace but shorter breaks.

The route starts with a steep hydro board track - up the fall line. Hard work, but gets the first few hundred metres of climbing in quickly. At the stream it is a cut north and try to find a path. When we found the path, it was relatively straifghtforward to get to the first three minor summits of Cnoc Iochtair (747m), Skregmore (848m), Stumpa Bharr Na Habhann (852m). The clearing weather helped us too.

Hydro road - steep by Matt, on Flickr
Across Kerry from Coomloughra by Matt, on Flickr

Our route for the day:
Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

Top of Skregmore (848m)
Stumpa Bharr Na Habhann by Matt, on Flickr

Odd rock!

Interesting rock, Macgillycuddy's Reeks by Matt, on Flickr


We had first lunch on the top of Beenkeragh (1010m), looking down the Ridge of Bones start (not that we could see a lot).

Beenkeragh summit by Matt, on Flickr

Onto the ridge proper. This is one of those where you can avoid a lot, but some intelligence rather than follow the worn path comes in handy. I would say it was Grade 2 scrambling, we managed most of the crest of the ridge, with one deviation.
Onto the ridge:
The Bones Ridge by Matt, on Flickr

View down the ridge:
The Bones Ridge, Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

Brilliant corrie to the north/east. Note the two (horrendous) tourist tracks, the one to the left is the Devils Staircase, the one right tight in the corrie the 'exciting' tourist line. We could hear people shouting at each other about rocks coming off down there...
The Bones Ridge, Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

The Bones Ridge, Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

It feels very Glencoe at this point...
The Bones Ridge, Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

Looking back at what we came over for scale:
Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

And so onto the last steep, eroded and scree-filled pull to the top of Carrauntoohil (1040m), highest mountain in Ireland. You can see why it called 'Top of Ireland' as the flat land to the north really shows how high you are.

Ireland 2024 by Matt, on Flickr

Looking north and west towards Dingle peninsula.
Carrauntoohil by Matt, on Flickr

Some more of the Reeks to the east. There were a *lot* of people coming up still.
Carrauntoohil by Matt, on Flickr

We had also arrived with the crowds, so ran off to Cahar as soon as we could! This was a lovely ridge to daunder along, a great final hurrah.
Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

Ireland 2024 by Matt, on Flickr

Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

Looking back the way we had come:
Coomloughra Horseshoe by Matt, on Flickr

Summit cairn/shelter on Caher
Caher summit by Matt, on Flickr

And then there was the small matter of a very rocky and sustained descent, and that really, really painful hydro track at the end which we both walked down backwards....!

Beenkeragh summit descent by Matt, on Flickr

The day ended with a scenic drive to Dingle for a bag of chips in the sun, and setting up home on the most westerly campsite in Europe with a local whisky in the sunset...ace/

Campail Teach an Aragail - most westerly campsite in Europe by Matt, on Flickr