Year of publication 1960 - Fell and Rock Climbing Club

Peter Grindley 25stone-masons, and the whole region had an economy whichhad little to do with the interior of Ireland. Now the stonetraffic is a trickle of kerbs and tombstones, and the fishing isfighting for its existence; but the coastal plain of Mourne stillcarries that stamp of individuality imposed by the mountainsand the sea which have dictated its whole mode of life, fromthe layouts of its farms to the lines taken by its roads, andwhich give it a quiet beauty of its own. The mountainsthemselves have a similar beauty, not the spectacular beautyof the Snowdon Horseshoe or the barbaric ferocity of theCuillin, but a beauty of shades and tones and masses. Theyare bare yet not gaunt, barren yet at the same time notdesolate: they have that strange charm of Ireland which theEnglishman may find intriguing, irritating, repelling, or anirresistible lure.The general lie of the high ground is from south-west tonorth-east and the Mournes may be divided, by a line parallelto and a little south of the Spelga Pass, into the High Mournestowards the north-east and the Low Mournes to the south.The Low Mournes are less rocky, more rounded, and less welldefined than the High Mournes and contain none of theworthwhile climbing. The Spelga Pass, the only motor roadwhich crosses the main mass of the group from the coast, is agood access route to the western areas.The High Mournes are the true mountains: sometimesknown to climbers as the Trident, they consist of three chainsof summits pointing south, the westerly prong longer than theothers and all three prongs joining in the boss formed bySlieve Commedagh. The short eastern prong consists ofSlieve Donard (the highest summit 2,796 feet), ChimneyRock, and, where it meets the sea, Spence's Mountain. Thecentral prong is made up of Slieve Beg, Cove, SlieveLamagan, and Slieve Bignian, the latter being a long mountainwith a spine of summit tors. Between these prongs lies theAnnalong Valley, long, broad and roadless. To the west ofthe central prong is the deep, narrow, steep-sided SilentValley, now flooded by two large but unobtrusive dams, andto the west again is the last prong of the Trident: SlieveBearnagh with its fantastically weathered twin rock summits;Slieves Meelmore and Meelbeg; various minor heights; andfinally the long slate-capped mass of Slieve Muck. Beyond