Irish Mountain Log - Mountaineering Ireland

THE MAGAZINE FOR WALKERS AND CLIMBERS IN IRELAND IML83 AUTUMN 2007 

€3.20 

Stg£2.20

IML83 Autumn 2007 

ISSN 0790 8008 

Welcome to the Irish Mountain Log, the 

membership magazine of the 

Mountaineering Council of Ireland (MCI). 

The MCI promotes the interests of 

hillwalkers and climbers in Ireland. 

Mountaineering Council of Ireland 

Sport HQ, 13 Joyce Way 

Park West Business Park 

Dublin 12, Ireland 

Tel (+353 1) 625 1115 

Fax (+353 1) 625 1116 

Email info@mountaineering.ie 

Web www.mountaineering.ie 

Hot Rock Climbing Wall 

Tollymore Mountain Centre 

Bryansford, Newcastle 

County Down BT33 0PT 

Tel (+44 28) 4372 5354 

Email youth@mountaineering.ie 

Editor: Patrick O’Sullivan 

Tel (+353 1) 837 8166 (pm) 

E-mail iml-editor@mountaineering.ie 

News Editor: Rita Connell 

Tel 086-804 6297 (pm) 

E-mail iml-newseditor@mountaineering.ie 

Features Editor: Peter O’Neill 

E-mail iml-featureseditor@ 

mountaineering.ie 

Literary Editor: Joss Lynam 

Tel (+353 1) 288 4672 (pm) 

E-mail iml-literaryeditor@ 


Pictures Editor: Eoin Reilly 

Tel (+353 1) 825 5370 

E-mail iml-pictureseditor@ 


Advertising: MCI office 

E-mail logads@mountaineering.ie 

Production: Cóilín MacLochlainn 

E-mail iml-production@mountaineering.ie 

Distribution: MCI office 

Printed by Kilkenny People Printing 

Tel +353 (0) 5677 63366 

The Irish Mountain Log is published by the 

Mountaineering Council of Ireland four times a 

year – in March, June, September, December. 

The material published in the Irish Mountain Log 

by the voluntary editorial team and contributors 

must not be taken as official MCI policy unless 

specifically stated. 

The Irish Mountain Log is 100% recyclable. 

Water-based varnish is used on the cover. The 

paper mill purchases pulp from sustainable 

forests and manufacture is chlorine-free. 

Participation and risk: Readers of the 

Irish Mountain Log are reminded that 

hillwalking and climbing are activities with 

a danger of personal injury or death. 

Participants in these activities should be 

aware of and accept these risks, and be 

responsible for their own actions and 

involvement. The MCI publishes and 

promotes safety and good practice advice 

and through Bord Oiliúnt Sléibhe (BOS, 

The Irish Mountain Training Board) 

administers a range of training 

programmes for walkers and climbers. 

Copy deadline for the Winter 2007 issue of Irish 

Mountain Log is Friday, 19th October, 2007. 

Members’ Photo Gallery 

Coomloughra, the Reeks, Co Kerry. 

PHOTO: CHARLIE O’DONOVAN 

This Photo Gallery has been set up to display the photographic talents of our members. If you’d like to submit a 

photograph, please e-mail iml-photographs@mountaineering.ie. All images on a hillwalking, climbing or mountains 

theme gratefully received. When sending photos, please provide full captions and the photographer’s name. We 

regularly need photos for the Log, for our website, leaflets, etc, and, while we can’t pay for photos, we will ensure that 

photographers are credited and that photos or slides are returned. If you’d like to join our regular panel of 

photographers, please e-mail iml_mci@eircom.net and, when we need a specific shot, we’ll send out a request to all 

on the panel. 

Contents 

MCI Alpine Summer 

Meet 2007 26 

DECLAN O’KEEFFE, ROBBIE FENLON 

& CLAIRE MICHAEL 

Tour de Monte Rosa 29 

DENNIS GOLDEN 

Awalk in the Mournes: 

Rourke’s Park Walk 32 

LEE CAMPBELL 

Short-changed in Nepal: 

the dark side of the 

Everest Trail 34 

CLIVE ROBERTS 

All in a day’s walk! 37 

ROSS MILLAR 

How place-names evolve 39 

MIKE SANDOVER 

Ascent of the Carstensz 

Pyramid 40 

GRANIA WILLIS 

Regulars 

News 5-24 

Books 44 

The Last Word 49 

Front cover: On the Portjengrat traverse in the Saas Grund, Valais Alps, Switzerland. 

PHOTO: CLAIRE MICHAEL

MCI Contact Details 

General enquiries 

info@mountaineering.ie 

MCI Officers 

President: Declan O’Keeffe 

Email: president@mountaineering.ie 

Board Chairperson: Dawson Stelfox 

Email: chairperson@mountaineering.ie 

Honorary Secretary: Ross Millar 

Email: secretary@mountaineering.ie 

Treasurer: Patrick O’Sullivan 

Email: treasurer@mountaineering.ie 

MCI Board Members 

Tomás Alyward 

Chair: BOS (Irish Mountain 

Training Board) 

tomas-board@mountaineering.ie 

Moira Creedon 

moira-board@mountaineering.ie 

Jane Fenlon 

jane-board@mountaineering.ie 

Vincent McAlinden 

Chair: Youth Committee 

vincent-board@mountaineering.ie 

Ursula MacPherson 

ursula-board@mountaineering.ie 

Ruairí Ó Conchúir 

Chair: Access & Conservation Committee 

ruairi-board@mountaineering.ie 

Jerry O’Dwyer 

jerry-board@mountaineering.ie 

MCI Staff 

(Based at Sport HQ) 

Chief Officer 

Stuart Garland 

stuart@mountaineering.ie 

Administrator 

Una Feeney 

una@mountaineering.ie 

Accounts Administrator 

Terry Canavan 

terry@mountaineering.ie 

Training Officer 

Tim Orr 

tim@mountaineering.ie 

Members’ Support Officer 

Ciara Hinksman 

ciara@mountaineering.ie 

Access and Conservation Officer 

Aodhnait Carroll 

aodhnait@mountaineering.ie 

(Based at Hot Rock Climbing Wall) 

Youth Development Officer 

Angela Carlin 

angela@mountaineering.ie 

4 

Irish Mountain Log Autumn 2007 

Editorial 

Interesting results from 

membership survey 

An MCI Member Survey conducted in autumn 

2006 by the then Development Officer, Helen 

Lawless, was very successful. There was a 

tremendous response from the membership, 

providing a wealth of information about MCI’s 

membership, which will be extremely helpful in 

guiding MCI’s Board and the new staff in how 

best the MCI can serve its members. 

More than 1,200 completed 

questionnaires were sent back, representing 

around 13% of the membership at that time. 

The demographics of those who responded 

are interesting. Of those who completed the 

survey, 60% were male and 40% female, 

against the membership breakdown of 

almost half and half male to female. Club 

members made up around 70% of those 

who responded, while almost 30% were 

individual members, again compared to a 

membership that is 87% club based and 

13% individual membership. The age 

breakdown of respondents was 1% less 

than 18 years of age, 5% between 19-25 

years old, 29% 26-40, 44% 41-55, 18% 

56-70, with 3% being older than 70 years of 

age. These respondents brought a wealth of 

knowledge of the organisation and the sport with 

them as 22% had been members of the MCI for 

more than 10 years, 27% had been members for 5- 

7 years, 31% 2-4 years and 19% for one year or less. 

As you would expect, the majority of the 

respondents classed themselves as mainly 

hillwalkers, with 81% engaging in hillwalking ‘fairly 

regularly’ or ‘very regularly.’ Fourteen per cent of 

respondents went rockclimbing ‘fairly regularly’ or 

‘very regularly,’ with 54% leading at or below HVS 

and 37% seconding or top-roping only. 

Interestingly, 12% participated in indoor 

rockclimbing ‘fairly regularly’ or ‘very regularly.’ 

Almost half of the respondents had gone away 

for 2-5 short trips of up to three days in Ireland in 

the previous year, with another 12% going away 

more frequently. The majority also planned to go 

abroad in the coming year at least once to engage 

in their sport with 19% planning to go abroad three 

or more times in the next year. The majority of 

these trips were to be to the UK or to Europe, but 

a significant number of respondents were planning 

trips further afield. 

Encouragingly, the Irish Mountain Log 

received favourable responses from a majority of 

respondents with almost 90% saying that it covers 

their areas of interest. The news section and 

articles about walking were the contents that the 

most people liked to read, but interestingly, 

environmental items were the next most popular. 

The survey also gathered information about 

MCI Member Survey 2006 

Over €2,000 of top quality outdoor 

gear to be WON! 

See inside for details – the survey will only take you 10 minutes to complete 

how 

members rated the benefits of 

membership. Again reassuringly, for those of us 

involved in producing the Irish Mountain Log, 84% 

rated it as a ‘very important’ or ‘fairly important’ 

benefit of membership, with 80% rating the 

discounts available to members as ‘very important’ 

or ‘fairly important’ and 75% rating the insurance 

cover provided as ‘very important’ or ‘fairly 

important.’ 

Significantly, with the new Access and 

Conservation Officer in post, the majority of 

respondents had not had an access problem but 

almost a quarter (23%) had had a problem gaining 

access to the crags or hills in the last year on one or 

more occasions, so it would seem that these 

problems are becoming more common. 

Encouragingly for the Members’ Support Officer, 

possibly more than half of respondents would be 

willing to act in a voluntary capacity to develop our 

sport. 

Finally, from a training perspective, more than 

two thirds of the respondents considered that they 

had some proficiency in navigation, route planning 

and leadership, essential skills for people wishing 

to engage in our sport safely. 

So, overall, a hugely important outcome from 

this survey to guide the Board and the staff, as they 

try to develop the MCI in the coming years to best 

serve the needs of the membership. 

Patrick O’Sullivan 

Editor

• WALKERS AND CLIMBERS PUTTING SOMETHING BACK • 

Join Mountain 

Meitheal in 

bridge building 

Shay Walsh (Mountain Meitheal) 

Mountain Meitheal’s current project is building a footbridge 

across Carrawaystick Brook in Glenmalure and restoring 

the deer-stalkers’ track commonly known as the Zig-Zags. 

Work began in November 2006 and, since then, about 

1,200 volunteer hours have been clocked up by ninety 

different individuals. The bridge, which is nearing 

completion, represents Mountain Meitheal’s most 

ambitious project to date. Following its completion, we will 

be able to concentrate on restoring the track. 

The track was originally constructed by the Parnell 

family of the Avondale estate who held the mining and 

hunting rights in the area. The original culverts can be seen 

and are still in working order. Over 800m of drains have 

been restored and anybody who used the track during the 

recent bad weather will have seen the effectiveness of the 

work so far. 

The project is a partnership between the landowner, 

Mountain Meitheal – who are providing the labour – and 

the Wicklow Upland Council, who are providing the 

materials. When completed it will be a permissive route 

across private land giving access to Clohernagh and on to 

Lugnaquillia. The track will be signposted from the public 

road and discreetly signed to a point where the general 

public should turn back and where those with the 

navigational skills, and who are properly equipped, can 

carry on to the open mountain terrain. 

Anybody willing to volunteer to help out on this 

worthwhile project should check out our workdays on our 

website www.pathsavers.org. No special skills are 

required and nobody is expected to work beyond their 

capabilities. Our volunteers come from all backgrounds and 

age groups, and more than sixty per cent have nothing to 

do with outdoor recreation. Volunteers from the walking 

community would be particularly welcome as this project is 

intended to benefit them by improving access to 

Lugnaquillia. 

Mountain Meitheal volunteers at work on the Zig-Zags in Glenmalure, Co Wicklow (top) and 

the footbridge built by Mountain Meitheal over the Avonbeg River in Glenmalure. 

PHOTO: MOUNTAIN MEITHEAL 

Fair Head car park on the way 

A much-needed car park is under construction at 

Fair Head, Co Antrim. The car park is hard-cored, 

edged with natural stone walling and fitted with a 

cattle grid entrance. It will be landscaped with 

shrubs or trees. 

The MCI, IMC, Dal Riada, Colmcille Climbers 

and 21 individuals helped finance the work, 

donating more than €1,200 as well as an honesty 

box for the car park (see picture, right). 

The honesty box will be used to enable 

climbers to donate a small amount (£1 per car has 

been suggested) when visiting the crag, to help 

offset the construction costs. The facility will help 

to secure the future of climbing at Fair Head for 

many years to come. 

News 

Autumn 2007 Irish Mountain Log 5

News in Brief 

Table Quiz 

Following on the success of last year’s 

quiz, UCDMC is organising another 

table quiz to raise a few bob for the 

Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team 

(www.dwmrt.ie). Teams of four may 

enter for only €40, which guarantees 

you a fantabulous evening with the 

possibility of some great prizes from 53 

Degrees North and Berghaus. As with 

last year’s quiz, we’ll have plenty to keep 

you entertained, with a video round, a 

music round, a brain-teaser round and a 

mountain round (don’t worry, it will be 

a lot easier this time). We’ll also have a 

raffle (donations of prizes would be 

welcomed) and hopefully we’ll be selling 

some very special limited edition, handprinted 

t-shirts…and it being a student 

sponsored event, there’ll be beer! 

Email mountainrescuetablequiz@ 

gmail.com to reserve a team place, as 

places are limited. Bring your friends, 

classmates, workmates or family and, if 

you’re in a local outdoor club, please 

spread the word there. 

• Thursday 4th October, 8:00pm, 

O’Brien’s Pub, Sussex Terrace, Upr 

Lesson Street (see http://tinyurl. 

com/26afa3). More details on www. 

ucd.ie/mountain. Prizes are being 

kindly sponsored by 53 Degrees North 

(www.53degreesnorth.ie) and by the 

Berghaus company. 

First ‘quality-approved’ 

walk for Northern Ireland 

The first of Northern Ireland’s ‘qualityapproved’ 

walks has been officially 

launched. The ‘Robbers Table’ walk 

outside Omagh, Co Tyrone, is an 

excellent nine-mile walk and, on a clear 

day, has hill views across the Sperrin 

Mountains and the Bluestack Mountains 

in Donegal. 

The walk starts and finishes in the 

car park at Gortin Glens Forest Park 

with a mile or so on-road before the 

start of the off-road section. Details of 

the walk can be found on www. 

walkni.com. 

6 

News 


MCI appoints new Access 

& Conservation Officer 

Aodhnait Carroll, MCI’s new Access & Conservation Officer. 

The MCI is very pleased to announce that it has 

recruited a new Access & Conservation Officer to 

replace Helen Lawless, who left earlier in the year. 

Aodhnait Carroll is twenty-five years old and 

recently returned to Ireland after living with her 

family in Canada for the last eighteen years. Now 

one year in Ireland, she took up her new post with 

us on August the 13th. 

Aodhnait says: “Much of my youth was spent 

exploring the wilderness of Northern British 

Columbia. I began working in the field of 

reforestation at the age of seventeen and 

continued to work in that field until last year. After 

completing my post-secondary education at the 

University of Calgary, I began working at the 

Enviros Wilderness School, where I remained until 

I moved to Dublin. 

“I have a passion for all outdoor activities 

including hill-walking, climbing, mountain biking, 

running, skiing and anything else that gets me out 

of the city and into the outdoors. 

“I am looking forward to the challenges that 

the post of MCI’s Access & Conservation Officer 

will bring and to learning about the problems 

faced by MCI members in this hugely important 

area, if we are to promote the sustainable use of 

the uplands in Ireland.” 

• Aodhnait can be contacted on (01) 625 1115 or 

by email at aodhnait@mountaineering.ie. 

MCI library now all in Dublin 

The MCI’s library, comprising nearly 700 books and 

guides, is for the use of our members. Until now, 

the majority of the books have been kept in the 

University of Limerick. However, while we are 

grateful to the university for providing this 

assistance, we feel it is better to have all of the 

books in one location accessible to more of our 

members. Now that we have more space in the 

MCI office at Sport HQ in Dublin, we are able to 

accommodate the MCI’s entire library. The books 

in Limerick have therefore been brought back to 

Dublin. 

The library catalogues for both sections of the 

library date back to 2003 and are on the old 

website. We will now be preparing a new combined 

catalogue which will shortly be on our new 

website, www.mountaineering.ie. Until this is 

ready, just use the old catalogues and the MCI 

office staff will try to ensure that you get the most 

recent guides that we have. The books from 

Limerick will arrive in boxes, so it will take us some 

time to get them sorted. 

Requests for books or guides should be made 

to the MCI Office by phone (+353 1 625 1115), 

email (info@mountaineering.ie) or post. Simply 

identify the book(s) you wish to borrow and 

include your full name and address and a daytime 

contact number. 

To cover the cost of postage, please send us 

€3 for the first book and €1 for any extra requests 

up to a limit of five books. Books will be sent on 

upon receipt of the fee.

Progress made on access 

Stile at Lough Dan, Co Wicklow. 

PHOTO: EOIN REILLY 

Joss Lynam 

The last meeting of Comhairle na Tuaithe was 

notable for the acceptance by the farming bodies 

that, as far as footpaths were concerned, there 

were other more practical and more acceptable 

methods of making money than plain “payment 

for access.” Principally, this would involve payment 

for development or maintenance work done on 

their own property. A sub-group of Comhairle (not 

including MCI) is currently studying how this 

might be done. 

The friendly atmosphere didn’t last long, 

however – in fact, only long enough for the 

farmers to read the Report of the Expert Group to 

examine and make recommendations on the Legal 

Issues of Land Access for recreational use that was 

handed out by CRAGA after the meeting. 

The Report confirmed the opinion of the 

Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution that 

there is no constitutional impediment to the 

government introducing legislation to facilitate 

access to the countryside and that, in the event of 

such legislation, there is no automatic right to 

compensation but that this could be paid in the 

event of an established economic loss. 

It considered that the Occupier’s Liability Act 

of the Republic has proved to be more robust than 

many landowners feared and that case law in the 

UK and Ireland shows that recreational users 

create no undue liability on landowners. 

This was a report on what might legally be 

done, but was assumed by farming bodies to be 

actual policy, and it took the intervention of a 

public statement by Minister Éamon Ó Cuív that it 

was not Government policy to calm the storm. 

Words like “nationalisation” were being bandied 

about, whereas the report was careful to point out 

that the constitutionality of access legislation 

rested on the limited reduction of property rights 

that it would entail. 

In a press release, the MCI stated that it is in 

favour of legislation that will balance the rights and 

responsibilities of landowners and recreational 

users and that will offer no threat to the legal 

ownership of land. Measures can be incorporated 

to protect privacy, crops and livestock. 

There exists real potential for social and 

economic benefits to accrue to rural areas from an 

established access system and from payments to 

farmers for trail construction and maintenance, 

which the MCI supports. We welcome the 

development by farmers of car parks and other 

appropriate facilities which could receive rural 

development funding support. 

Our press release stressed that, with the 

publication of the report, the debate on access has 

moved on from just establishing a network of 

permissive paths, mostly in the enclosed lowerlevel 

countryside (valuable as this is), to creating a 

comprehensive framework on a legislative basis, 

encompassing the whole range of access 

opportunities from low-level paths and the coastal 

zone to the open areas of the higher hills. 

At its next meeting in September the 

Comhairle will discuss the report and the work of 

the Sub-Group. MCI hopes that the discussions 

will be able to recommend a scheme for trail 

construction and maintenance by the 

farmer/landowner on his own property. 

Neverethess, we consider that general access for 

countryside recreation will still require legislation, 

which must be acceptable to the majority of both 

farmers and recreationalists. 

News 

News in Brief 

New outdoor store for 

Blanchardstown 

On August 1st, the new 53° North 

Store opened its doors to the public in 

Blanchardstown Retail Park, Dublin. 

The new 20,000 sq ft store is 

owned by Irish brothers Alan and 

David McFarlane who have invested 

€1.5 million in the fit-out, and it 

carries over 50 of the world’s leading 

brands of clothing, footwear and 

accessories for travel, trekking, 

running, skiing, snowboarding, sailing, 

surfing, beach and urban lifestyle wear. 

“We set ourselves the challenge of 

designing the most innovative outdoor 

store in Europe and our end result is a 

truly unique store that embodies the 

energy and spirit of the outdoors,” 

said Alan McFarlane of 53° North. 

“Our focus has been very much on the 

overall customer experience, to deliver 

top performance brands in an 

innovative, easy to shop environment, 

enhanced by our ability to offer expert 

advice. The inclusion of an Insomnia 

Café and a Treehouse Juice Bar adds to 

the relaxed atmosphere we have 

created,” he added. For more 

information, visit www.53degrees 

north.ie. 

Boardman Tasker 2007 

The judges of the Boardman Tasker 

Award have announced their shortlist 

for 2007(see below). The judging 

panel is chaired by Lord Chris Smith, 

former Secretary of State for Culture, 

Media and Sport, keen Munroist and 

climber, and President of The 

Ramblers’ Association. 

Hamish Brown 

The Mountains Look On Marrakech 

(A challenging journey along the Atlas 

Mountains) 

Judith Brown 

Happy Climbing Tells No Tales 

(A collection of well-told stories) 

Bernadette McDonald 

Brotherhood Of The Rope 

(See review in our Books section) 

Robert Macfarlane 

The Wild Places 

(Capturing the essence of wilderness) 

James M Tabor 

Forever On The Mountain 

(The 1967 Mount McKinley disaster) 

Stephen Venables 

Higher Than The Eagle Soars 

(An autobiography) 

The winner will be announced on 

the 16th of November at the Kendal 

Mountain Book Festival. 


Clubs 

The Cork Backpackers’ Club 

One of Munster’s largest clubs celebrates 25 years 

The Cork Backpackers’ Club was founded in 

1982 when a few people met informally in 

Cork and decided to “go venture out onto 

the hills.” From these humble beginnings 

the club has grown in experience and size, 

until the present day, when it is one of the 

largest hill-walking clubs in the Munster area. 

In the beginning, the club organised 

one walk for everybody every three weeks 

and details of these early walks were 

documented in The Echo. However, as 

numbers grew and friendships developed, 

there was a desire to meet socially as well as 

out on the hills and the club began meeting 

every Wednesday night, as well as going 

walking at the weekends. We currently have 

a total membership of just over 200 

individuals who come from all over Ireland 

and even a few from various European 

countries. The increased membership 

necessitated the introduction of graded 

hikes rather than just having one walk for all 

comers. 

The club now goes hiking every second 

Sunday, when at least four graded walks are 

organised in different locations in Munster. The 

club’s main stomping grounds include the Cahas, 

the Galtees, the Reeks and the Knockmealdowns. 

The club organises at least five weekend 

meets away each year, to allow members to enjoy 

hiking in other mountain ranges. For example, in 

August 2007 we enjoyed some of the spectacular 

views in Mayo. These weekends away are very 

Cork Backpackers on Carrauntoohil in June 2007. 

sociable and include as much singing and dancing 

as hiking! 

Every September, at the AGM, club members 

elect a committee to organise the events for the 

club in the coming year, including a summer BBQ 

and a Christmas party, as well as the regular daywalk 

trips every two weeks. 

The club has a Safety Navigation Training 

Officer who actively encourages members to 

Cork Backpackers unveil a plaque in memory of the late Fr Frank Sweeney in Rossmackowen, 16th October 2005. 

8 


participate in Navigation Training Days during the 

year. Navigation training is available to all members 

in the club, with tuition being provided internally 

by experienced leaders and externally by 

accredited navigational training providers. 

Last year, the club organised a training day 

with the South Eastern Mountain Rescue Team, 

when particular emphasis was placed on the 

importance of safety on the mountains. As a result 

of the club’s commitment to 

training, each year we see new 

recruits joining the list of leaders 

in the club. 

The club’s website at 

http://www.corkbackpackers. 

com contains all the latest details 

regarding our current events 

programme, as well as important 

safety information. A printed 

version is also distributed to 

members at our regular 

Wednesday night meeting venue, 

Counihan’s in Pembroke Street, 

Cork, where we meet every week 

from about 9:00pm onwards. 

This year, the club has been 

in existence for 25 years and, to 

celebrate the occasion, we are 

having a 25th Anniversary Ball in 

the Maryborough House Hotel on 

17th November 2007. 

We believe that our club is 

thriving because it offers the 

opportunity to make life-long 

friendships, while enjoying hiking 

in some of the most scenic parts 

of the country.

New Dublin Mountains website 

www.dublinmountains.ie 

The Dublin Mountains Initiative (see news item in IML 82) recently launched its new 

website, www.dublinmountains.ie. The site is designed to serve as an information 

gateway and to make it easier for the public to follow the initiative’s progress. 

Chairman of the DMI, Mark d’Alton, said: “We have been working hard on putting 

together a website for quite some time and are delighted to finally have it up. We see 

it as the best possible tool we could have to spread the word about the ideas of the 

DMI and also to keep both the members of our constituent organisations and the 

general public up to date with our progress.” 

Visiting the site, one is immediately made aware of its core message with scenic 

photographs of the Dublin Mountains interspersed with action shots of recreational 

use. The DMI core vision is outlined on the home page. There is a communication 

page with links to press coverage to date, and it is possible to download a detailed 

document on the overall long-term vision of the DMI. 

D’Alton added: “We are hoping that the site will act as a vehicle whereby 

individuals can join the DMI – there is a membership section on the site and we would 

encourage all interested parties to get involved. All individual members of the DMI will 

be regularly updated on progress and will be able to attend our AGM where we would 

be delighted to hear their ideas and opinions. The first AGM will be held in October 

of this year.” 

Finally, the DMI would like to acknowledge the assistance of Mat May and Fusio 

Web Design who have been a great help in putting the site together. 

At about 3:00pm on 4th September Wicklow 

Gardaí contacted the Glen of Imaal Mountain 

Rescue Team informing them of a school group in 

difficulty in the Glendalough area. Using a mobile 

phone to make direct contact with the group’s 

leader, the team determined that a teenager in the 

group had suffered a lower-leg injury and would 

need first-aid treatment and assistance getting off 

the hill. 

A rescue party was dispatched to the scene 

and located the group on high ground at the head 

of the Glendalough valley. The team requested the 

services of the Coast Guard helicopter while the 

Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team also went 

on standby in case further assistance was required. 

When the rescue party reached the group, 

they treated the injured girl for a suspected 

fractured ankle before she was taken off the hill by 

the Coast Guard helicopter. The mountain rescue 

party also discovered two more students in the 

group in need of assistance because of minor 

injuries. They were treated at the scene and 

brought safely off the hill. 

At this time of year, many schools may be 

planning outdoor activities on the hills and the 

Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue Team would like 

to take this opportunity to remind teachers and 

other potential leaders that it is essential to be 

properly prepared for the variety of conditions 

that can be encountered. All walkers should be 

equipped with appropriate clothing, footwear, 

water and food. Additionally, the group leader 

should have sufficient training and experience and 

the supplies needed to bring the group over the 

proposed route. 

Information on both mountain skills and 

leadership courses can be obtained by contacting 

the Mountaineering Council of Ireland. 

Completing such courses will not only add to the 

safety of your walks but also to the enjoyment and 

satisfaction to be gained from the hills. 

• 

News 

Walkers airlifted from Glendalough 

The Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue Team 

would like to thank the Wicklow Park Services, the 

Irish Coast Guard and the Dublin Wicklow 

Mountain Rescue Team for their assistance during 

this operation. 

July rescue 

Another injured walker was airlifted from the 

Spink in Glendalough on 29th July. A Czech 

woman holidaying in Ireland had been walking 

with friends on the Spink when she fell and injured 

her leg. The Glen of Imaal and Dublin/Wicklow 

Mountain Rescue teams were called out and the 

Coast Guard helicopter requested. Upon reaching 

the woman, the rescuers treated her on the spot, 

and when the helicopter arrived they assisted the 

crew in finding a suitable site from which to winch 

the casualty. Both the casualty and a friend who 

was acting as a translator were then safely winched 

aboard and brought to hospital. 

The Spink forms the southern part of a loop 

walk around the monastic settlement of 

Glendalough and, while popular and easily 

accessible, it is quite narrow and awkward in 

places. These factors contribute to it being the 

scene of a number of mountain rescue incidents 

every year. 


News 

Joss Lynam 

The Irish on Everest 

There were six Irish ascents of Everest in the premonsoon 

period this year, bringing the total to 

date to sixteen: 

• 

• 

• 

Ian McKeever summited on 16th May as part 

of his world record-breaking fastest ascent of 

the Seven Summits; 

Tom Lehane summited on 17th May; 

Hannah Shields from Derry reached the top 

on the 19th of May (she previously attempted 

it four years ago); 

Nigel Hart summited on 23rd May, and 

Roger McMorrow and Mick O’Dwyer on 

24th May. These three were doctors on the 

Xtreme Everest research team led by Dr 

Grocott which conducted research on hypoxia 

at high altitude, which could contribute to the 

solution of breathing difficulties at normal 

altitudes. They set up the world’s highest 

laboratory on the South Col at almost 8,000m 

and took blood samples at 8,400m. Readers 

will recollect that Roger McMorrow led a 

successful expedition to Garhwal in 2002. 

To the best of our knowledge these were all 

oxygen-assisted climbs. 

Gavin Bate made his fourth attempt to reach 

the summit of Everest, this time with the audacious 

plan to traverse from north to south without 

oxygen, with one Sherpa and no support on the 

south. He trained by climbing on Cho Oyu and by 

climbing from ABC to the North Col three times in 

six days. Nevertheless, it all fell apart when he had 

a very severe attack of pulmonary oedema above 

8,000m. With his lungs nearly full of liquid, he 

managed to descend, helped by his Sherpa, 

Pasang Tendi, without whom, Gavin writes, he 

would have died. 

10 

Mt Elbrus: Europe’s highest peak 

News from the Greater Ranges 


Further desecration 

of Everest 

China has decided that the Olympic Torch will be 

carried over the summit of Everest. To keep it 

alight in the high winds and the low temperatures 

and with the lack of oxygen will surely require 

elaborate arrangements, and yet more litter. 

Apparently a lighted torch was taken to the 

summit last June as a trial. 

From Everest North Base Camp to Tingri (on 

the Kathmandu-Lhasa Highway) the existing dirt 

road is going to be improved and tarmacadammed 

for the passage of the torch at a cost of $19.66 

million. This can only be with the intention of 

making Base Camp a tourist attraction after the 

Olympics, with almost certainly more 

environmental damage. 

Already there is a multi-storey hotel a onehour 

walk below Base Camp and a giant cellular 

phone tower. Colourful miniature stage coaches 

offer rides to Rongbuk monastery. The Base itself 

is now a fairly large tent city with nearly a hundred 

large tents offering bunks, meals, liquor, gear and 

even medical aid. According to the doctors 

practicing there, the cases of frostbite and altitude 

sickness have been outstripped by victims of basecamp 

brawls and sexually transmitted infections. 

(Himavanta, July & August 2007) 

Seven Summits record 

set by Irishman 

Irish climber Ian McKeever broke the world record 

for climbing the highest peaks on the seven 

continents when he reached the summit of Mount 

McKinley (Denali) in Alaska on 30th June, 2007, 

156 days after leaving the summit of Mount Vinson 

in Antarctica on 15th January. The previous record, 

187 days, was held by Daniel Griffith, a Canadian. 

Several Irish mountaineers have completed 

the Seven Summits, but their ascents have been 

spread over a year or more. To climb them in 156 

days requires an amount of planning and tenacity 

that is quite astonishing. In mid-April, with four 

continents trodden under his boots, his first 

attempt on Mt Elbrus (Europe) was stopped by 

extreme cold. He climbed Everest a month later, 

became snow-blind on the descent, but was 

nevertheless on top of Elbrus two weeks later. 

McKinley succumbed to his third attempt. 

McKeever was able to include Carstensz 

Pyramid (4,884m) in New Guinea as Australasia/ 

Oceania’s highest point. Previously, political 

difficulties had made it impossible and the lower, 

easier Mount Kosciusko (2,230m) in Australia had 

been substituted. This was the first Irish ascent of 

Carstenz, a joint first with Grania Willis (see article 

on page 40). He still had the energy to climb 

Kosciusko in July! 

Some mountaineers may question whether 

what he did was a true mountaineering challenge, 

since the key element of self-reliance was missing. 

Nevertheless, we can all surely admire McKeever’s 

stamina and determination.

12 

News 

Challenging Scottish terrain. 

PHOTO: TIM ORR 

MCI Youth Event 

Scottish Winter Skills, 16-21 March 2008 

Angela Carlin 

We are once again looking forward to winter and 

to the Scottish Winter Skills week. This 

programme aims to provide young people with an 

opportunity to learn the skills necessary to handle 

Scottish winter conditions, under the supervision 

of experienced instructors and mountaineers. This 

includes navigation skills, avalanche awareness and 

emergency shelter building as well as winter 

walking and ice climbing, if conditions permit. 

An ideal candidate for this course would be 

aged 16-21 and would have a good level of fitness, 

as well as some hill-walking or rock-climbing 

experience. They would be enthusiastic and eager 

to learn skills, with a view to using them 

independently in the future. If you think that this 

person sounds like you, then you should contact 

Call for members’ photographs 

We are looking for photographs from MCI members to display their photographic talents in 

the pages of the Mountain Log and to illustrate other items that we may publish. 

If you have any shots of mountain scenes or mountaineering activity in Ireland or 

abroad that you would like to submit, and you believe they might look good printed in 

the Log, then please post your images to the MCI office or email them to 

info@mountaineering.ie. 

We will fully credit any photograph we print in the Log or elsewhere, and the best 

shots will be featured in the Members’ Photo Gallery in future issues of the Log. 

All images on a hillwalking, climbing or mountains theme will be gratefully 

received. When sending photos, please provide full captions and the photographer’s 

name. We regularly need photos for the Log, for our website, leaflets, etc, and, while we 

can’t pay for photos, we will ensure that photographers are credited and that photos or slides are 

returned. If you’d like to join our regular panel of photographers, please e-mail info@mountaineering.ie and, when 

we need a specific shot, we’ll send out a request to all on the panel. 


us to receive an application form! 

Once we have received your form we may 

invite you to Tollymore Mountain Centre, Co 

Down, for a training and selection weekend on 4- 

6th January 2008 (Cost £65/€100). This weekend 

is a valuable learning experience and provides an 

introduction to navigation and rope-work skills. If 

you are successful, you may be chosen to 

participate in the trip to Aviemore, in the 

Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland. 

• If you are interested in applying for the Winter 

Skills Programme 2008, please contact: 

Angela Carlin 

MCI Youth Development Officer 

E-mail: angela@mountaineering.ie 

Tel: (0044) 2843 725354 

Lough Ouler, Tonelagee, Co Wicklow. 

PHOTO: EOIN REILLY

North West 

Mountaineering 

Club 

The 2007 Autumn Meet will be based at the Ballyliffin Hotel 

in Ballyliffin, Inishowen, Co Donegal. Ballyliffin overlooks the 

magnificent sweep of the Pollen Strand with the ruins of 

Carrickabraghy Castle at the end of the bay and Glashedy 

Rock just off the coast. Malin Head, Ireland’s most northerly 

point, is not far away. The hotel is centrally situated for a 

variety of activities including walking, bouldering and 

rockclimbing. The event is being hosted 

by the North West Mountaineering Club. 

Programme of events 

‘Twixt Foyle and Swilly 

MCI Autumn Meet, Inishowen, Co Donegal 

12th-14th October, 2007 

Friday 12th October 

6.30pm–9.30pm Registration at Ballyliffin Hotel 

(bar food available until 9.30pm) 

9.00pm “Twixt Foyle and Swilly: A History of Inishowen” 

Saturday 13th October 

8.30am–9.30am Registration at the Ballyliffin Hotel 

9.30am Depart from the hotel. Activities include: 

(a) Urris Hills, Butlers Glen to the Hills of Dunree 

(approx 5 hours) 

(b) Slieve Snaght and Slieve Main 

(approx 4.5 hours) 

(c) Urris Hills, Mamore Gap to Guns of Dunree 

(approx 3 hours) 

(d) Granite bouldering at Dunaff Head 

(e) Rockclimbing at Malin Head 

5.30pm–7pm MCI Members’ Forum 

8.00pm Dinner and audio-visual presentation:- 

“Expeditioning in the Himalaya” with Anindya Mukherjee (Rajah) 

Sunday 14th October 

9.30am Walk up Binnian (2.5 hours) or: 

10.00 am “You Are What You Eat: Energise for Exercise” 

– a nutritionist’s view on eating for the hills 

Urris Hills, Dunree, Co Donegal. 

Autumn Meet 

Accommodation 

The Ballyliffin Hotel has rooms available at €45 pps per night. To book one of these 

rooms, please ring the hotel on 074 93 76106. Other hotels in Ballyliffin village include: 

The Strand Hotel (074 93 76107), The Ballyliffin Lodge Luxury Hotel (074 93 78200), 

Doherty’s Pollen Beach Hotel (074 93 78840). Further details of these and of other types 

of accommodation in and around Ballyliffin can be found at www.donegaldirect.com or by 

contacting Letterkenny Tourism Office on 074 91 21160. 

Booking Form 

Name ________________________________________________ 

Address _______________________________________________ 

_____________________________________________________ 

_____________________________________________________ 

Telephone _____________________________________________ 

Email (for confirmation of booking) ____________________________ 

❑ MCI Member ❑ MCI non-member 

Please tick the boxes for your chosen activities: 

Saturday 

❑ Urris Hills, Butlers Glen to the Hills of Dunree (approx 5 hours) 

❑ Slieve Snaght and Slieve Main (approx 4.5 hours) 

❑ Urris Hills, Mamore Gap to the Guns of Dunree (approx 3 hours) 

❑ Granite bouldering at Dunaff Head 

❑ Rock climbing at Malin Head 

Sunday 

❑ 9.30am Walk up Binnian 

❑ 10.00am “You are what you eat: a nutritionist’s perspective” 

❑ Registration – €10 (£7) per person for MCI member 

❑ Registration – €20 (£14) for non-member 

❑ Dinner and entertainment – €30 (£21) per person 

❑ Tick if vegetarian option required 

Total enclosed __________________ 

Malin Head, Co Donegal 

Make cheques payable to North West Mountaineering Club 

Please return this form with payment to Josephine Hegarty, 68 Glenmore Park, 

Altnagelvin, Derry BT47 2JZ by 24 September 2007 

Tel 028 7134 8773 (048 from RoI) Email mcioctmeet@yahoo.co.uk 


14 

News 

News in Brief 

Adventure Festival 

(incorporating the Banff Film Festival) 

The MCI will be associated this year 

with the First RAW Outdoors 

Adventure Festival, incorporating the 

Banff Film Festival World Tour, to be 

held in Hillsborough, Co Down, from 

Wednesday 3rd October until 

Saturday 6th October, 2007. 

The event will offer four days of 

unparallelled entertainment with 

adventure and outdoor-based 

activities, sports, culture, arts and 

mountain communities not seen in 

Ireland before. This is a fantastic 

opportunity for people from all walks 

of life to hear at first hand from some 

of the world’s greatest outdoor minds 

and to find out more on how to get out 

there and enjoy the Great Outdoors! 

There will be a lecture presented by 

Sir Ranulph Fiennes (below) and 

introductions to the Banff Mountain 

Film Festival by Dawson Stelfox and 

Andy Cave. Tickets are now available 

to buy at www.rawoutdoors.co.uk. 

Tickets will go on sale shortly with 

20% discount through the MCI 

website www.mountaineering.ie for 

MCI members only. Please note, the 

supply is limited. 

Wee Adventure 

Film Festival 

The Wee Adventure Film Festival will 

be held in Dublin on 7th February 

2008. This is an amateur film festival 

that will show adventure sports films 

made by people who do adventure 

sports. 

The festival organisers are 

currently looking for people who are 

into MTB, rockclimbing, fell-running, 

kayaking, caving, skiing, parachuting, 

skate-boarding, bouldering, BMX, 

surfing or any other adventure sports, 

to submit a short film (up to 10 

minutes long) to the festival. The best 

of these films will be shown at the 

festival in February. For more 

information visit www.waff.ie. 


Chris Bonington to give talk 

in Dublin 

As part of the MCI lecture series this year, we are 

delighted to welcome to Dublin a true climbing 

great, Sir Chris Bonington, who will speak on 

Thursday, 29th November. 

Chris earned his iconic reputation during 50 

years of exploration. Since giving up a career as a 

Unilever management trainee in his early 20s, he 

has never stopped in his quest for adventure. 

Chris Bonington has been a leading figure in 

the climbing community for decades, with a 

reputation that was built on great personal 

climbing achievements but enhanced by his 

leadership ability. In the autumn of 1975, 

Bonington led the British Everest expedition to 

success when Doug Scott and Dougal Haston 

reached the summit on 24th September, the first 

team to climb the southwest face of the mountain. 

Two years later Bonington and Doug Scott 

made the first ascent of the Ogre in the Karakoram 

and had an epic six-day descent, with Scott 

crawling all the way as he had broken both of his 

legs soon after leaving the summit. Bonington also 

had a fall and broke a rib, they ran out of food and, 

when at last they reached Base Camp, starving and 

exhausted, it was only to find that their 

companions had given them up for lost and 

abandoned the camp. 

Now 72, Sir Chris Bonington has no intention 

of hanging up his climbing boots. He may not 

climb as high or as hard as in his youth, but he 

continues to explore with a great appetite for 

adventure. 

This lecture is presented by 53° North in 

association with Berghaus. 

‘Beyond Endurance’ to air 

on RTÉ in October 

Antarctica… beautiful, savage and inhospitable. 

Not the kind of place you would expect to find 

ordinary Irish men and women who, in normal life, 

have normal jobs. A barrister, a fireman, a student, 

a truck-driver, an IT expert and a whole eclectic 

bunch of armchair-explorers responded to an 

advertisement which said: ‘No experience 

necessary.’ 

Their goal was to become part of the Beyond 

Endurance expedition, which would take 24 

people across the island of South Georgia to walk 

in the footsteps of Irish Antarctic hero Sir Ernest 

Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance. 

Panache Television’s Karen Rodgers and 

Stephen O’Reilly spent a year following the 

fortunes of the expedition hopefuls as they were 

Sir Chris Bonington. 

PHOTO: CHRIS BONINGTON 

Limited tickets only. Tickets €15 (€10 for MCI 

members) on sale from the MCI Office in 

November. 

The lecture takes place in the 53° North Store, 

Unit 428, Retail Park 3, The Blanchardstown 

Centre, Blanchardstown, Co Dublin, on Thursday 

29th November at 8:00pm. Further updates on 

our website, www.mountaineering.ie. 

whittled down from the initial 100 to 24 team 

members who would form the largest Irish 

expedition ever to tackle the most hostile 

environment on the planet. 

To achieve their objective, the Irish amateurs 

must succeed where the British SAS failed when, 

due to adverse weather conditions, the élite force 

had to be airlifted to safety from South Georgia at 

a cost of £8 million. 

The four-part series charts the trials and 

tribulations of the Irish group from the initial 

gathering on a cold Kerry mountainside to the 

reality of the expedition. 

The series, in high definition, will be shown 

weekly on RTÉ 1 at 7:00pm, beginning on 23rd 

October.

Pilgrims on the way up Croagh Patrick. 

PHOTO: IRISH MOUNTAIN RESCUE ASSOCIATION 

16 

News 

Biggest ever national rescue 

operation on Croagh Patrick 

Croagh Patrick is renowned for its annual Patrician 

Pilgrimage in honour of St Patrick’s 40-day fast on 

the mountain in 441 AD. On Reek Sunday, the last 

Sunday in July, over 25,000 pilgrims visit the Reek. 

People from all over the world participate, including 

hill-walkers, historians, archaeologists, nature lovers 

and, of course, the devout. 

The pilgrimage is a tradition that has been 

faithfully handed down from generation to 

generation. It is believed the tradition of 

pilgrimage to this holy mountain stretches back 

over 5,000 years to the Stone Age. 

In 1943, the Westport Order of Malta 

Ambulance Corps was founded, initially to provide 

first aid services to the pilgrims who climbed the 

mountain. The National Pilgrimage Day in July was 

solely an Order of Malta operation, with units from 

all around Ireland involved. But as mountain 

rescue services became more established the 

Order of Malta requested the assistance of various 

mountain rescue teams. Mayo Mountain Rescue 


was one of the teams that assisted and, about 10 

years ago, as their partnership with the Westport 

Order of Malta became stronger, they were asked 

to arrange all of the mountain rescue services 

required at the event. Mayo MRT subsequently 

requested assistance from all of the other 

mountain rescue teams in Ireland. 

Most teams in Ireland now participate, with 

over 130 personnel being involved. A dedicated 

rescue base has been established, and a temporary 

helicopter landing zone was demarcated during 

the last two pilgrimages as the Air Corps now 

provide assistance to the rescue services. 

While the casualties benefit from having the 

rescue services on hand, the teams also benefit, as 

the pilgrimage provides an excellent opportunity 

for training and for dealing with First Aid and 

Casualty Care. They also get experience of being 

involved in a large, multi-agency operation. Teams 

get practiced at working with other teams and 

mountain rescue benefits from the public relations 

and media coverage that the event brings, which 

results in added support from the public. 

Reek Sunday is considered a national 

operation by the Irish Mountain Rescue 

Association. Unlike the majority of call-outs where 

teams are called out after the incident, Reek 

Sunday is the only one that we can plan for in 

advance. 

There are many advantages to this. One is that 

it allows Mayo MRT to invite other teams to attend. 

This year we had over 130 mountain rescue 

personnel on the mountain in three shifts: 3:00am, 

8:00am and noon. These personnel came from 10 

of the 12 teams in IMRA. There were also members 

attending from the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation 

(ICRO) and the Arrochar MRT from Scotland. 

The Mayo MRT did a fantastic job of setting up 

a temporary mountain rescue base at the back of 

Croagh Patrick. The base consisted of: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

a portable cabin acting as a radio and control 

centre; 

a second portable cabin acting as a briefing 

room; 

a mess tent serving food and drinks for rescue 

personnel. The tent and food were provided 

by Mayo MRT and the tent staffed by Civil 

Defence personnel; 

a temporary landing zone for the Air Corps 

Alouette helicopters. 

On the mountain, Mayo MRT also provided a 

tent for the teams to store gear. This was opposite 

the upper medical post and helicopter landing 

zone on a flat area half-way up the mountain. The 

upper post was staffed by the local Order of Malta 

unit. Other Order of Malta units provided coverage 

on the lower part of the mountain, while the MR 

teams provided coverage on the path between the 

upper post and the oratory on the summit. 

IMRA would like to thank Mayo MRT for 

hosting this national operation and would like to 

acknowledge the Garda, the Order of Malta, the 

Civil Defence and the Air Corps Alouette crews for 

their support. 

If you would like to make a donation to the 

Irish Mountain Rescue Association (registered 

charity CHY 10412), the details of our fund-raising 

account are: Allied Irish Bank, bank sort code 93 

63 40, account name Irish Mountain Rescue 

Association, account number 27101 264. All 

monies received go directly to benefitting the MR 

teams. We are very grateful for any and all support 

that we receive. For more information about 

mountain rescue in Ireland, please visit 

www.mountainrescue.ie. 

• Dave Fahy and Peter Jordan (Mayo MRT) and 

Paul Whiting (Development Officer, IMRA)

The upper medical post on Croagh Patrick on Reek Sunday 2007. 

PHOTO: IRISH MOUNTAIN RESCUE ASSOCIATION 

COMPETITION 

Artwork & Slogan 

Are you full of bright ideas? Want to see one 

of your ideas in the national media? Are you 

willing to do it to make a difference and 

support a charity? 

The Irish Mountain Rescue Association 

(IMRA) is the representative body of the 

twelve mountain rescue teams spread across 

Ireland (two in Northern Ireland, ten in the 

Republic).The teams consist of over 350 men 

and women and provide a completely 

voluntary 24-hour mountain rescue service 

all year round to people who get lost or 

injured while walking or climbing in Irish 

mountain ranges. 

In 2008, IMRA will be starting a three-year 

fundraising campaign to raise awareness of 

Mountain Rescue and to raise urgently 

needed funds to support its teams and, 

ultimately, the casualties on the mountain. 

We’re running a competition (closing date 

31st Octber) to find the best slogan and 

artwork to support this initiative. Details and 

conditions of the competition can be 

obtained from the Competition page of our 

website: www.mountainrescue.ie. 

Mountain Rescue Ireland 

Irish Mountain Rescue Association 

Cumann Tarrthála Sléibhte na h-Éireann 

Sport HQ, 13 Joyce Way, Park West Business 

Park, Dublin 12 (Tel: +353 23 59822) 

News 

IMRA call-out statistics 2006 

The Irish Mountain Rescue Association (IMRA) 

represents the twelve Irish Mountain Rescue 

Teams, including two based in Northern Ireland, 

which provide a voluntary 24/7 mountain search 

and rescue service. 

In 2006, IMRA’s member teams responded to 

229 separate incidents, assisting 350 people in 

distress on Irish hills. 130 of these people had 

sustained an injury, sadly including 10 fatalities. 

The incidents dealt with included searches (51%), 

rescues (43%) and requests for standby/assistance 

for organised events (6%). 

A total of 8,375 hours, the equivalent of 1,047 

working days, were voluntarily invested in these 

mountain rescue activities by the Mountain Rescue 

Teams’ members and this does not include the 

time they spent training, which generally exceeds 

the time on active duty. 

The table alongside shows the number of 

incidents each Mountain Rescue Team was 

involved in, allowing for incidents where more 

than one team was involved. 

Summer and autumn were again the busiest 

seasons, quite understandably as generally more 

people engage in outdoor activities in these 

months. Sundays were the busiest days, followed 

by Saturdays, with the weekends accounting for 

more than half of the incidents. As usual, where 

injuries had occurred, they were again 

predominantly lower limb injuries, with medical 

problems being the next most frequent category 

dealt with. 

The teams conducted 36 stretcher 

evacuations ranging in distance from 0.3km to 

6km, the average being 2.4km. Evacuation by 

helicopter took place in 34 cases. 

When reviewing statistics like these, it is 

important to be able to learn from them and to use 

them to encourage safety and responsibility on the 

hills in the future. Mountains present challenges 

for the prepared and the experienced; the 

unprepared or inexperienced are more vulnerable 

to these challenges and should not allow their 

ambition to exceed their ability. Conditions can 

rapidly worsen; a simple slip can render a hillwalker 

immobile. If a casualty is an hour or two 

from the nearest road, a twisted ankle can lead to 

hypothermia and possibly death. 

• Gerry Christie, PRO, IMRA 

Team Involvement in Incidents 

Team Number 

Donegal 17 

Dublin & Wicklow 50 

Galway 8 

Glen of Imaal 37 

Kerry 20 

Mayo 29 

Mournes 17 

North West 29 

SARDA 15 

Sligo/Leitrim 11 

South East 16 

Tramore Sea & Cliff 13 

Total 262 


News in Brief 

Irish Heart Week 2007 

The Irish Heart Foundation’s Irish Heart 

Week, from 24th to 30th September 

2007, will focus on physical activity and 

encourage adults to be more active. The 

campaign, supported by the Health 

Service Executive (HSE), will educate 

the public on the recommended 30 

minutes or more of physical activity five 

days a week, and the health benefits of 

activity, and will also provide ideas on 

how to be active. 

‘Go for Life’ grant 

scheme for older people 

The Irish Sports Council and Age & 

Opportunity are delighted to announce 

the 7th round of the ‘Go for Life’ 

National Grant Scheme for Sport and 

Physical Activity for Older People. 

This year, €350,000 will be made 

available to local groups to enable their 

older members to become more 

involved in sport and physical activity. 

Any local group seeking to provide 

increased opportunities for older 

people to participate in sport and 

physical activity may apply for a grant. 

Grants range from €500 to €3,000 and 

are typically used by groups to purchase 

equipment or so that members may 

explore a new sporting activity. 

Last year, almost 600 groups 

nationwide shared in excess of 

€300,000 under the sixth phase of the 

scheme. Successful applicants included 

active retirement associations, senior 

citizens clubs, ICA guilds, sports clubs, 

day centres and community centres in 

26 counties. 

Application forms are available from 

Go for Life, c/o Age & Opportunity, 

Marino Institute of Education, Griffith 

Avenue, Dublin 9, tel: 01 805 7733, 

email: gfl@mie.ie, or contact the MCI 

office. 

Adventure Sports 

First Aid 

The First Aid Course REC L3 will be held 

on 20th, 21st and 27th October 2007 

in Glendalough, Co Wicklow. For further 

information contact: 

Pat Reid 

Tel: 045 866 117 

Email: patreid@esatclear.ie 

Cost: €250 per person 

A deposit of €100 will secure a place on 

the course. 

18 

News 



‘Girls Outside’ project 

The Women in Sport ‘Girls Outside’ project is 

designed to increase the number of young women 

participating in walking and climbing in the Sligo 

region. 

The project will work in partnership with MCI 

staff and experienced volunteers, outdoor 

adventure centres and relevant local agencies 

including Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership, 

the Health Promotion Unit, schools, community 

organisations, etc. 

A key aspect of this project is that a variety of 

diverse, entertaining and exciting approaches will 

be applied in order to motivate and interest girls in 

getting involved in walking and climbing. 

Current membership of the MCI reflects an 

equal gender balance. The female membership, 

Mountain & Wilderness 

Medicine Congress in Scotland 

Aviemore Highland Resort in Scotland is the 

chosen venue for this year’s joint Congress of the 

Wilderness Medical Society and the International 

Society for Mountain Medicine, which is the first 

time this prestigious four-yearly event has been 

hosted in the UK. 

Stephen Venables, the first Briton to climb 

Everest without oxygen, is to be guest of honour at 

the first combined world global conference on 

mountain and wilderness medicine to be held in 

Aviemore, Scotland from 3rd to 7th October 2007. 

Stephen is President of The Alpine Club, currently 

celebrating its 150th anniversary. 

The conference will bring together some of 

however, is primarily involved in walking – women 

are seriously under-represented in the activities of 

climbing, mountaineering and in leadership roles. 

The MCI’s current development plan has identified 

the need to increase participation of underrepresented 

sectors in mountain training and to 

facilitate greater youth involvement in 

mountaineering activities. 

The project went out to tender in August and 

we will have further updates to let you know how 

it went. 

AIM: To increase the numbers of young women 

participating in walking and climbing as an 

activity that can contribute to overall health and 

fitness. 

the world's leading medical professionals and 

researchers in a programme that informs and 

stimulates debate on current thinking and best 

practice in the prevention, recognition and 

treatment of medical problems encountered in 

wilderness situations. The extensive programme 

includes a presentation from Nepalese doctor, 

Buddha Basnyat, who specialises in high-altitude 

medicine; Peter Bartsch of the ISMM, who will 

deliver the latest findings of the effect of altitude 

on the brain; and Aviemore GP, Mike Langren,who 

created and manages the successful ski-injury.com 

website. For more information visit the website 

www.worldcongress2007.org.uk.

20 

Ciara Hinksman, 

MCI Members’ 

Support Officer 

Let’s meet! 


I have a lovely view from my desk. I can 

see swans and the Dublin Mountains 

(while ignoring the industrial estate 

behind the trees) and it offers me a 

restorative view while I work. Since I 

started at the MCI two months ago, 

however, I have realised that the people 

I am representing are busy with their 

lives and their clubs’ activities and are 

not likely to drop in for a chat about 

their local mountaineering matters. 

So I would like to get out from 

behind my desk and come out on one of 

your club’s outings. Mid-week or 

weekend, I am arranging now to meet as 

many clubs as I can before Christmas. I’m hoping you are completely satisfied 

with our services and that I can just come to walk with you and introduce 

myself. However, if you have issues, I will be happy to discuss them with you, 

too. If you would like to meet me or any of the other members of the MCI 

team, just call (01) 625 1115 or email me at ciara@mountaineering.ie. 

Ciara Hinksman 

MCI Members’ Support Officer 

Our passion for mountaineering keeps the sport 

vibrant and enjoyable, not only today but for future 

generations who will follow in our footsteps. By 

going out hill-walking or climbing when the 

weather is, at best, unpredictable, you are already 

volunteering, as are your group leaders and club 

committees. There would be no walks for clubs if 

there were not have volunteers to lead them. 

Some few years ago, when I was out with some 

friends, I asked “what do people do for fun in 

Ireland that does not involve the pub?” This was 

met with a stony-faced, sceptical silence! Shortly 

after, I sought out the MCI stand at the Outdoor 

Expo in the RDS and was grateful to be handed lots 

of information by Helen Lawless, including some 

about Mountain Meitheal, a volunteer conservation 

group which meets in the Wicklow Mountains. 

Here was the answer to my prayers. 

Since I joined Mountain Meitheal I have 

learned a lot about the environment, our impact on 

it and how to be effective in changing the sideeffects 

of our communal footprint, all the while 

having great fun with other volunteers from all 

over the world. Walkers will often cheer us on as 

they walk by, but what makes it really worthwhile is 

how it feels to take part and to spend time with 

others working in the mountains. We still end up in 

the pub, but some things don’t change! 

Volunteers often speak of the importance of 

passion and how volunteers will only do, in the 


Volunteer…and find a new passion! 

long term, what they believe to be meaningful. 

Enthusiasm is essential. As quoted by Lynda 

Cookson in Living It, “A shared passion within the 

organisation is the ultimate ‘glue’ of the group; 

without this, it will crumble. To ensure ongoing 

motivation, keep reminding yourself what the 

world would be like if the group did not exist.” 

Another volunteer said, “[Volunteering] keeps 

me in touch with younger people and their way of 

life – which is so different from my life! I really 

enjoy the contact with them and it helps me to 

keep an open mind.” 

Next year we will be running a series of 

workshops nationwide to liaise with our members 

about what volunteering with the MCI entails. We 

are aware that it can be difficult to give up time on 

a regular basis. Whether it is for one hour a year or 

one hour a week, everyone can play a valuable role. 

This can be anything from collecting news items for 

our new website, helping out at an MCI lecture or 

supporting someone taking a community group 

out on a walk. In this way we hope that existing and 

new volunteers will feel that they can contribute 

their skills without over-committing themselves. 

Volunteering is a two-way process, benefitting 

both the volunteer and the organisation. The MCI 

greatly values the input of volunteers and hopes to 

create an environment where they can develop 

skills and friendships while promoting the sport of 

mountaineering throughout Ireland. 

• Please contact Ciara at +353 1 625 1115 or email 

ciara@mountaineering.ie for further information 

or if you or your club would be interested in 

hosting a volunteer workshop.

Navigating 

at sunset 


Improved insurance cover 

In an attempt to better meet the needs of our members, we have reached a new agreement with our insurers that 

significantly improves the cover that is available from the insurance policy that the MCI offers its members. We 

believe that the MCI policy now offers the most comprehensive cover available specifically for people 

participating in our sport. 

The insurance provided by the MCI as part of the membership package combines cover for Civil Liability and 

Personal Accident Insurance. Essential elements of the liability cover that we are able to offer that may be 

excluded from other policies are public liability (accidental bodily injury to third parties or damage to third party 

property arising out of insured activities) and directors’ and officers’ protection. The limits of indemnity are 

approximately €7.5 million under each heading with a limit of approximately €375,000 for legal costs. The liability 

cover protects club committee members in case they are sued while acting as executives of their club. It also 

covers walk leaders who might otherwise be held personally responsible for the well-being of participants in the 

walks that they lead and, therefore, be at risk of losing their personal assets should something unfortunate 

happen to one of those participants. This type of cover is normally excluded from standard public liability policies, 

but the MCI has been able to insist that it is included in the policy we provide for our members. 

The Personal Accident cover has also been improved and now automatically covers you for the following: 

• Death benefit €7,000 (NEW) 

• Permanent & Total disablement from your employment 

for which you are fitted by education/training/knowledge €73,655 (NEW) 

• Loss of Limbs/Sight €73,655 

• Permanent Loss of Speech/Hearing in both ears €73,655 

• Emergency dental treatment following an accident €736 

• Medical expenses €5,000 (NEW) 

If you require a copy of the official MCI insurance policy document confirming what you are covered for with 

effect from your renewal date for 2007-08, you can request this from the MCI Office. 

Depending on your involvement in our sport and the activities you are engaging in, e.g. if you are going 

hillwalking or climbing abroad, you may decide that you need to take out additional insurance cover. The British 

Mountaineering Council (BMC) have developed a specialised Travel and Activity Insurance policy for their own 

members which has been designed by experts to be suitable for hillwalking, climbing and adventure travel abroad. 

You can avail of these policies, if you need them, by using your MCI membership. 

The MCI insurance policy doesn’t replace the need for personal health or life insurance. However, it is 

designed to protect members of MCI clubs and individual members in the event of being sued by a member of the 

public or by another member of their club. EU citizens travelling within the EU should carry their European Health 

Insurance Card (EHIC). The insurer will expect you to have maximised use of the EHIC before settling any claims. 

Support Briefs 

New web link 

for MCI clubs 

The MCI is currently updating its 

member clubs’ details for our new 

website. Could all Club Secretaries 

please send your contact details and a 

description of your club to: 

memberssupport@mountaineering.ie 

or call the MCI Office on (01) 625 1115. 

MCI Autumn Meet 

This year, the MCI Autumn Meet will be 

held in Donegal, renowned for its 

rugged coastline and its upland bogs, its 

friendly locals, its warm bars and 

traditional music. The event is being 

hosted by the North West 

Mountaineering Club. 

Whether it’s to witness spectacular 

coastal views while you walk, to 

rockclimb at Ireland’s most northerly 

point, Malin Head, with its great crags 

or to go bouldering along the coastline 

at Dunaff Head, which is packed with 

small coves of climbable rock, Ballyliffin 

is superbly located to fulfill all your 

mountaineering needs. 

• 

For a booking form, see page 15 or 

contact the MCI Office at +353 1 625 

1115, email mcioctmeet@yahoo.co.uk, 

or phone (028) 71 34 8873 (048 from 

the Republic of Ireland). 

Are you getting 

our e-zine? 

Thank you to those of you who have 

already signed up to receive our 

monthly e-zine Mountaineering Matters, 

which is on offer to all members. If you 

want to receive incoming 

mountaineering news and information 

between Irish Mountain Logs, just email 

subscribe@mountaineering.ie. Included 

will be current events, news of 

additional services, and Access and 

Training news. I invite members to email 

me (ciara@mountaineering.ie) any local 

news that might be of interest. 

Submissions are welcome, although are 

not guaranteed to be used. The MCI 

may edit or part-publish information 

submitted. 



22 


Although the summer weather may not have been the most 

conducive for mountaineering, it seems that many events 

took place successfully around the country and further afield. 

The MCI Alpine Summer Meet was a great success. 

Unfortunately I did not make it out to Switzerland myself but, 

going on the feedback received from course participants, 

everyone seemed to have had a most productive time. 

If you were part of the Saas Grund trip, either as course 

participant or independent member, why not let me know of 

your experience of this trip? Your feedback will help us 

improve our planning and organisation of future events. For 

example, it has been suggested that we improve our booking 

and pre-trip information service. So, let me know your 

thoughts; all feedback good and bad will make a positive 

contribution to future events. 

There has been a steady flow of reports to our office from 

participants and providers on training and assessment 

courses held recently, indicating an ever increasing uptake of 

BOS training schemes. Most of the BOS training providers are 

now offering an expanded range of courses for all levels and 

interests, as well as some inspiring informal mountain training 

sessions around the country, aimed at clubs and individuals. 

It is worth noting that some of the providers are now 

Winter 

climbing 

in Scotland 

A word from the MCI Training Officer 

Tim Orr, 

MCI Training Officer 

offering free training days for those who want to try a taster 

session before committing to a course. It is great to see this 

initiative being pushed forward and I believe it can only have 

positive results for all involved. 

Autumn will soon be upon us, probably one of the 

busiest times of the year for mountain training. The board of 

BOS met on the 4th of September to prepare for the events 

ahead, and we are putting the final touches to our submission 

to the Sports Council to secure funding for training-related 

projects in 2008. This document is very forward-thinking and 

seeks to secure projects that will bring many new training 

opportunities to our member clubs and individuals. 

Finally, a reminder to all our member clubs: if you would 

like to find out more about the training opportunities that 

there are available, I would be happy to pass on any 

information to you. Whether on the basic level of local 

hillwalking, or on dreams or plans for the Greater Ranges, I 

will do what I can to advise and assist…I might even join you! 

Keep in touch. 

Tim Orr 

MCI Training Officer

Free Mountain Training 

Some of our training providers are now offering free training courses to 

anyone interested. If you are interested in taking advantage of this initiative, 

Tim Orr would be happy to pass on their details to you. Contact 

tim@mountaineering.ie. 

ML Holders Workshop 

and Trainee Update 

Continuing Professional 

Development 

(Sponsored by Berghaus, 

Outsider and 

MountainTraining.ie) 

22-23 November 2007 

Donegal 

If you completed the ML award over 

two years ago or more, then this 

workshop and training update will 

help reassure you that everything 

you are doing is still at the required 

standard. It will also help inform you 

of new approaches to some 

elements of the training scheme. 

This course (instruction only) is 

provided free of charge and is a 

great way to meet other ML holders 

and club leaders. (Accommodation 

& food not provided.) 

For further information contact: 

bren@mountaintraining.ie 

Just a quick reminder of some 

important upcoming dates on the 

training calendar that may of be of 

interest to you. For bookings, 

enquiries or any training-related 

thoughts, please contact Tim on (01) 

625 1117 or tim@mountaineering.ie. 

MIA Information 

Weekend 

Doolin, Co Clare 

22–23 September ‘07 

There are still a few places left on this 

busy weekend of informative talks 

and practical workshops. If you want 

to find out more about the Mountain 

Instructor Scheme then this is an 

essential weekend for you, not to 

be missed. Booking is essential as 

numbers will be restricted. Lst chance 

to book, as places are filling fast! 

Contact tim@mountaineering.ie. 

Introduction to 

Hill-walking Skills 

Sponsored by 

OutdoorsIreland.com 

Monday 3rd December 

Saturday 8th December 

Monday 21st January 

Sunday 27th January 

Killarney, Co Kerry 

These one-day courses are open to 

any hill-walkers interested in 

progressing their skills and 

becoming more self-sufficient in the 

mountains. 

Course content includes: map 

navigation techniques, mountain 

safety and other best practice issues 

for hillwalkers. 

For further information contact 

Nathan at: 

info@outdoorsireland.com 


Upcoming training dates 

BOS Multi Pitch 

Award Assessment 

29–30 September 2007 

Mourne Mountains 

BOS are pleased to confirm the dates 

of the next MPA assessment which 

will be run over two days in the 

Mourne Mountains. If you are 

interested in booking or require any 

information on this award, please 

contact the MCI Training Officer at 

training@mountaineering.ie. 

MLA Weekend 

Cappanalea OEC 

Co Kerry 

27–29 October 2007 

There are still some places available 

on this course. Book now to avoid 

disappointment! 

ML Providers Workshop 

Gartan, Co Donegal 

1–2 December 2007 

If you are a BOS course provider and 

have any links with the Mountain 

Leader Scheme, then your input into 

this workshop will be essential. This is 

our annual chance to gather all 

interested parties together and is a 

requirement for providers of the 

Mountain Leader Award. 

Booking is required. Please 

contact tim@mountaineering.ie. 

MCI Winter Meet 

Scotland 

25–29 February 2008 

We have already had quite a lot of 

interest expressed by our members in 

this meet. A formal training course 

Navigating 

in the Reeks 

will be run throughout the week for 

all levels, while the meet itself will also 

include the two weekends at either 

end. We will be holding an informal 

pre-Scottish meet before the end of 

the year, to help with planning and 

general information about Scotland. 

If you are interested in booking 

on a course, or else just being around 

to meet other like minded 

mountaineers, then send your contact 

details to me so that I can keep you 

updated. Please contact tim@ 

mountaineering.ie. 

• 

Any clubs willing to assist in 

hosting an MCI training information 

evening for their local area in 

November should contact Tim Orr to 

discuss the possibilities. 


Training Briefs 

Student Club Symposium 

Tollymore Mountain Centre 

Sat–Sun, 10-11 November 2007 

Open to delegates from university and 

college mountaineering clubs, this 

seminar, through lectures and practical 

workshops, aims to promote good 

practice among student clubs across 

Ireland. The weekend will be fronted by 

experienced instructors with talks on: 

– Liability and duty of care 

– Leadership qualifications 

– Organising club training and events 

Practical workshops will include: 

– Teaching mountain skills 

– Supervising novices for indoor and 

outdoor climbing 

– Maintenance, choice of equipment 

Ricky Bell will present a lecture and 

slide-show on the Saturday night. 

Cost including full board:- 

MCI members – £60 

Non MCI – £75 

Additional accommodation 

on Friday night – £10 

We look forward to seeing you there! 

New training leaflet 

The new MCI Introduction to Training 

leaflet is now available, covering a brief 

on Bord Oiliúint Sléibhe (BOS) and all 

its associated mountain training 

schemes. This informative leaflet will be 

of particular interest to all clubs 

wanting to distribute information to its 

members on what training is available 

throughout Ireland. 

If you would like a number of copies 

sent out, please contact Tim Orr with 

your details at tim@mountaineering.ie. 

24 


Walking in Wicklow 


Mountain Leader Training Association 

www.mlta.co.uk 

MLTA is the web-based association of Mountain 

Leader Training, managed by MLTUK, the coordinating 

body for mountain training in the UK. It 

provides an information and training resource to 

leaders progressing through the awards and beyond. 

Anyone who is working their way through 

leadership qualifications in mountaineering should 

take a look at this website and consider becoming a 

member of MLTA. MCI’s Training Officer, Tim Orr, 

has been in contact with the association and we are 

hoping that we will be able to present a stronger 

Irish side to the association in the near future. Even 

as it stands it is a great source of relevant information 

and there is plenty of room in the forum section to 

spread the word about what is going on in Ireland. 

Mountain Leader trainees: feeling lost? 

Have you completed your ML training and are a little 

unsure about where to go next? The consolidation 

period after training can be a long, lonely uphill 

struggle for some. Statistically, many of you don’t 

reach the top and, somewhere along your journey to 

becoming a qualified mountain leader, you drop out. 

Why is this? 

If you have done your ML training and feel that 

you are in need of a push in the right direction, why 

not contact the provider of your ML training? It is all 

part of the service they provide, which includes 

ongoing advice and tips, and possibly refresher 

courses as well. 

If it has been so long since your training that you 

can’t even remember who your course provider was, 

that’s no problem. If you contact MCI’s Training 

Officer, Tim Orr, in the MCI Office, he will do his 

best to assist you in getting back on track. 

He hopes in the near future to organise ML 

trainee workshops where all interested trainees can 

come together and share experiences. Until then, 

keep the faith and, if in doubt, throw on the walking 

boots and get up into the hills! 

If you would like to provide feedback on upcoming dates, or make suggestions on other possible 

calendar events, please contact Tim on (01) 625 1117 or email tim@mountaineering.ie.

A selection of providers offering courses in Ireland 

Carlow Callan, Andy 086 6076418 andycallan@ireland.com MST MSA MLT SPA MPA 

Cork O’Leary, Noel 087 4190318 noeloleary@hotmail.com MST 

Cork Pollock, Sinead 087 798848 sineadpollock@ireland.com MST MSA MLT 

Cork Shelley, Samantha 086 8745667 samshelley@hotmail.com SPA 

Donegal Cassidy, Charlie 086 8066107 office@gartan.com MST 

Donegal Duddy, Brona 074 9137032 office@gartan.com MST 

Down Roberts, Clive 048 90660698 clive_roberts@yahoo.co.uk MST MSA MLT SPA 

Dublin Gunning, Mary 087 6757001 bleu@eircom.net MST 

Dublin Murray, Liz 086 8430157 lizwalking@yahoo.co.uk MST 

Dublin O’Hanlon, Ita 086 8389665 itaohdubs@eircom.net MST 

Dublin Van Broek, James 087 1309725 jammamba@gmail.com MST 

Dublin Whelan, Brendan 087 6657790 bren@mountaintraining.ie MST MSA WGL MLT SPA MPA 

Galway Bilboe, Carl 087 7623740 carl_bilboe@yahoo.co.uk MST 

Galway Enright, Donal 086 6002883 doen_23@hotmail.com MST 

Galway Fairweather, Alan 087 6107224 alan.fairweather@gmail.com MST 

Galway Maddox, Carl 087 6227736 carl@delphiescape.com MST 

Galway O’Callaghan, Kevin 086 1738066 kevin.ocallaghan@gmit.ie MST MSA 

Kerry Aylward,Tomás 087 2494847 tomasa@vodafone.net MST MSA MLT SPA 

Kerry Crawley, Michael 086 3890171 timenomad@hotmail.com MST 

Kerry Dwyer, Mark 086 8762234 dimmebar@gmail.com MST 

Kerry Gaughran, Dave 087 8208907 setanta@esatclear.ie MST MSA MLT SPA MPA 

Kerry Kingerlee, Nathan 086 8604563 nathan_kingerlee@hotmail.com MST 

Kerry Lawlor, Colette 087 4183804 colettelawlor@eircom.net MST 

Kerry Llwelyn, Rhys 087 9127713 activities@staroutdoors.ie MST 

Kerry McDonnell, Lorcan 087 2727530 lorcanmcd@eircom.net MST 

Kerry O’Connor, Ann 087 2579443 annoconnor@esatclear.ie MST MSA 

Kerry Sheehy, Marie-Louise 066 7134992 marielouisesheehy@eircom.net MST 

Leitrim Currid, Kevin 071 9143292 kevin@loughallenadventure.com MST 

Limerick Bickford, Keith 063 91161 koec@eircom.net MST 

Limerick Cleary, Éidín 087 9934778 eidin@kilioec.com MST 

Limerick McLoughlin, Jonathan 087 9916223 johnnathanmcloughlin@gmail.com MST 

Louth O’Neill, Liam 086 8399963 liam@carlingadventurecentre.com MST 

Mayo Mac Lochlainn,Tomás 098 45085 siul@eircom.net MST MSA MLT 

Roscommon Cunningham, Deirdre 086 1952663 deecunningham@eircom.net MST 

Roscommon Whitfield, David 094 9861307 info@willowbrookpark.com MST 

Waterford Bray, Donal 087 6855073 mountain_craft@hotmail.com MST 

Wicklow Carney, Jane 086 2933477 janecarney70@eircom.net MST MSA WGL MLT SPA 

Wicklow Kavanagh, Paddy 086 8578492 MST 

Wicklow Lawrence, Louise 087 2391204 loolawr@gmail.com MST 

Wicklow Lenihan, Ronan 087 2713694 ronan@mountain.ie MST MSA WGL 

Wicklow Mullen, Ronan 086 8272524 info@adventure.ie MST 

Wicklow Seifert, Martina 087 2052547 info@changingplaces.ie MST 

Wicklow Stacey, Christy 087 2698651 cstacey@iol.ie MST 

Wicklow Torrans, Calvin 087 2343932 calvinguide@hotmail.com MST MSA MLT SPA MPA 

Key MST Mountain Skills Training MSA Mountain Skills Assessment WGL Walking Group Leader 

MLT Mountain Leader Training SPA Single Pitch Award MPA Multi Pitch Award 

These courses are run under the guidelines and syllabus laid down by BOS, the Irish Mountain Training Board. Recognition is awarded to providers annually by 

the board of BOS. BOS does not directly run courses or set prices or dates of training. Each provider is responsible for organising adequate public liability 

insurance for their individual courses. 

BOS (Bord Oiliúint Sléibhe), MOUNTAINEERING COUNCIL OF IRELAND, Sports HQ, 13 Joyce Way, Park West Business Park, Dublin 12 

Tel +353 1 625 115 Email: training@mountaineering.ie Web: www.mountaineering.ie 


26 

Alpine Meet 

Saas Grund 

MCI Alpine Summer Meet 2007 

South ridge of the Lagginhorn. 

PHOTO: ROBBIE FENLON 

Declan O’Keeffe 

The tenth MCI Alpine Summer Meet 

saw us visiting Saas Grund in 

Switzerland for the first time. The meet 

has gone from strength to strength 

over the years and this year’s event was 

a resounding success. Part of the 

thinking behind changing the location 

of the meet each year is to encourage 

people to go to different parts of the 

Alps to hike and to climb, including 

places they might not automatically 

think of. Thus the meets have ranged 

from Neustift in the Austrian Tyrol to 

Ailefroide and La Berarde in the 

Western Alps by way of Chamonix, 

Vicosoprano and Arolla. 

I first visited Saas Grund in 1989 and was 

enchanted by the place. When I returned this year 

for the third time, I was delighted to find that the 

area had not changed much in eighteen years. 


Situated in the Valais Alps, Saas Grund (altitude 

1,600m) is surrounded by arguably some of the 

most exciting mountain scenery in all of the Alps, 

including the mighty Mischabel group that 

separates the valley from that of Zermatt. The area 

is well served by mechanical transport and 

excellent tracks, which makes access to the 

mountains a lot easier, and there is much to do for 

walkers and climbers. 

The MCI Alpine Summer Meet is partly about 

instruction in mountain craft and partly about 

social climbing. More than 100 people arrived over 

the course of the fortnight and more than half of 

these took part in the various courses on offer, 

including the ever popular Introduction to 

Alpine Mountaineering, which is designed to 

get you out amongst the big mountains, show you 

what to do and let you do it yourself. Others opted 

for the Intermediate and Advanced courses, 

while still more went off to do some Alpine 

Adventure Walking. Mick Tighe, Chef du Guides 

for a fourth year, ran the courses, while I minded 

the shop, acting as an information centre and 

contact point. 

Instruction, however, is only a part of the 

story. Many people turn up to meet other likeminded 

souls and to go hiking and climbing with 

friends, both old and new. After a few days, a lot of 

exploration had been done in the high country 

and recommendations and warnings as well as 

tales of derring-do were swapped around the tents 

in the evening and in the bars and restaurants at 

night. Plans were hatched, valleys hiked, crags and 

mountains climbed: the Dom, the Allalinhorn, the 

Rimpfischhorn and, of course, the Weissmies. The 

list may not be endless but it’s pretty long. With 

ten good days of hiking directly from the campsite 

and plenty of valley crags, all aspects of our sport 

were well catered for. 

The craic was mighty, with a couple of 

boisterous parties, complete with music from Eric 

(guide and fiddler), big Paul and Eileen (both from 

the Kingdom) and the obligatory meet song 

marking the end of each week. The guides 

included Robbie Fenlon, Eric Pirie, Paul Moores 

and Alun Richardson (all Alpine Meet veterans) 

and they couldn’t get enough of it. By the end of 

the meet they were keen to know where and when 

the next meet was being held so that they could 

keep their schedules clear for it. Details of next 

year’s meet will be in this winter’s Log, but we 

won’t be surprised if it turns out to be Vicosoprano 

again. Those of us who were involved in running 

the event could drink to that. 

In its ten years, the MCI Alpine Summer Meet 

has become something of a highlight for walkers 

and climbers alike. If you haven’t been on one yet, 

come along next year and see what you’ve been 

missing! 

• Declan O’Keeffe is MCI President and Alpine 

Summer Meet Co-ordinator.

Alpine Meet participants on the summit of the Weissmeis. 

PHOTO: ROBBIE FENLON 

A guide’s view 

Robbie Fenlon 

The alpine meet in Saas Grund was based in the 

campsite at Mischabel, which is ideally suited to 

this popular meet’s format because of the easily 

accessible local crags, the easy access to glaciers for 

training courses, and to the high mountains on 

foot or by cable car, and the wide variety of 

climbing in the area, including snow ridges, 

glaciers, rock ridges, Via Ferrata and pure rock 

climbing. 

In general the Saas Grund area, along with 

nearby Saas Fee, is popular with mountaineers 

because of the number of easily accessible 4,000metre 

peaks there and its year-round skiing. Hence 

all the valley facilities that walkers and climbers 

need are readily available. The one other essential 

ingredient for a successful meet was the Hotel 

Dom, which provided the necessary venue for 

drinking and singing! 

As usual, the meet was hosted by the eternally 

youthful Declan O’Keeffe. His role as master of 

ceremonies at the annual meet is widely 

acknowledged as one of the cornerstones of the 

event. The equally important role of chief guide at 

the meet was discharged with great humour and 

energy by the indefatigable Mick Tighe. His team of 

guides this year included Paul Moores, Dr Alun 

Richardson, Owen Samuels, Rob Wills and myself, 

as well as mountain rescue expert and Scottish 

fiddle player extraordinaire Eric Pirie. 

The first week of the meet was attended by 

approximately 80 people, which included 22 

people who participated in a variety of alpine 

courses from intermediate to advanced and one 

adventure walking course. Although the weather 

was a bit mixed, many routes were completed, 

including the Weissmies, the Jagerhorn and the Dri 

Hornli. One climbing highlight of the week was 

Owen Kennedy’s on-sight ascent of a hard local 

crag route, which certainly impressed a group of 

young French climbers. “Which country is he 

from?” was the question they all asked, and they 

were very surprised to hear that he was Irish. 

During the second week, the weather 

improved and the campsite was virtually empty as 

Alpine Meet 

everyone had taken to the hills. New arrivals that 

week included Stuart Garland, the new CEO of the 

MCI, regulars such as Mary Nash and Eamonn 

(adding to the huge UCD contingent), Dawson 

Stelfox, the current MCI Chairman, and Vincent 

McAlinden, MCI’s Youth Committee chairman. 

Many of the people who attended the courses 

stayed on to continue their holidays in the Alps, 

going on to climb in other areas such as Zermatt 

and Chamonix. 

Although the meet is principally about getting 

out climbing and walking, it also serves the social 

purpose of getting mountaineers of all abilities 

together to share experience and knowledge. In 

addition, there are thecultural aspects of 

interacting with the local community, playing 

music (musicians are always encouraged to bring 

their instruments) and, in recent years, speaking 

Irish in the Alps. 

• Robbie Fenlon is a UIAGM mountain guide 

living and working in the Chamonix Valley. His 

main interests are rockclimbing and skiing. 


28 

Alpine Meet 

Claire Michael, Vincent McAlinden and Dawson Stelfox on the top of the Jegihorn, with the Lagginhorn behind. 

PHOTO: CLAIRE MICHAEL COLLECTION 

A participant’s view 

Claire Michael 

We rolled into sunny Saas Grund at about 6:00pm 

on Saturday, 14th of July. The first thing that struck 

me was that it was sunny – we’d had torrential rain 

in Chamonix for the last two weeks – and the 

second was how many people were there – loads! 

Lots of familiar faces too, notably a huge turn-out 

from UCD. Tents were thrown up and then we 

were off for a ‘rosti’ at the Hotel Dom. 

On Sunday morning we got up bright and 

early for our first day’s climbing. We drove up to 

the Dam and walked for 2.5 hours to the base of 

the Joderhorn – lovely rock all the way to the 

summit, a very pleasant reintroduction to the Alps. 

Monday started with the spectacular walk up 

to the Almageller Hutte. We ditched some gear, 

had a quick picnic and then followed the dotted 

yellow flashes to the base of the Dri Hornli 

(3,096m). What a great climb, lovely solid rock, 

interesting pitches all the way and a 

straightforward walk-off – it was great! 

When we got back to the hut it was swarming 

with MCI meet members: something like four of 

the five course groups were there for the night. 


Great banter and discussion about what everyone 

had done that day and where they were off to the 

next. Mick Tighe’s advanced group were doing big 

days! 

The following day, we managed to get up and 

out just ahead of the rest of the crowd. Two hours 

later and we were at ‘Port’ (3,290m), the start of 

the Traverse of the Portjengrat. Vince McAlinden 

had joined us the night before so we were now 

three: Dawson Stelfox and myself with Vince. 

Macdara O’Graham and John Orr were not far 

behind. (John pointed out that we were a proper 

Queens University Mountaineering Club alumni 

team!) 

We started off on loose rock which rapidly 

progressed to lovely solid, often airy, pitches and 

sections of moving together along this fantastic 

and seemingly never-ending ridge. Route-finding 

was often interesting: one section led to rucksacks 

off and some less than elegant moves up through 

an overhanging chimney; the two lads went the 

correct way and trotted up a little rock face 

wondering what all the fuss was about. By the time 

we had reached P d’Andolla (3,653m) and 

negotiated the soggy snow slope back to the hut 

we’d been on the go for 12 hours. A quick cuppa 

at the hut before our two-hour walk-out back to 

the valley floor, by which time I was beginning to 

feel like we deserved a rest day, until I spoke to 

Polish Martin the next day and he told me about 

his 18hr, 30-pitch day on the Mitteleruck with 

Mick! 

On Thursday morning we got the cable car up 

to Kreuxboden and climbed the SE ridge on the 

Jegihorn (3,206m), very straightforward climbing 

on more solid rock. From here we walked across 

and up to the Hohsaas Hut. Our next objective was 

the Laggenhorn (4,010m) by the SE ridge. 

Up and out before 4:30am, we reached the Col 

Lagginjoch (3,499m) to gain the ridge, which was a 

bit crumbly to start with but got rapidly better. 

Wonderful climbing, a lot of which we moved 

together on, and continually interesting; there was 

even a rather awkward horizontal abseil. A great 

end to a brilliant week, and I haven’t even gotten 

into the high jinks of our last night at the Dom! 

Roll on next year! 

• Claire Michael, from Dublin, has been living and 

working in various jobs in the Chamonix Valley 

(Argentière) for the last four years or so. Claire is a 

Queens University Mountaineering Club alumnus.

Monte Rosa, the ‘pink mountain’. 

Tour de Monte Rosa 

Dennis Golden 

The location of the MCI Summer 

Alpine Meet this year in Saas Grund in 

Switzerland conveniently 

complemented my plan to walk the 

Tour de Monte Rosa. I would otherwise 

have chosen to go in early September 

when weather conditions are usually 

more settled, but decided to link the 

two experiences and go in July. 

Travelling light for the walking tour, I could 

not bring camping or climbing equipment and I 

restricted my baggage to the weight and size 

permissible as in-flight cabin luggage. 

Consequently I could not take walking poles or a 

knife. I did, however, bring a home-made tape 

sling and two karabiners for use on the occasional 

klettersteig/via ferrata. 

An evening flight from Dublin to Bergamo in 

Italy got me to the youth hostel shortly before 

midnight. The following day was spent travelling 

by train and bus to Staffa/Macugnaga from where I 

caught the last cable car up to the rifugio on the 

Monte Moro pass (2,884m). 

Descending from the cold and misty 

wasteland of the pass into the relative warmth of 

the Saastal, I found the Mischabel camp site in Saas 

Grund and located the MCI group. The campsite 

owner directed me to a nearby guesthouse which 

proved excellent for accommodation and food. 

One Irish woman had already moved in there to 

escape the cold weather of the previous week, and 

at least one other moved in later. 

Happily, I had arrived at the beginning of a 

spell of good weather. While others went off on 

courses or set their own targets, I explored the 

high-level walking routes of the area and one day, 

accompanied by Genny, did the klettersteig on the 

Mittaghorn. 

The lack of walking poles was simply 

overcome by buying a cheap kitchen knife in a 

supermarket and whittling a couple of wooden 

poles from some trimmings found at the edge of 

the forest. These were the source of some 

amusement but I became quite attached to them 

and was sorry to leave them behind at the end of 

the tour. In fact, I came to prefer them to the now 

conventional telescopic poles in that I could 

instantaneously adjust the length and reach simply 

by sliding my hands up or down the poles and, as 

they were longer than telescopic poles, could 

reach even further down on steep terrain. 

Furthermore, unlike tungsten-tipped poles, they 

did not damage the ground nor scratch the rocks 

and paved surfaces. The knife I donated to 

Bergamo Youth Hostel on my return there. 

Hillwalking 

After six days in Saastal I set off on the 

remainder of my tour, climbing up to the 

Hannigweg, which took longer then expected but 

was very dramatic, and descending by cable car 

from Hannig (2,121m) to Grachen (1,615m) and a 

B&B. From there, a steep climb through forest 

brought me to Grat and the start of the recently 

opened Europaweg, rising to about 2,700m. 

Overnighting in the Europahutte halfway along, I 

continued to Zermatt, keeping to the scenic highlevel 

route through Tufteren, Sunnegga and 

Findeln before descending to the youth hostel at 

the upper end of the town, thus avoiding a walk 

through the town. I was immediately recognised 

by the warden and his wife, having stayed there 

several times in the recent past, and given the last 

available bed in an en-suite room. 

Taking the cable car up to Trockenersteg, I 

climbed up to the Gandegghutte and set off across 

the Theodul Glacier and the Theodul Pass 

(3,317m) back into Italy. The glacier posed no 

difficulty, this being a skiing area with which I am 

familiar. The average gradient is about one in ten 

and there are no crevasses en route. The surface 

was slushy and there was no need for crampons, 

which of course I didn’t have anyway. 

On the Italian side, the paths are less well 

marked than in Switzerland and the various maps 

differ as to which routes are highlighted as the 

main routes. My map showed the path descending 

to Plan Maison (2,548m) and Lago Goillet (2,516m) 


30 

Hillwalking 

The Resy Hut. 

with a consequent 466m climb up to the Colle 

Superiore delle Cime Bianche (2,982m). As 

surmised in advance, the path, vaguely waymarked 

on the ground, crosses a vast desert of shale and 

lochans at a higher level of about 2,800m to 

2,850m, leaving only a short climb of about 130m 

to the Colle, on the far side of which is a vertical 

drop to a lovely blue lochan. The path continues 

along the escarpment before zigzagging down into 

high alpine pastures. 

Continuing down, my map showed the path 

descending into San Giacomo (1,689m), then 

climbing up into the Vallone di Verra with a 

consequent diversion of about one kilometre to 

the Rifugios at Resy at 2,066m. On the ground, the 

path branches left to descend into the Vallone di 

Verra at about 2,000m and then contours across 

the Vallone before climbing to Resy where there 

are two rifugios side by side. The Rifugio Ferraro, 

where I stayed, provides excellent food and extras 

such as fruit and biscuits. 

My map then showed the path ascending the 

Vallone di Verra and then climbing to about 

3,100m before descending into the Valle de 

Gressoney. On the ground, the path continues 

through Resy and up to the Bettaforca Pass 

(2,672m), before descending via a ski road to the 

village of Gressoney (1,840m). From here, a steep 

ascent, relieved in the middle section by a more 

level woodland path by a stream, took me to the 

Rifugio Gabiet (2,345m). 

From here, I took the cable car to the Colle 

d’Olen (2,881m), prior to the long and steep 

descent to Alagna (1,190m). Thick mist cloaked 

this side of the pass, and so, on reaching the fork 

where I had the choice of following a longer but, I 

was told, prettier route over the Foric Pass, I 

continued down through the skiing area to the 

village. Continuing along the road, I met a 


Welshman, who had also been at the MCI alpine 

meet, coming in the opposite direction. 

The Rifugio Pastore at 1,575m, not marked on 

my map, is a delightful cluster of buildings set on 

an outcrop just above the road end. The ascent 

from here to the Turlo Pass (2,738m) is eased by a 

well graded, and in places superbly engineered, 

mule track, upgraded in parts for military purposes 

in the first half of the twentieth century, but still no 

more than a mule track. The track provides access 

to little terraces of Walser (see later) alpine huts, 

stone-built and stone-roofed, blending nicely into 

the environment. Some were occupied and a 

couple of mules were grazing beside one group of 

huts. Cow bells and the sound of boys’ voices in 

the distance enlivened the scene. 

The Walser (originally called Walliser) people 

were Allemands (Germanic people) who migrated 

from the Valais (Wallis) area of what is now 

southern Switzerland in the 16th century into the 

upper reaches of the valleys on the south side of 

the Alps, in what is now Italy. As the lower valleys 

were occupied by French-speaking people (at one 

time this area together with the Valais formed part 

of the Duchy of Savoy), the Walsers adapted 

themselves to life at these high altitudes. To get 

there, they crossed such high passes as the 

Theodul, Monte Moro and Turlo. These were not 

mass migrations on the scale of those of the 

Germanic hordes which swept across Europe in 

the fifth century when the Walsers’ ancestors 

settled in the Valais, nor were they undertaken in 

the course of military campaigns. These were small 

groups of people, perhaps each comprising no 

more than one family, who moved south over a 

period of time. 

To us who think of such crossings as an 

energetic recreational achievement, it is sobering 

to ponder that these people were able to bring 

their families, animals, tools and other possessions 

and maintain communication and trade across 

what is now considered to be a natural barrier and 

political border. Their languages, the main ones 

being Toitschu and Titsch (note the resemblance 

to the word Deutsch), are reflected in the local 

dialects, and many place-names are of obvious 

Germanic origin. The Tour of Monte Rosa follows, 

in parts the routes of the Walser migrations. 

The top of the pass, a narrow cleft in the 

rocks, gives a view right down the seven or eight 

kilometres of the Valle Quarazza to a little blue 

reservoir about 200m above the village of 

Borca/Macugnaga (1,195m). About one and a half 

hours below the pass, at 2,150m, is a well 

appointed bivouac with bunks, blankets, gas 

cooker and nearby spring. I was tempted to stay 

there but it was still quite early in the afternoon 

and I decided to descend to Borca where I could 

wash and dry clothes for my journey back to 

Bergamo. 

I wasted an hour in Piedimulera the following 

morning waiting for a train which did not arrive. 

The internet timetable had not told me that the 

connection to Domodossola was by bus. Just as 

well I had a day in hand or I might have missed my 

flight home. The return to Milan and Bergamo by 

a different route from the outward journey 

followed the scenic shore of Lago Maggiore. 

Having spent the night in the youth hostel, I 

had the whole day to spend before the evening 

flight to Dublin. The old town, Citta Alta, set on a 

hill was interesting and the park set in the old fort 

above San Vigilio provided a shady and cool 

respite from the heat of the lower town. 

• Dennis Golden is a member of the North West 

Mountaineering Club.

32 

Hillwalking 

Mourne Mountains view. 

PHOTO: LEE CAMPBELL 

Awalk in the Mournes: 

Rourke’s Park Walk 

Lee Campbell 

Distance: 7 miles 

Total ascent: 640m (2,100 feet) 

Map: Ordnance Survey Map 

of Northern Ireland 1:25000, 

The Mournes 

This is a moderate walk taking in 

views across the Annalong Valley 

and the high Mournes. Access is 

from the small lay-by and 

gatehouse at Rourke’s Park. 

Although on the same road as 

Carrick Little car park, which can 

be swamped with walkers, 

Rourke’s Park offers a slightly less 

crowded starting point for walks 

into the eastern region of the 

Mournes. 

The main objective of the walk is the 

656m summit of Chimney Rock Mountain – 

the second most easterly peak in the 

Mournes after Millstone Mountain. Chimney 

Rock is one of the many peaks in the region 

renowned for the vast quantities of granite 

quarried on its slopes. The furthest point of 


Mournes vista. 

PHOTO: LEE CAMPBELL

the walk, beyond Chimney Rock Mountain, 

provides exceptional vistas of the Annalong Valley 

and its peaks, including Donard, Commedagh, 

Binnian and Slieve Beg (Devil’s Coach Road). 

The circuit covers the ascent of four peaks: 

Round Seefin, Spences Mountain, Chimney Rock 

Mountain and Rocky Mountain. It includes a 

couple of steep but very manageable ascents, with 

the Mourne Wall providing a useful navigator at 

the majority of key points during the walk. 

However, in poor navigating conditions care 

should be taken when leaving the Wall at Round 

Seefin, heading in the direction of Spences 

Mountain. On reaching the summit of Rocky 

Mountain, the route follows the Mourne Wall once 

again before joining the Dunnywater Track leading 

to your starting point at Rourke’s Park. 

The walk should take around 4-4.5 hours to 

complete. If you only have time for a shorter route, 

the ascents of Spences and Chimney Rock could 

be omitted and the option taken of a more direct 

ascent of Rocky Mountain via Round and Long 

Seefin. 

Getting to the start 

The walk starts and finishes at Rourke’s Park 

on the corner of the Quarter and Head Roads, off 

the Glasdrumman Road, the main road between 

Newcastle and Annalong. The turn onto Quarter 

Road from the Glasdrumman Road is around 10km 

south of Newcastle and around 8km northeast of 

Kilkeel (GR: 357223). The car parking area at 

Rourke’s Park is limited and you will often need to 

park at the side of the road nearby. 

The walk 

From Rourke’s Park, where the Head Road 

meets the Quarter Road on a sharp bend, walk 

approximately 200 yards northeast behind a stone 

wall along a well-trodden track. When you reach a 

gate turn left (north) up a grassy gully with 

conifers on your left. As you start to climb beyond 

the 250m level, tree growth is restricted by strong 

winds and infertile terrain. The landscape now 

switches to natural heather vegetation and a full 

panorama across the heart of the Mournes. You 

will see the small peak of Round Seefin (Seefin is 

Irish for the ‘seat of Finn Mac Coole’) ahead of you. 

After traversing around its rocky base and up to its 

modest top, continue along the ridge in the 

direction of Long Seefin with the Mourne Wall on 

your left. Rocky Mountain can be seen clearly up 

ahead. 

After a few hundred yards, veer right 

(northeast) away from the wall and descend 

towards Spences River. Following this river 

crossing, make for the wide 517m summit of 

Spences Mountain. This area was under the 

spotlight for the wrong reasons seven years ago. In 

2000, hundreds of square feet were scorchdamaged 

as gorse bushes caught fire on a Sunday 

afternoon in May and spread at an alarming rate. 

The area is only starting to recover now. 

It is a fairly tough slog up the pot-holed slopes 

of Spences Mountain. However, do afford yourself 

The Mourne Wall with Slieve Commedagh in the background. 

PHOTO: EOIN REILLY 

a breather and time for a glance behind you to take 

in the fantastic views of both Rocky Mountain and 

Slieve Binnian to the west. 

Follow the faint track (northwest) from 

Spences summit towards Chimney Rock Mountain. 

The trail dips to around 510m before climbing 

again over the ridge of Blaeberry Mountain towards 

the 656m peak of Chimney Rock. The granite tors 

at the top of Chimney Rock make for the perfect 

lunch stop with a few of the larger ones providing 

ample shelter if you were to find yourself here in 

unpleasant conditions. Granite was once quarried 

on the northern slopes of this mountain, with vast 

quantities exported over the Irish Sea to the likes 

of Liverpool for construction projects. 

Head northwest from the summit of Chimney 

Rock and along its ridge and you will eventually 

meet the Mourne Wall. Follow the wall south 

Hillwalking 

towards the final summit of the circuit, Rocky 

Mountain (525m). As your ascent steepens, the 

best view of the day is now visible – a full 

panorama over the Annalong Valley. The Annalong 

River can be clearly seen below, leading your eye 

towards Slieve Donard and the Devil’s Coach Road. 

Slieve Commedagh is visible at the head of the 

valley. 

From Rocky Mountain descend once again to 

the Mourne Wall to the edge of Annalong Wood. 

Continue downhill with the wall and the forest to 

your right before crossing a stile leading to the 

Dunnywater Path. This track provides a gentle 

descent bringing you to the original starting point 

at Rourke’s Park. 

• Lee Campbell is a member of MCI and of the 

Mourne Ramblers Club. 


34 

Himalayas 

Namche Bazaar. 

Short-changed in Nepal: 

the dark side of the Everest trail 

Clive Roberts 

As I wait for a few moments on a 

narrow part of the Everest trail for a 

heavily-laden porter to come up, I can’t 

help wondering whether I really like 

this whole Everest ‘scene’ anymore. 

The porter is loaded up with San 

Miguel beer and mineral water bound 

for the tourist lodges in Namche 

Bazaar. Along with all the trekkers and 

mountaineers, the Everest trail is 

becoming very crowded. 

It has become quite an industry servicing the 

tens of thousands of trekkers and climbers. The 

raw materials of this industry are carried on strong 

human backs and on pack animals, mostly from 

the roadhead at Jiri. The industry itself has been 

growing for decades, but, since the 1996 disaster 


on Everest, with the clutch of books that it 

spawned and the media interest, trekking to 

Everest base camp has really exploded. People 

who have no aspiration to climb the mountain, 

take the ‘pilgrim’ trail beside the Dudh Kosi river 

so that they can say they’ve actually touched the 

mountain, as though to complete a real religious 

pilgrimage. Personally I find Everest base camp a 

pretty bleak place. Just piles of glacial rubble in 

fact. You can’t even see the mountain from base 

camp. But for many it is the culmination of their 

experience, like pilgrims on a pilgrimage to a faraway 

shrine. 

Along the trail, lodges and tea shops and even 

fancy bakeries and cake shops have sprung up to 

provide food and beds for hungry and weary 

trekkers and climbers. Some of these lodges are 

pretty impressive places, especially the newer 

ones. Like veritable palaces from the outside and 

the inside. Namche Bazaar is a good example. Pre- 

1950s it was barely a village in a fold of the hills. 

Now it’s a bustling tourist town full of lodges, 

shops, restaurants and tacky souvenir stalls. 

However, contrast the money lavished by their 

proprietors on new lodges with the shoddy state 

of the trail between Jiri, Lukla, Namche and Everest 

base camp. It is in an appalling state for a major 

thoroughfare that carries so much traffic. In places 

it is so narrow that if you meet a laden yak coming 

the other way, and you cannot get on the uphill 

side, then turn back immediately to a safer place. 

Otherwise that yak might brush you off the side of 

the trail as though it were pushing past a bush. The 

surface of the path in many places is stony, 

washed-out, dusty and downright dangerous, not 

fit for the purpose these days. 

There are some hopeful signs. Above Namche 

Bazaar, on the trail to Sanasa, you’ll probably meet 

Pasang Tarke Sherpa. He has been working on the 

Everest trail for 45 years, most of his adult life, 

bless him. His aim is to rebuild the trail between 

Lukla airstrip and Everest base camp for the 

benefit of ‘local people and tourists.’ He is getting 

on a bit, so these days he employs a couple of guys 

to do the work, and a great job they are doing. 

Trouble is, it’s going to take several hundred years 

to do it all as the work is funded by donations from 

those passing along the trail. In fact, it is funded by 

the tourists who pass by, as is quickly apparent 

from a quick flick through the book by his 

donation box. I can honestly say that in a decade of 

trundling up and down this trail, I have never seen

Heavily laden yaks on the Everest trail. 

a local person put a single rupee in his box, which 

rather makes you wonder what on Earth is going on. 

I am starting to get the impression that I’m being 

ripped off. Many of the Namche lodge owners are 

rich people even by western standards. They all have 

second homes in Kathmandu. They send their 

children to the best boarding schools in Kathmandu 

and India and on to well known universities in the 

US. I bring the tourists here but I can’t afford to send 

my children to boarding school. I can’t even afford 

children! 

Joking aside, the contrast is stark between the 

wealth being generate in Namche and the poor state 

of the trail that brings tourists into the area to the 

benefit of the lodge owners. 

Another issue is that even the poshest lodges 

have their dark side. I’m talking about the 

kitchen…it’s interesting to sit in the lodge kitchens 

sometimes and see how they go about things. 

Sometimes you wish you hadn’t sat there! When you 

pay 20 rupees (16 pence or 24 cent) for a single slice 

of week-old stale bread and you wonder why it 

seems to have a faint tang of kerosene, have a good 

look at the hands that served it up. They may not 

look like they’ve been washed in a month, let alone 

before starting to prepare breakfast. And if you want 

your bread toasted, then they do that by setting it on 

a hot pan over a stove. Making toast on a hot plate 

works quite well. The trouble here is that the pan 

may not have been washed properly from the last 

dish that was cooked in it. That’s why your toast or 

your pancake tastes of last night’s dinner. And there 

is never any butter to put on the toast. In the Everest 

region, the Khumbu, you will see yaks and cows 

grazing everywhere. But the lodges never have any 

butter. Strange. 

What I am trying to say is that I feel trekkers and 

climbers are paying good money for poor trails, 

poor hygiene, poor service and poor amenities. It is 

not surprising that so many people pick up stomach 

bugs on the Everest trail, and that includes the local 

people. 

But if you think that Everest trail lodge owners 

are doing a disservice to the tourists who they 

Evening in Namche Bazaar. 

PHOTO: COSLEY & HOUSTON ALPINE GUIDES (WWW.COSLEYHOUSTON.COM) 

Himalayas 


36 

Himalayas 

The way to Everest Base Camp. 

depend on for their business, then have a look at 

Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil 

Aviation. They’re the people who issue climbing 

permits for Nepal’s Himalayan peaks in return for 

hefty deposits and substantial royalties. The 

Ministry is fairly careful about how much 

information it gives out, so finding out how much 

money it is receiving in peak fees is difficult. But 

here is an example. Everest is the most expensive 

peak to climb. Permits start at US$25,000 for a oneperson 

climbing ‘team,’ to US$70,000 for a sevenperson 

team. In spring of this year, there were 37 

separate expeditions in base camp on the Nepal 

side. At a conservative estimate, each of these 

expeditions will have paid US$50,000 in royalties. 

Work it out and that’s over 1.8 million dollars, and 

there’s still the autumn season to come. All this 

money for 15 minutes of a Ministry official’s time 

to look through the dossier of paperwork your 

expedition agent in Kathmandu has already 

prepared, and to give you a five-minute lecture on 

garbage disposal. Oh, I nearly forgot the free cup 

of tea thrown in! 

The Nepalese government’s own stated aim is 

that at least 25% of peak royalties should go into 

the appropriate area to provide facilities for 

tourists and locals. By their own admission they 

have never achieved this at any time, anywhere in 

the country. And quite obviously not in the 

Khumbu. 

Lodge-owner greed and Ministry incompetence 

are starting to backfire. More expeditions 

are choosing to climb Everest from the Tibetan 

side. Even though the route is reckoned to be 


slightly harder, the fees are much lower. The 

Chinese have also built a road to the Tibetan base 

camp, so you don’t have the logistical problems 

and porter expenses of getting your expedition 

and its equipment to the mountain. Those who 

simply want to see the world’s highest peak and 

touch its base can ride all the way there in a jeep. 

To round up, Nepal has been a popular 

mountaineering destination for decades. The 

Nepalese people have a well deserved reputation 

for friendliness. It is without doubt the easiest of 

the Himalayan countries to visit at the moment. 

Tourists have kept coming and that seems to have 

bred a certain contempt in both government 

officials and individual tourist service providers in 

the mountains. It’s a wide world and the adventure 

and mountain travel market is opening into new 

places all the time. If Nepal wants to maintain its 

position as a premier mountain destination, 

essential to its economy, then both government 

and individuals need to start putting more back. 

They need to stop regarding the western 

mountaineer as simply a source of revenue. 

Tourists should be seeing more trail maintenance 

ongoing with a passable trail on both sides of the 

Dudh Kosi river to ease congestion. There should 

be unglamorous but necessary things like toilets 

along the trail and accessible information on the 

region, its wildlife, etc, and not just fancy gateways 

into the National Park area. Lodge staff should 

have basic training in food handling and hygiene. 

There could even be a free or subsidised 

helicopter rescue service, if not for tourists who 

have insurance, then for Nepali folk. This is 

something no ordinary Nepalese person could 

afford, even in dire emergency. 

If you care about sustainable mountain 

tourism in Nepal, then please make your feelings 

known to the Nepalese authorities and encourage 

them to improve the situation, bearing in mind 

how essential mountain tourism is to the Nepalese 

economy. 

• Clive Roberts holds a Mountain Instructor 

Certificate and is a BOS course provider based in 

County Down. 

Namche Bazaar tea-house. 

PHOTO: COSLEY & HOUSTON ALPINE GUIDES

FOUR PEAKS CHALLENGE 

All in a 

day’s 

walk! 

Ross Millar 

“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but 

ourselves” – Edmund Hillary 

“Would you like to drive next Thursday 

night and Friday?” he asked. In itself, 

this was quite a challenging prospect 

considering the aim was to climb all 

four of Ireland’s provincial peaks. Yes, 

lots have done it, but how many have 

done it within 24 hours? 

Yes! “Sounds interesting,” I replied, in truth 

quite flattered. It was, after all, a ‘work do’ for 

charity but this was to be no cosy, closeted 

challenge, often now the norm. I was to be part of 

the small support team (John and I) and essentially 

an ‘observer.’ Ten hardy souls who were prepared 

to give it a go with me in the Vorsprung with two 

passengers, and John with the greater horde in the 

wet ‘bus.’ 

The evening arrived: Donard Wood, almost 

midnight and almost midsummer’s night after 

weeks of glorious weather but, in local parlance, 

“absolutely pissing,” and do I mean rain. The Glen 

River was making a thunderous roar – fall in there, 

next stop Carlisle or else it becomes your Styx. Bed 

or the pub or variations thereon were the better 

options for the rest of the Irish population. 

Slieve Donard (850m, 2,796 ft) is blessed with 

a fairly defined path up the Glen River. That night 

it was a river in itself. I’ll have a kip now, I thought, 

while they disappeared up the valley and followed 

the wall to the top, but sleep would not come. 

Rather the roar of the river, the howling wind and 

the incessant, lashing rain kept me awake and 

some concern as well that after the planning and 

the training, nature, yet again, would show who 

the real boss was. Where were they? Well overdue 

from the normal Donard doddle. 

Lights and voices, then “Right, let’s get on the 

road,” more as a statement than a demand. The 

beginning of the wet clothes – removed and 

bundled in. A wet and cold mass of people. 

The subsequent drive to Lugnaquillia (925m, 

3,039 ft) was a drive to the dawn. It always amazes 

me that there are other people on the road at such 

hours. Who are they? Milkmen? Party-goers? 

Lovers? People taking their babies out to make 

The Four Peaks Challenge team. 

PHOTO: ROSS MILLAR COLLECTION 

them sleep? But they are always around. 

Dawn: Lugnaquillia, no rain but cool and 

misty. Goodbye again and off they went. This time 

John and I had to get breakfast ready, hang out 

soaking clothes and collect our own thoughts. 

Bacon butties were made. A portaloo nearby, 

provided for the hardened military, made it all 

relatively civilised. Then the mizzle began and the 

team arrived back. Bundles, breakfast and, hey 

presto, all ready to go, a twenty-minute turn 

around that would have made Ferrari proud. Next 

stop Carrauntoohil (1,039m, 3,414 ft). 

Sleep came to the weary walkers but it was a 

Slieve Donard. 

PHOTO: ROSS MILLAR 

Hillwalking 

long and almost unreal drive for me. I was 

becoming challenged just to stay awake! 

Carrauntoohil started beautifully. Gentle that 

day, yet grand with its grey headscarf on. One team 

casualty now through a stumble but, like Spartans, 

the rest just faced the foe and went and returned. 

At some time, the rain came again. A meal was 

prepared and John had done his homework; the 

man was a Paul Rankin of the wilds. Sadly, as sous 

chef in charge of pasta, my timing was lacking (it 

takes a long time to boil 15 litres of water on a gas 

stove) but undercooked pasta has a more definite 

bite. “Time to go again” came the call. 


38 

Hillwalking 

From top: Lugnaquillia, Carrauntoohil, Mweelrea. 

PHOTOS (FROM TOP): EOIN REILLY, EOIN REILLY, SEAN O’FARRELL 


Only one peak to go, but Limerick and Galway at 

tea-time on Friday are a different challenge, that of 

necessity. Getting from A to B, rather than peak to 

peak, with us and about 20,000 others needing to go 

somewhere. What had their day been like? Where had 

they been and where were they going now? 

Driving into wild Connemara was almost surreal 

after all that ‘civilisation’ and we had inevitably lost 

time. However, our boatman awaited us. All big and 

surfy, and “Cool, mate,” “No problem;” the ‘survivors’ 

were horded onto an inflatable for the scoot over 

Killary harbour to Mweelrea. Now dusk was upon us, 

falling fast. A couple more had succumbed to injury or 

exhaustion. I was for doing this one myself and kitted 

up. Mweelrea (819m, 2,686 ft) from the south, 

beached, is a cruel climb. Lumpy, craggy and steep, 

but nothing to lose now, only time. 

Not long into it, I realised my folly. I was too tired 

and the others were driven and fitter, and needed to 

just go on. We parted and I made my lonely way back 

to the dark shore. Just as well, since I had the ebbing 

light and only fell twice. Perched on a rock, I 

waited…and waited…and waited. It was cold, bloody 

cold. I ended up doing my own version of Dancing 

with Wolves just to keep warm. In what seemed like 

ages, head torches appeared twinkling in the mist way 

above like fireflies. But wait! Up they went again. Then 

down, then up, but gradually and slowly, slowly 

descending to meet mine dancing on the shore. 

Kiwi man, with Kiwi girl this time, arrived back in 

the inflatable. “What do you make of it all?” I asked. By 

this time it was well after one in the morning. “Cool,” 

he said. “You would go a long way to meet people as 

crazy as these. Real cool.” All safely down. Few words 

exchanged but a collective satisfaction and sheer 

exhaustion. Then, our little treat: zooming up Killary 

in total darkness, the only light being the 

phosphorescence from the wake of the boat. Pure 

magic. Warmth and a bed awaited. Summit to summit 

within 24 hours and so much in between. All in a day’s 

walk! 

Some thoughts: only one of the group was a 

serious ‘mountaineer’ in terms of skill and experience. 

The others were runners and Gaelic players, but 

collectively fit. The unifying factor was the challenge. 

Yes, the mountains were challenging but the 

challenge was to ourselves, even to me as support. 

Those of us who love the challenge presented by 

mountains need to sometimes step back and 

remember what it is that attracts us. It is that chance 

to challenge ourselves whether we are eight or eighty. 

Our challenge will vary in the physical sense but it is 

set within a common love of nature and the elements 

that mountains epitomise. We can easily slip into 

tribes – ramblers, hill-walkers, climbers – but jazz, 

blues, rock, folk, we are all musicians jamming with 

nature, we are all mountaineers, lovers of mountains. 

What did you do today? What they did was meet a 

challenge, learn about themselves, commune with the 

elements (especially rain) and build bonds. Not bad 

for a working Friday. They also raised a lot of money 

for Habitat for Humanity. 

• Ross Millar is employed as a Director of Leisure in 

Local Government in Northern Ireland. He is an 

individual member of the MCI and a member of the 

MCI’s Board.

The Hag’s Tooth as seen from Hag’s Glen. Its original name, Stumpa an 

tSaimh, survives on the Ordnance Survey map but has been replaced with 

Hag’s Tooth on the Harvey’s map of the McGillycuddy Reeks as that is the 

name in most common usage amongst climbers. 

PHOTO: MIKE SANDOVER 

How placenames evolve 

Mike Sandover 

Further to Jim Ryan’s interesting article 

on the usage of the name ‘Hag’s Tooth’ 

in the McGillycuddy Reeks (IML 82), 

I would like to expand on the concept 

of the evolution in the use of 

placenames in the hills. 

Place-naming is a fascinating subject, which often 

reveals a wealth of information about a particular 

location, and the people and history associated 

with it. Being primarily homocentric (like music, 

language, local dialects, etc), place-naming is also a 

‘living’ subject which is constantly evolving over 

time. As part of this process, many older 

placenames fall into disuse, obscurity and eventual 

extinction, whilst newer names appear, become 

widely used and may eventually become the 

‘definitive’ name, until such time as they too are 

inevitably replaced. 

Usually this process occurs slowly as the 

Close-up view of Hag’s Tooth with Lough Gouragh and Coomcallee (or Hag’s 

Glen) directly behind it. 

PHOTO: MIKE SANDOVER 

original name is gradually corrupted over an 

extended time-frame. However, sometimes an 

entirely new name can appear for a variety of 

reasons and may eventually replace the earlier 

one. 

In addition, placenames sometimes get 

inadvertently or deliberately transferred from one 

feature to another, a good example being that of 

the Long Range in Killarney National Park, a name 

which originally applied to the mountain ridge 

running parallel to the Upper Lake (as shown on 

many early maps) but which is now universally 

applied to the water system flowing from the lake. 

All of this invites the question of exactly what 

defines a ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ placename. 

Whilst I, along with most other local climbers, 

would agree with Jim Ryan that the name Stumpa 

an tSaimh is the name used by most local 

landowners for the feature in question, rightly or 

wrongly, it is also undeniable that the name ‘Hag’s 

Tooth’ has for some time been almost universally 

recognised amongst the mountaineering fraternity 

as being an alternative name for the same feature, 

and the east ridge of Binn Chaorach is well known 

as the ‘Hag’s Tooth Ridge.’ As such, although it is 

a comparatively recent development, the Hag’s 

Maps 

Tooth could be considered the de facto name for 

this feature amongst mountaineers. 

Prior to publication of their excellent map, 

Harvey’s consulted extensively with the local 

mountaineering and mountain rescue community, 

and, as the map is designed specifically with 

walkers and climbers in mind, they decided to use 

the names currently in common use by the target 

audience, i.e. names which are often more familiar 

to walkers and climbers than to the local 

landowners. The map therefore also includes 

names such as the Heavenly Gates, Curved Gully 

and Brother O’Shea’s Gully – a name which itself 

first appeared only in 1969 but which is now a 

household name in Irish mountaineering. 

I am not suggesting for a minute that local 

placenames should be ignored or forgotten by 

mountaineers. However, neither can more recent 

names which are in such widespread use as those 

above be ignored or dismissed as ‘incorrect.’ To 

deny their existence would be to deny the entire 

rich process of placename evolution. 

• Mike Sandover works as a paramedic and is a 

member of Kerry Mountain Rescue. 


Grania Willis and Ian McKeever on the summit of the Carstensz. 

PHOTO: GRANIA WILLIS COLLECTION 

Ascent of the Carstensz Pyramid 

Grania Willis 

I joined Ian McKeever for a first Irish 

ascent of Carstensz Pyramid in March of 

this year, midway through his Seven 

Summits challenge. 

The Indonesian peak of Puncak Jaya, the 

highest mountain in Australasia and Oceania, was 

named Carstensz Pyramid after the 17th-century 

Dutch explorer Jan Carstensz, who first sighted 

glaciers on its slopes in 1623. Carstensz was 

apparently ridiculed in Europe when he said he 

had seen snow near the equator, but even in these 

days of global warming I can confirm that there is 

snow – and plenty of it – in the area. 

Carstensz, which is part of the Sudirman range 

in Papua Province, remained unclimbed until 1962 

when an expedition led by Austrian mountaineer 

Heinrich Harrer (of Seven Years In Tibet fame) 

reached the summit with three other climbers. The 

official height of the peak is 4,884 metres, although 

it was claimed to be 5,030 for a number of years, 

even on Australian aircraft navigation charts. We 

40 

Climbing 


were told that the mountain had been 5,030 

metres before the ice cap melted. The peak is 

known locally as Puncak Jaya, with Puncak 

meaning peak, or mountain, and Jaya, victory. 

Some people describe it as the Summit of Victory. 

I was totally ignorant of the sheer size of 

Indonesia until I went there. I knew that the 

volcano Krakatoa was part of Indonesia, and I knew 

that 190,000 people had been killed in Aceh in 

Eastern Sumatra in the 2004 tsunami, but I had no 

idea that Sumatra was one of the 13,000 far-flung 

islands that make up Indonesia or that the country 

boasts a total population of 200 million people. 

The island-hopping involved to reach Papua 

(formerly Irian Jaya) is a marathon in itself, but it is 

access rather than technical difficulty that is the 

biggest problem with Carstensz, although it is 

officially rated as the most technically demanding 

of the Seven Summits. Political instability and 

violence in the region have made access extremely 

difficult in the past and the mountain was closed to 

outsiders in 2002 after two Americans and an 

Indonesian were killed in an ambush close to the 

Freeport goldmine. The Indonesian government 

only started issuing permits again in 2005. 

Security at the 1.25 million-acre Freeport 

mine, the second largest gold mine in the world, 

also causes access problems. Freeport is 

immediately neighbouring Carstensz and many of 

the locals believe that the peak is threatened by the 

intensive mining being carried out by the American 

owners, which produces an incredible 100 kilos of 

gold per week. The mine is worked literally round 

the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A nugget 

weighing three kilos had been found not long 

before our arrival in Indonesia. 

Our team was made up of four climbers – 

McKeever and myself were the Irish half of the 

expedition and we were joined by Adventure Peaks 

boss Dave Pritt, who was co-ordinating McKeever’s 

Seven Summits world record bid, plus climbing 

cameraman, John Whittle, probably best known for 

his work on the award-winning film Touching The 

Void, who was recording footage for a Seven 

Summits documentary. The three men had been 

climbing together since January and were well 

acclimatised. I had joined them at the last minute 

and was far from prepared for a high-altitude 

climb, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me 

attempting a first Irish ascent of the peak. 

It took us six flights to get to Nabire on the 

island of New Guinea and that was before the

The Carstensz Pyramid (now officially known as Puncak Jaya), left, and the ridge taken by McKeever and Willis on their successful ascent. 

helicopter we had booked to take us into base 

camp. We could have done a four- or five-day trek 

through the jungle to get to the mountain but, 

wisely as it turned out, we had decided to save that 

for the walk out. 

Shortly after our arrival in Nabire and in a dual 

bid to erase memories of the endless pap 

masquerading as in-flight food and to stock up on a 

few decent calories before the climb, we headed for 

a beach-side hut where our guide Nova told us we 

would get fresh grilled fish. It sounded too good to 

miss. Our watches knew it was 11 o’clock in the 

morning, but our bodies didn’t have a clue. 

The endlessly smiling owner brought out four 

red snappers for our approval and, once he’d been 

given the nod, stoked up a rusting barbecue with 

the hairy husks of coconut shells and proceeded to 

cook us a meal that ranks right up there with the 

best. It was the only decent food we were to see 

for days. 

That night, word came through that there had 

been some tribal disturbances on our proposed 

route back from the mountain. There were no 

details of how serious the scuffles had been and 

cannibalism, once rife on the island, has not been 

heard of since 1975, but we knew that our plan to 

meet up with the Dani, one of the more welcoming 

of the local tribes, was now in jeopardy. 

The next morning we were up at five to head 

for a small airstrip at Nabire, but the new day 

revealed lowering cloud and an uneasy drizzle. 

Prospects for take-off looked bad, but the weather 

gradually cleared and by 6:29am we were airborne, 

packed into the 12-seater chopper with all our 

gear, plus the 23-year-old female owner of the 

helicopter and a couple of workers heading for 

Enarotali, the first stop on our 140-mile flight. 

The co-pilot had briefed us on safety 

procedures, including wearing our seat belts and 

not smoking, so I was more than a little surprised 

to see Heruyono, the pilot, inhaling deeply on a 

cigarette halfway through the flight. Thankfully he 

did stub it out before he put on his oxygen mask as 

we gained altitude on the way into the 4,000-metre 

base camp. 

We peered down into Freeport as we flew 

overhead and I was half expecting rocket launchers 

to be trained on us for having the audacity to look 

down into the mine without permission. But all we 

could see were heavily-laden trucks struggling up 

the winding road snaking its way up out of the 

depths. 

And then, suddenly, we were dropping down 

towards an ‘H’ marked out in white stones next to 

a small, brilliant green lake. By 7:25am we were on 

the ground and flinging ourselves and our kit out. 

By 7:26am the helicopter was gone, the sound of 

the blades still throbbing in our chests. 

We had the rest of the day to sort gear and to 

carb-load, with the silence of the surrounding 

mountains being punctuated by regular blasts of 

the hooter signalling the end of a shift in the 

neighbouring mine. As we slid into our sleeping 

bags that night, with alarms set for 3:00am, a 

permanent golden glow hovered over the mine, 

dispelling the inky blackness of the night sky. 

It was after four o’clock when we finally left 

base camp, setting off on the hour-long walk-in 

with local guide, Stephen. We reached the bottom 

of the climb at just after five and stopped to don 

harnesses and helmets. 

‘The climb has two fairly 

serious challenges: an 80m 

vertical wall graded at 5+ 

and an overhanging wall 

graded at 6-7+.’ 

Carstensz may be the most technically 

demanding of the Seven Summits, but it is by no 

means a severe test for anyone with good climbing 

skills. There are three main climbing routes to the 

summit. The American direct route, which goes 

straight up the sheer Carstensz headwall, is a 

serious undertaking; then there is the long 

scrambly ascent of the east route and finally what is 

known as the traditional route, which is the route 

taken by Harrer on the first ascent – and by us. 

The traditional route offers good sustained 

Climbing 

climbing on excellent but spectacularly sharp rock, 

with plenty of juggy hand- and foot-holds. The 

exposure is quite extreme on the ridge and there 

are two fairly serious challenges; the first is an 

80-metre vertical wall graded at 5+ and the second, 

further up the jagged, knife-edge summit ridge, is a 

smooth, overhanging wall (6-7+). The former is a 

fabulous climb, but the latter can be surmounted 

by setting up a vertical jumar, which is still pretty 

taxing at 4,700 metres. 

McKeever and I reached the summit together 

just after mid-day, proudly raising the Irish flag in 

celebration. But, as we sat there, four degrees from 

the equator, the glorious sunshine that had lit up 

our ascent was already starting to vanish. 

Threatening rain clouds were boiling up on the 

horizon and curls of mist were sinking into the 

valley. We had to get down without delay. 

The vast majority of the descent is abseiled, 

but we did opt to set up a Tyrolean traverse to get 

across the deepest chasm, where a 1,000ft gully 

slashed through the rock. We couldn’t afford to let 

our concentration wander on the endless rappels, 

but the descent was well on target when the 

heavens opened and monsoon rain deluged down 

on top of us. 

The mountain was instantly transformed into a 

raging torrent, with spontaneous waterfalls 

channelled down the ragged offset gullies that were 

our descent route. Within minutes we were soaked. 

Even my brand-new North Face wet-weather gear 

couldn’t cope with water pouring straight down my 

neck. 

Sodden ropes added extra spice to already 

uncomfortable conditions, but the situation was 

just about to worsen dramatically – for me, at least. 

Within 20 minutes of nightfall, my head torch died. 

As I rappelled into an almost total black-out, my 

dehydrated, altitude-befuddled brain struggled to 

remember if there was a knot at the end of the 

rope. I didn’t want to go into the record books as 

the first Irish casualty on Carstensz! 

Thankfully, the knot was in place and, finally, 

we were all down the last rappel. But with the 

adrenaline draining out of my body, I suddenly 

became aware that my right knee was desperately 

sore. I had no idea at that stage that I had done a 


Dani villagers participating in traditional dance. 

PHOTO: GRANIA WILLIS 

double whammy on the cartilage and that it 

would require surgery and seven weeks on 

crutches to fix; all I knew was that it extended 

the hour-long walk-out into two and a half hours 

of excruciating pain. 

It was after 11 before we got back to base 

camp – more than 17 hours since our departure 

– and the rain was still torrential. But, not long 

after our return, the monsoon turned into a 

snowstorm and I was woken, unable to breath, 

half-suffocated by the tent that had collapsed 

under the weight of the snow. 

While we had been up the mountain, the 

tribal situation on the route out had escalated. 

Word came through that in-fighting amongst the 

members of the Mone tribe had left 10 dead and 

15 seriously injured. It was simply too dangerous 

to even think of walking back out. We had 

survived the mountain; we didn’t want to die in 

the jungle. My damaged knee no longer seemed 

quite so serious. 

We radioed back to Nabire to try and book a 

helicopter, but the weather was too bad. We had 

to stay put at 4,000 metres and wait for the 

weather to improve, clad only in our thin jungle 

wear while our climbing gear lay in sodden piles 

in the tents…and the rain continued. 

‘McKeever and I reached 

the summit together just 

after mid-day, proudly 

raising the Irish flag in 

celebration.’ 

But finally, two and a half days later, we felt 

a throb in our chests again…and it wasn’t the 

altitude, it was the helicopter. Heruyono had 

come to airlift us to safety. We couldn’t meet the 

Dani on the way back from the mountain, but 

John Whittle and I took a detour round the 

fighting tribe by plane and got to film the Dani 

before we headed home. And yes, their penis 

gourds are spectacular, but that’s another 

story… 

• Grania Willis is an equestrian and climbing 

correspondent for The Irish Times. She is a 

member of the Irish Mountaineering Club and, 

as a climber, has previously summited Everest 

and Cho Oyu. 

Pro Shell 

Irish Stockists 

All Seasons 

Unit C3, Whitewater Shopping 

Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare 

045 486626 

Altitude Cycle & Outdoor 

22 Ballybricken, Waterford 

051 870356 

Great Outdoors Cork 

Daunt Square, Cork 

021 4276382 

Great Outdoors Dublin 

Chatham Street, Dublin 2 

016 794293 

Great Outdoors Galway 

Eglington Street, Galway 

091 562869 

Maher Sports 

7-8 Parnell Place, Cork 

021 4279233 

Outdoor Adventure Store 

34/35 Liffey Street, Dublin 1 

018 725177 

Outdoor Adventure Store 

MaCurtain Street, Cork 

021 4504389 

Outdoor Trek 

17/18 Town Centre Mall, 

Swords, Co. Dublin 

018 075757 

River Deep Mountain High 

Middle Street Court, Galway 

091 563938 

River Deep Mountain High 

11 Patrick Street, Limerick 

061 400944 

Sport Corran Tuathail 

Unit 21, Killarney Outlet Centre, 

Co. Kerry 

064 22681 

Tommy the Bike 

11 Earl Street, Dundalk, 

Co. Louth 

042 9333399 

Wet and Wild 

Unit A3 Ballyraine Retail Park, 

Letterkenny, Co. Donegal 

074 9125118 

Jackson Sports 

70 High Street, Belfast, BT1 2BE 

028 90238572

The full history of how Wicklow’s Military 

Road was built 

THE WICKLOW MILITARY ROAD 

History and Topography 

By Michael Fewer 

Ashfield Press, 216pp 

46 colour phots, 8 b&w phots, 

10 maps 

p/b €20 ISBN: 978-1-901658-66-8 

Pádraig Laffan 

There is a certain frisson in reviewing a 

book on a topic which, had I been a 

little more diligent, might have resulted 

in this author reviewing my work on 

the Military Road. 

Michael Fewer must be very well 

known to those who walk in Ireland, with at least eight guides to marked walking 

ways in Ireland as well as a number of travelogues and other books to his credit. 

He introduces this book as a work of history, and indeed so it is. He 

describes himself as “not a professional historian” and attributes to his lack of 

professional rigour the facility to make guesses and surmises where hard 

historical fact is absent. More than anything else, this very attribute opens up a 

detailed and carefully researched book to a much wider audience, making it a 

useful bookshelf, or indeed rucksack, user-friendly companion. 

In commencing, he describes the political climate of post-1798 Ireland, and 

the reasons for the building of the road. 

He introduces us to the major players in the politics and war of the time, the 

Lord Lieutenant Charles Cornwallis, General Vallency of the army engineers, and 

Captain Alexander Taylor who designed and executed the road project, and of 

course Michael Dwyer and Joseph Holt arriving in the Wicklow Mountains after 

the defeat at Vinegar Hill. He tells of Dwyer becoming the iconic folk hero and 

the main reason why the British Government decided to build the road. 

The author takes us step-by-step down the length of the road from 

Rathfarnham to Aughavannagh, with details, maps and historical documents 

referring to houses, people, topography and always the story of how each section 

of the road crept southward. 

You could take this excellent book and walk the full route of the road in 

about four days, and be greatly enriched by the experience. 

In the epilogue, the author makes a plea for the preservation and protection 

of this road, and most of all that it might be spared from excessive ‘development’ 

which could spoil one of our greatest wilderness areas. We should all be vigilant 

in this regard. 

Lower Lough Bray (Michael Fewer) The Sally Gap 1914 (Courtesy of Peter Healy) Derrybawn Bridge, Laragh (Michael Fewer) 

44 

Books 

Reviews of some recent publications, compiled by Joss Lynam, Literary Editor 

Irish Mountain Log Autumn 2007

Books 

A ‘must read’ on the history of 20 th century 

mountaineering and mountain medicine 

BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROPE 

The Biography of Charles Houston 

By Bernadette McDonald 

Baton Wicks, 250pp 

53 b/w phots plus DVD (43 mins) 

h/b £16.99 ISBN: 10:1-898573-71-9 

Jim Milledge 

Bernadette McDonald, a former 

director of the Banff Mountain Book & 

Film Festival, has followed up 

previous biographies with this 

excellent book covering the long and 

eventful life of Charles Houston. 

Starting from his formative years in 

Long Island, New York, through early 

climbing when at Harvard, she takes 

us through his leadership of the 1938 and 1953 expeditions to K2, his wartime 

work in the US Navy and his various medical jobs. Bernadette carries us along 

to his later years of altitude medical research and finally to the loss of his wife 

and support, Dorcas, his declining years and blindness. 

The oft-told story of the 1953 K2 expedition, which came so near to being 

the first ascent (and that without oxygen), but which then came so close to total 

disaster, is graphically told and the effect on Charlie is explored in some detail. 

He never went high again but his place in the folklore of US climbing was 

assured by this and previous successful climbs. His work for the US Peace Corps 

in India is less well known and is covered thoroughly. 

For those of us interested in mountain medicine, Charles Houston is 

known for a number of significant achievements. The first was in 1946 when, 

with Richard Riley, he conducted a 40-day chamber study in which subjects 

were taken in stages to the equivalent altitude of the summit of Everest. They 

showed that, with acclimatisation, men could survive at that altitude without 

oxygen. In 1960, he was involved in the rescue of a ski-mountaineer with high- 

WILDERNESS DREAMS 

The Call of Scotland’s Last Wild 

Places 

By Mike Cawthorne 

The In Pinn, 175pp 

21 colour phots, 7 b&w phots 

p/b £14.99 ISBN: 978-1-903238-90-5 

Tom Fox 

This is an entertaining and 

descriptive narrative of journeys on 

river, ski and foot in Scotland’s last 

wild places. A kayak and canoe 

journey on the River Dee and a 

winter ski traverse in Monadhliath 

make the reader feel involved. 

The core of the book covers the 

author’s ascent of all the Munros in 1986 (277 then, but 284 since 1997). His 

altitude pulmonary oedema. This condition was not known to western 

medicine at the time and Charlie put the condition on the map with his 

landmark paper of that year. He ran a series of field studies at 17,500ft on Mt 

Logan each summer from 1969 to 1979. In 1985, he led a team of scientists in 

Operation Everest II, a more ambitious study than Operation Everest I. 

McDonald covers these varied activities well and in non-medical terms. A later 

achievement was his organising of the series of symposia on hypoxia at Banff 

and Lake Louise. These very successful conferences, now led by younger 

followers of Charlie, have continued in alternate years with the fifteenth being 

held this year. 

Bernadette not only chronicles the events of his life but has explored 

Charlie’s inner life and feelings. She is not averse to showing us his weaknesses 

and failings. Both he and friends she interviewed have been refreshingly frank. 

The result is that we have a ‘warts and all’ picture of the man. This is a ‘must 

read’ for anyone with an interest in the history of 20th-century mountaineering 

or mountain medicine. 

Dr Milledge is an experienced Himalayan mountaineer and a noted 

specialist in high-altitude medicine. 

Brotherhood of the rope on 

K2 expedition in 1953 

and (inset) Charlie Houston. 

A narrative of wonderful journeys 

journey around the Munros keeps us entertained, with personal experiences 

about himself and his companions, the people they met and how they managed 

the terrain and weather they encountered. He sounds off every now and again 

about how the last wild places are being eroded by economic interests, 

especially the threat of wind farms on Monadhliath and hydro-electric schemes 

that generate a minuscule amount of electricity. Overall, he gives a gripping 

account of their exploits. 

The amazing story of Robbie and Annie Northway, who squatted in 

Strathan Bothy on Cape Wrath peninsula, alone makes the book worth buying. 

They dragged their possessions across the moor to make their claim. That 

chapter is compelling reading, especially the reason Robbie finally left there. 

The life of James McRory-Smith, who lived an isolated life of a hermit in the 

same area, would make you reflect on your own. 

With snippets of history about the clearances, Cawthorne takes us on a trek 

across Sutherland’s Flow Country. He relates how sheep and deer are 

responsible for the demise of heather moorlands – an ecosystem deserving of 

protection. 

He states: “The best journeys are about place and mind.” That might sound 

like heavy reading, but not so. An easy-to-read narrative of wonderful journeys. 


46 

Books 

An eclectic group whose ambitions far 

exceeded their abilities 


WE CANNOT FAIL – The fine line 

between adventure and madness 

By Geoff Powter 

Robinson London, 245pp 

8 b&w plates, many b&w phots and 

maps 

p/b £8.99 ISBN: 978-1-84529-542-4 

John Ignatius Murray 

Mountaineering adventure books 

generally are expedition books or 

biographies with the occasional history 

or anthology. It is refreshing to read a 

book like this that takes a new approach 

– a psychological assessment of eleven 

extreme ventures ranging from the Alps 

to the Himalaya, to the Poles [North & South] and extending to aviation, 

ballooning and single-handed sailing. 

The author comes well qualified to the task: a climber with Himalayan 

experience, long association with the Banff Mountain Film Festival, editor of the 

Canadian Alpine Journal and practicing as a clinical psychologist in Carnmore, 

Alberta. He has assembled an impressive array of subjects. 

The mountaineers comprise Alasdair Crowley – black magician, poet and 

among the first to attempt both K2 (1901) and Kanchenjunga (1904); Maurice 

Wilson (1934) and Earl Denman (1947) who both attempted virtually solo 

ascents of Everest; and the tragic Claudio Corti, rescued off the Eiger North 

THE 4000M PEAKS OF THE ALPS 

By Martin Moran 

The Alpine Club, 381pp 

Innumerable colour phots & route sketches 

p/b £23.00 ISBN: 978-0-900523-66-3 

Joss Lynam 

Here is a guide to the Alpine 4,000m peaks 

written by a mountaineer who has climbed 

them all. Of course, how many there are 

depends on whose list you are working from. 

The first man who reckoned he had 

climbed them all was Karl Blodig, who 

counted 76 between 1882 and 1932. Other 

counts vary, and perhaps the most reliable is 

the UIAA’s list – 51 major mountains and 31 subsidiary tops – described in 

1993. 

In the same year, the author along with Simon Jenkins made a continuous 

traverse of 75 of them, concluding that 50 were major mountains. The author, 

having given this information and a lot more, concludes that the numbering of 

4000ers will never be an exact science. 

The guidebook describes the classic routes on each peak, including, the 

author says, “All the great ridges and mixed climbs established on the 4,000m 

peaks during the Golden Age of Alpine pioneering of the 19th and early 20th 

centuries,” giving a total of 243 routes, graded from F to D+. Moran had been 

Face in 1957. Interestingly, of the mountaineers, only Maurice Wilson died on 

his adventure. 

Scott of the Antarctic, of course, is here, as well as the now-forgotten 

Solmon Andree, who died in 1897 with two companions in his attempt to reach 

the North Pole in a hydrogen-filled balloon. Their bodies, along with diaries and 

photos, were found in 1930, close to their point of departure on a little island 

off Spitzbergen. 

Those who have read Frank Nugent’s excellent Seek the Frozen Lands, 

among other accounts, will remember Sir John Franklin. His North West 

Passage Voyage of 1845, “One of the best-planned, best-organised and bestequipped 

expeditions ever mounted by the Navy,” resulted in a total disaster 

with the loss of two ships and 147 men. Yet Franklin has been held up for more 

than 150 years as a model of the concept that “Death in the service of adventure 

is as honourable as success in reaching the goal.” 

In 1968, Donald Crowhurst took part in the single-handed round-the-world 

yacht race in his hastily-prepared plywood tri-maran, the Teignmouth Electron. 

Realising soon that he hadn’t a hope, he decided to stay in the Atlantic and, 

creating a false log, he reported his alleged position. Coming towards the end, 

he appeared to be the likely winner, something he couldn’t cope with, knowing 

his voyage was a fake. So he stepped overboard and his yacht was found soon 

afterwards, ghosting along in a light wind. His logs and diaries told the sad tale. 

The author psychoanalyses each of these complex characters and gets 

down to exploring ‘the springs of adventure’ and the forces, both public and 

private, that moulded each of this eclectic group whose ambitions far exceeded 

their abilities. 

You gotta read this one. 

All the classic routes on the Alpine 4000ers 

guiding in the Alps since 1985 and has himself climbed around 60% of the 

routes listed. 

Full details of each route are given, approximate time (divided 

segmentally), height gain, distance, first ascent, and alpine grade supplemented 

where appropriate with rock gradings III, IV, V. The route descriptions are 

meticulous, and especially valuable are the notes on descent problems (as he 

writes, most accidents happen on the descent). The routes are clearly, but not 

obtrusively, marked in red on colour diagrams. 

Huts are described, not only with their access routes, but with notes on 

facilities (number of bunks, meals provided, cooking allowed or not, minimum 

equipment in bivouacs, etc). 

The introduction provides all the information and advice that any climber, 

particularly a newcomer to the Alps, could want. What an incredible advance on 

the Coolidge guides that were the only English-language guides available when 

I first went to the Alps in 1947! 

This is a guide for all kinds of alpinists. Do you want to collect all the 

4000ers? – all the information is here in a strong pocket-sized plastic-bound 

guide; the same if you just want to choose an area to pick off a few. Do you want 

an absorbing read about the ones you climbed, and the ones that escaped? – it 

is here. 

Moran has obviously enjoyed climbing these mountains, and that 

enthusiasm shows in some delightful phrases: “The stunning geometry and rich 

coloration of Mont Blanc granite is unsurpassed anywhere in the world;” the 

Weisshorn “appears as an indomitable outline in every distant view.” 

Now, although I can hardly climb to 40 metres, let alone 4,000, I’ll buy this 

book to keep my memories fresh.

100 walks in Lochaber 

BEN NEVIS AND GLENCOE 

100 walks in Lochaber 

By Ronald Turnbull 

Cicerone, 310pp 

Numerous colour phots 

& sketch maps 

p/b £12-95 ISBN 978-85284-505 

Patrick O’Sullivan 

The area covered by this excellent 

guide, the area south of Ben Nevis to 

Glencoe, includes some of the finest 

mountain walking in Britain. 

The author Ronald Turnbull has 

done justice to the area with his 

The acute pain to pleasure ratio 

LITTLE LADY, ONE MAN, 

BIG OCEAN 

Rowing the Atlantic 

By Paul Gleeson & Tori Holmes with 

Liam Gorman 

Collins Press, 162pp 

8pp colour phots 

h/b €23.95/£18.99 ISBN: 1-905172-34-6 

Liam Convery 

It says it all on the cover. The small print 

THE MONT BLANC RANGE – Classic, 

Snow, Ice and Mixed Climbs 

By Jean-Louis Laroche & Florence Lelong 

Bâton Wicks, 96pp 

90 b/w phots, 35 diagrams/maps 

p/b £12.95 978-1-898573-72 

Claire Sheridan 

This is a great little book – a really useful 

guide to some of the easier classic snow, 

ice and mixed routes in the Mont Blanc 

Range. 

Climbers using all but the most 

recent English language Alpine 

guidebooks will have found them 

frustratingly out of date in recent years, 

Books 

comprehensive selection of routes. These encompass a range of walks 

following the hardest ways up the spectacular summits of the area. Turnbull 

includes two of the best high-level excursions in the UK: the Aonach Eagach or 

Notched Ridge in Glencoe and the Carn Mor Dearg Arête on Ben Nevis. 

The hundred walks that are included vary in grade and length from short, 

clear paths with no steep sections to long, steep ascents on rocky ground which 

involve scrambling. They cater for people of varying levels of fitness and for all 

kinds of weather conditions. There is truly ‘something for everybody in the 

audience’ here. 

The text is written in an easy-to-read style interspersed with many excellent 

full-page photographs and numerous third-of-a-page shots and clear sketch 

maps. 

The result is a guide that will be very good for walkers contemplating a first 

visit to this important area, but also helpful to more experienced walkers and 

scramblers who are returning to the area and who want to try something a bit 

different. 

on the bulwark is revealing: “Pain is temporary, quitting is forever.” 

The build-up is familiar to those who have soldiered through the sequence 

of mountaineering books. In the end they had to borrow money, but avoided 

the real answer to the obvious question. He said he wanted to buy an expensive 

car. No problem – sign here. So they borrowed. 

The accomplishment required rowing for 84 days round the clock on 

chronically salt-ulcerated butts and with bleeding hands. Separately-maintained 

log entries make for interesting reading, and the appearance of a third 

‘presence’ on board has echoes of Fearlas Mhor and similar mountain 

experiences. 

For two total novices it was a remarkable achievement but the acute pain 

to pleasure ratio is the abiding memory. 

A good buy, whatever your plans 

are for Chamonix 

due to global warming. Wider bergschrunds, unstable scree and new stone 

chutes often make the approach slopes a bigger challenge than the climbs 

themselves. This book reflects all of the recent changes on the thirty routes 

featured – though, this being the Alps, the objective dangers are never 

quantifiable; weather and snow conditions can make even the best guidebook 

irrelevant. 

The authors have selected routes in the F to AD+ range – from the most 

popular snow plods to outings known to put manners on people, like the 

Flèche Rousse Ridge, referred to here as a “good stiff mountaineering workover.” 

An excellent feature of the guide is the presentation in place of up to four 

routes from the one starting point, so, if you find everyone else had the same 

idea as you and got up earlier, you have alternatives! 

The layout of the book is attractive and user-friendly. There are good 

photographs and a clear sketch for every route and, if the accompanying text 

often betrays its Gallic origins, it is still all relevant and accurate. 

A good buy, whatever your plans are for Chamonix. 


Books 

The scenery is breath-taking, with some 

spectacularly sited huts 

48 


WALKING IN THE BAVARIAN ALPS 

85 mountain walks and treks 

By Grant Bourne & Sabine 

Korner-Bourne 


Many colour phots, colour sketch maps 

& 70 route profiles 

p/b £14.00 ISBN: 978-1-85284-497-4 

Gareth Ll. Jones 

This is the second edition of this pocket 

guide, which covers a fine Alpine area that 

is 300km long by some 30-50km wide, 

lying along the German Austrian border. It 

is easily accessed by direct flights to 

Munich, Frankfurt and Salzburg, and the guide gives details of local transport 

arrangements. 

Awonderful two-week walk 

CHAMONIX TO ZERMATT – 

The classic Walker’s Haute Route 

By Kev Reynolds 


42pp colour phots, 17 maps 

p/b £12.95 978-1-85284-513-1 

Joss Lynam 

The author Kev Reynolds rewalked this 

route in 2006 to prepare this, the fourth 

edition of the guide. It has all the virtues 

of the previous editions, with the addition 

THE MOUNTAINS OF MONTENEGRO 

Walking and Trekking 

By Rudolf Abraham 


44pp colour phots, 14 maps 

p/b £12.95 ISBN 978-1-85284-506-3 

Joss Lynam 

All sorts of questions arise at the very idea 

of visiting Montenegro, the first being 

where exactly is it? The answer isn’t easy 

to find, unless you have a brand new atlas, 

since it only separated from Serbia a year 

ago. It is a rough parallelogram squashed 

between the Adriatic, Bosnia, Serbia and 

There are some 70 routes described, which can be combined into longer 

tours, together with another 15 valley walks. That is a huge area to be covered 

by one guide, with the result that the descriptions are quite brief, though 

adequate. 

The maps are reduced to the basics of rail, roads, peaks, ridges and routes, 

and they are difficult to comprehend by themselves, though the authors 

strongly advise the use of the excellent local 1:50,000 maps. I particularly like 

the Tour de France-style trek profiles, showing the nature of the walk and its 

“summits.” 

Although the region is not the high Alps, the scenery is breath-taking, with 

some spectacularly-sited huts. Most of the walks stay below the 2,000m level, 

though routes can often exceed 1,000m in ascent. However, the ascent of the 

Zugspitz is a two-day walk to its 2,962m summit, and descent is by cable-car. 

The authors are otherwise keen to avoid excessive climbing and, where 

available, they include cable-car ascents to achieve the height at which to trek, 

though there may be significant descents involved. 

My friends Joe and Kathleen visit the Austrian side regularly and speak 

highly of the facilities available locally. 

of some alternative routes, notably the exciting Europaweg, high up on the east 

side of the Mattertal (Zermatt) valley, with views of the superb 4,000m peaks 

clustered round the head of the valley. 

The photographs are numerous and most descriptive of the route. The 

maps…well, another reviewer is a little dissatisfied with similar maps, but for 

me, given the page size, they are adequate. There are route profiles that, as well 

as doing the job of profiling, have neat symbols for camp sites, huts, 

refreshments, cable cars, buses and trams. 

This is a wonderful two-week walk, 180km in length, that gains more than 

12,000m in height. Great Alpine views from medium-height passes are 

combined with walking through old-style Valaisan villages to create perhaps the 

best of the major Alpine walks. 

Scenery of glacial cwms and rocky ridges 

Albania, and containing “some of the wildest, most spectacular and least visited 

mountains in Europe.” 

These mountains are a section of the Dinaric Alps, made of limestone and 

with peaks running up to 2,500m, but with no glaciers. 

Access seems fairly simple and, by the time you read this, Ryanair will 

probably be flying into Podgorica, the capital. Though not in the EU, the 

currency is the euro, reasonable maps can be obtained on the spot, and the 

walks in the guide (the first in the English language) are all waymarked. On the 

flip side, huts are quite rare, so bring a tent. 

The author admonishes you to keep away from the frontiers: bureaucratic 

difficulties are perhaps avoidable, but landmines are not. Montenegro has a 

long, dramatic and complicated history, and Abraham, unusual in a walking 

guide, provides a 12-page historical appendix. 

I can’t check any of the routes, which vary in length from an hour up to a 

few days, but from the illustrations they look interesting, and in some cases 

exciting, in a scenery of glacial cwms and rocky ridges.

Maurice McLoughlin 

(1951-2007) 

Maurice McLoughlin, a long-standing member of the Wayfarers Association, died in 

tragic circumstances while on a club outing on the Dingle peninsula in June. 

Maurice joined the Wayfarers in the early 1980s and regularly hiked with the club 

on their Sunday walks in the Wicklow mountains, on long weekends in other parts of 

Ireland and on holidays in Scotland, Wales, Austria, the Dolomites, the Pyrenees and the 

Maritime Alps. His last trip abroad with the Wayfarers was at Easter this year to the 

Achnasheen area of Scotland, where the club enjoyed a fabulous week of hiking. He also 

went on holidays with members of the Wayfarers and the Ramblers. 

Maurice enjoyed not only the walking but also meeting new people and the 

camaraderie that developed between them. While on holiday, he would take time off 

from hiking to embrace the cultural and historical aspects of the local area. 

During the last 25 years or so, Maurice organised many of the club’s weekend 

outings and it is touching that he was the organiser of that sad weekend in June. Over 

the years he served in various positions on the club committee, including editor, 

secretary and hikes coordinator. He also actively participated in the club’s social 

activities. 

Being an avid reader, Maurice was knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects and 

he loved a good discussion. He had no difficulty in making new friends and in retaining 

existing ones, as he could always converse on some topic of mutual interest. The large 

turn-out at his funeral and the many messages of sympathy received demonstrated just 

how many friends he had. His hiking companions will always remember him with 

affection. 

Hill-walking was second in Maurice’s life; care of his mother, Anne, was first. He 

always ensured that there was someone to look after her needs when he went on a trip. 

Our deepest sympathy goes to her, his cousins, relatives and many friends. 

By friends of Maurice 

Bob Fitzsimmons (1947-2007) 

Bob Fitzsimmons, a 

member of the Mourne 

Mountain Rescue Team 

for nineteen years, 

passed away in June 

while walking on Ben 

Nevis in Scotland with 

another member of 

the team. 

Bob, a family man 

with interests in 

motorbikes and, even more 

so, in hill-walking and climbing, 

was an am-bassador for the team and for mountain 

rescue in Northern Ireland. Bob attended many courses 

and conferences on behalf of the team and always 

shared the knowledge he gained with the other 

members of the team on his return. 

Bob joined the Mourne’s team in 1988 and became 

a full team member the following year. He was welltrained 

and dependable, always striving to learn more 

and to work at it until he was happy that he knew it well. 

Bob worked in the team to help with training and 

served on the committee and as secretary, a post to 

which he brought a little something special in the 

meetings and minutes! 

Bob’s service over the years was acknowledged by 

the Northern Ireland Cliff, Cave and Mountain Rescue 

Coordinating Committee with a long service award in 

February of this year, and in 2002 the Queen included 

Bob in the Jubilee Awards medal list for voluntary 

service. 

Always having mountain rescue close to his heart, 

Bob was responsible for a number of team members 

joining up after chance meetings with him on one of his 

many walks in the hills. 

It was on a walk on Ben Nevis in June that Bob 

collapsed and died from a heart attack. His body was 

recovered from the mountain by the Lochaber 

Mountain Rescue Team. A service of remembrance was 

held in the Church of the Ascension at Doagh and the 

large gathering of friends and colleagues present, both 

from the immediate area and from the rescue services 

(Fire and Rescue, Coastguard, PSNI, Mountain Rescue 

teams, The Northern Ireland Coordinating Committee 

and the Irish Mountain Rescue Association), showed 

the high esteem in which Bob was held in the rescue 

field and by local communities. 

Bob’s body was cremated and the team and family 

members gathered in the Mournes for a short service 

and to scatter Bob’s ashes in the mountains he loved so 

much. Bob’s widow, Ann, and their three children are in 

our thoughts in their time of grief. 

Ed Kilgore MBE, 

Chairman, Mourne Mountain Rescue Team 

Maurice McLoughlin on Liathach, Scotland,April 2007. 

Ken Vickers 

Ken Vickers, who died recently, was 

founder of the publishing and distributing 

company Cordee. He earned the 

gratitude of the mountaineering and hillwalking 

community for providing, for the 

first time, books, guide and journals by a 

wide selection of publishers from a single 

source. BMC’s Summit magazine credited 

him with “single-handedly revolutionising 

the guidebook scene in the UK.” 

Joss Lynam 

Muriel O’Crowley 

It was with sadness that we learned of the 

death of Muriel O’Crowley, wife of Derry, 

both well known in hiking circles for their 

many Rambler holidays and activities. 

Michael Doorly 

The Last Word 


Membership Form 

About the MCI... 

The Mountaineering Council of Ireland is the representative body for hillwalkers and 

climbers in Ireland. Membership is open to both clubs and individuals. At present the 

MCI has 9,200 members – made up of 130 member clubs and 1,200 individual members. 

The aims of the MCI include: promoting mountaineering activities in Ireland; providing 

appropriate services to members; promoting training and safe practice to hillwalkers and 

climbers and encouraging responsible use of the mountain environment. 

Benefits of MCI membership include: 

• Quarterly magazine for members – the Irish Mountain Log 

• MCI insurance – civil liability insurance, also personal accident cover for 

permanent injuries 

• 10% discount in most outdoor shops and Independent Holiday Hostels 

• Personalised membership card 

• Access to BMC Travel & Activity insurance to cover walking and climbing 

trips abroad 

• Full-time office staff to provide advice and information 

• A channel for your access, environmental and other concerns 

• Winter lecture series at venues around the country 

• Annual walking and climbing meets in the Alps 

• Youth development programmes and subsidised youth training courses 

Annual indoor climbing competition (Irish Bouldering League) 

• 

Become an MCI member 

You can join the MCI through one of our clubs or as an individual member. For 

details of MCI clubs in your area contact the MCI office on (01) 625 1115 or go to 

www.mountaineering.ie (choose ‘Find a Club’ on the homepage). 

Application form for Individual/Family Membership: 

Name: __________________________________________________ 

Additional family members name(s): ______________________________ 

(please include date of birth if under 18) 

Address: ________________________________________________ 

_______________________________________________________ 

Telephone No: _______________ E-mail: _____________________ 

I enclose a cheque/postal order* made payable to the Mountaineering Council 

of Ireland for individual/family membership (delete as appropriate). 

€42.00 (£28.35) individual € ___________ 

€24.50 (£16.50) for each additional adult family member € ___________ 

€10.00 (£ 6.75) for each additional family member under 18 € ___________ 

€29.40 (£19.85) for individual youth (under 18) € ___________ 

Total = € ___________ 

Signed: ………………………………………………………………… 

Date: ……………………… 

Please return form to: 

MCI, Sport HQ, 13 Joyce Way, Park West Business Park, Dublin 12 

* If you would prefer to pay by CREDIT CARD, 

please phone the MCI office on (01) 625 1115 

50 


VOLUNTEERS WANTED 

The GLEN OF IMAAL Mountain 

Rescue Team is currently seeking 

new members. Now in its twentyfifth 

year, the Glen Team is based 

out of Glendalough and covers both 

the Wicklow area and provides 

assistance to other rescue teams in 

surrounding counties. 

As a member of the GOIMRT you will be part of a service 

that saves lives on the hills every year. Along with the 

satisfaction of such important work you will get the benefits 

of extensive training in mountain rescue techniques, and 

the enjoyment that comes with being part of a dedicated 

and highly-skilled group. 

Given the serious nature of the work done by the team, 

membership carries a serious responsibility and the will to 

voluntarily commit your personal time to regular training, 

call-outs and meetings. As well as a passion for the 

outdoors you will have ideally passed a BOS mountain skills 

assessment and be familiar with the Wicklow Mountains. 

If you're living in Wicklow or the surrounding area and 

you're interested in finding out more, contact us by visiting 

www.wicklowmountainrescue.ie where you'll find further 

information and an application form. 

The team will be assessing candidates in mid-October to 

November ‘07 with a view to membership in January ‘08. 

www.wicklowmountainrescue.ie 

El-Hierro 

Glorious Undiscovered Little Island 

7-day Escorted Trips 

October-May 

Holiday includes: • Flights 

• Ferries • Transport 

• Accomm (apts) • Daily Walks 

• Barbecues • Swims €649 

Walk For Fun - In The Sun! 

Tel: 086 604 9836 (Summer) 

Tel: 0034 922 719 261 (Winter) 

Email: sdwtenerife@eircom.net 

Web: www.shane-gray.com

Irish Mountain Log - Mountaineering Ireland

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?