Galtees for novices, a couple of questions!

ncmc

Hi all, my husband and I were thinking of climbing Galtee Mor on Sunday (weather permitting). We have done a little hill walking (just this year in the Lake District) but nothing too taxing or difficult. I would describe us as being of moderate fitness. Just a couple of questions:

1) How difficult a climb would this be for two novices? Would we be better starting with Galtee Beag and seeing how we get on?
2) We don’t have any walking gear yet, would it be possible to do this walk in trainers (with a good grip)?
3) Is the route easy to follow, or can anyone advise on the best route (we will be driving from the Cork side)

Thanks in advance!

Slogger Jogger

ncmc wrote: »

Hi all, my husband and I were thinking of climbing Galtee Mor on Sunday (weather permitting). We have done a little hill walking (just this year in the Lake District) but nothing too taxing or difficult. I would describe us as being of moderate fitness. Just a couple of questions:

1) How difficult a climb would this be for two novices? Would we be better starting with Galtee Beag and seeing how we get on?
2) We don’t have any walking gear yet, would it be possible to do this walk in trainers (with a good grip)?
3) Is the route easy to follow, or can anyone advise on the best route (we will be driving from the Cork side)

Thanks in advance!

The trek up the Galtees from Cush, Galteebeg and more is tough enough. You could experience boggy ground at times so if you don't mind you're trainers getting mucky you'll be okay. Path is obvious from this side but if the cloud cover comes down you will need your compass and map.

hmmm

We were up Galtymore for new years this year and ended up in freezing mist leading a crowd of gob****es in runners, no rucksacks, no raingear and not a clue where they were off Galtymore. If you want to take up hillwalking, you owe it to yourself and all the rest of us to at least invest in some proper gear. Boots, raingear, rucksacks, maps, compass. You're not preparing for a fine day, you're preparing for a day when the weather turns and/or you have an accident.

The Galtees are reasonably good underfoot but in mist are quite featureless. There are big cliffs on one side.

DeepSleeper

That's a good point made by HMMM there - Not wanting to put people off, but Galtymore is a big mountain (one of the two biggest in the country outside of Kerry) and while you might get on OK up there, it can also be quite hairy if the weather changes. I have memories of crossing the summit on all fours one day to avoid being blown away! (Should have turned back half an hour earlier, but that's another discussion altogether...). Invest in boots and some half decent raingear, sign up for a Mountain Skills course to learn map and compass work and within 6 months you'll be climbing Galtymore and many other mountains under you own steam and you will be ready for all sorts of weather conditions that might arise...