first time carontouhill

deisecelt

Heading to kerry for the hols in August. Just wondering what kind of training you'd want to put in to climb to the top of carontouhill. Never climbed a mountain before. Cheers

You can do it with reasonable fitness, if you can walk for about 6 hours. Just make sure you have the right gear. Nothing gets the mountain rescue lads out so often as the guys who chance it in jeans and runners, which might be grand, but are utterly stupid when things go wrong. And there have been enough fatalities and injuries on the Reeks to show that things can and do go wrong. Proper boots, ideally a map and compass but if weather's fine (and stays fine) you will not need them, rain gear if there is any risk, otherwise sun cream etc. etc. Try the outdoor pursuits forum for advice on gear, routes etc.

deisecelt

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You can do it with reasonable fitness, if you can walk for about 6 hours. Just make sure you have the right gear. Nothing gets the mountain rescue lads out so often as the guys who chance it in jeans and runners, which might be grand, but are utterly stupid when things go wrong. And there have been enough fatalities and injuries on the Reeks to show that things can and do go wrong. Proper boots, ideally a map and compass but if weather's fine (and stays fine) you will not need them, rain gear if there is any risk, otherwise sun cream etc. etc. Try the outdoor pursuits forum for advice on gear, routes etc.

Thanks Conor I was hoping to hear that. Have hiking boots so I just pack the sandwiches and hit the road I suppose.

siblers

There's no climbing, small bit of scrambling depending on which route you take. Just a lot of walking, make sure you bring a map and compass in case you get lost on the way back down as it can be super foggy at the top. (happened to me once, ended up costing us an extra 2 hours to get down) You don't have to be super fit but it would help to do a few hill walks to get you trained for the type of fitness involved in climbing mountains.

deisecelt

siblers wrote: »

There's no climbing, small bit of scrambling depending on which route you take. Just a lot of walking, make sure you bring a map and compass in case you get lost on the way back down as it can be super foggy at the top. (happened to me once, ended up costing us an extra 2 hours to get down) You don't have to be super fit but it would help to do a few hill walks to get you trained for the type of fitness involved in climbing mountains.

Thanks folks. Re the map and a compass, I've never used either as shameful as that sounds. Where would I buy a map of the mountain. Looking forward to it . I'll fish out a compass online.

Flincher

I'd also recommend layers of clothing. We started off in shorts and t-shirts yesterday and had added pants, a hoodie and rain jacket at different points. It's a lot colder at the top and the wind could cut you at times. It's also nice to be able to take off a layer at times when the sun is out and you're moving quickly.

Plenty of water and a couple of oranges wouldn't go amiss either.

deisecelt

deisecelt wrote: »

Thanks folks. Re the map and a compass, I've never used either as shameful as that sounds. Where would I buy a map of the mountain. Looking forward to it . I'll fish out a compass online.

The Harvey's Superwalker map of the Reeks is about the best around.

You should be able to get a compass pretty cheap now, less than a tenner.

And once you have a map and compass, you'll have to come back again and again to get proper use out of them.

VikingG

Also consider some of the local clubs ... most are fine to join ... it is alot better to go with others and more social as well... The dingle group have a list of walks

http://www.dinglehillwalkingclub.com/walks/