Post by conormccarti on Nov 30, 2009 0:03:27 GMT
Myself and Cillian were leading the Scotland training on Saturday, a great day out and enjoyed by all. Congrats to everyone who took part.
Due to the lovely snowy conditions and some time constraints we were unable to do the usual ridge walk. Instead we improvised a little coming in the hags glen, up a slippery snow covered heavenly gates and up onto carrauntoohill. From there we proceeded as you would for the ridge walk along above the devils ladder (looking shittier than ever) up onto cnoc na toinne.
Due to conditions and time our route plan was constantly changing with myself and cillian assessing the situation as we went. We knew that with the gates in the condition they were they would be unsafe as a decent route. Also the vehicles were parked in the high car park so thats where we needed to get to. We both knew of the "zig zag path" on cnoc na toinne however neither of us had ever used the path before.
So having reached the summit of cnoc na toinne and carrying along the ridge to the dip before the bastard we decided to descend rather than continue. Due to conditions the beginning of these zig zags were concealed so we simply began making our way down. With Cillian taking the group I went on ahead to find the real path which on discovery turned out to be a much more defined path than we had realised.
These zig zags are an incredibly easy way to descend and are marked with yellow paint along the way to ease any night descents that may occur there. They bring you right to the base of the devils ladder then its simply a matter of walking out the hags glen (with a river crossing).
Basicly I was just wondering if anyone had used these before or if anyone knows anything about them. I was told after that they were made a year or two ago in order to replace the devils ladder as its horribly unsafe.
Also I'd like to consider this as a descent route for a smaller group along the likes that we take on carrauntoohil in semester two. On this trip there is generally more light and it will only add an our or so to the trip at max. We descended to basicly flat ground from the top of carrauntoohil in about 2 hours and that was with poor visibility and snow.
Anyway I'm ranting. the jist is awesome track, anyone used it? and can we use it?
Due to the lovely snowy conditions and some time constraints we were unable to do the usual ridge walk. Instead we improvised a little coming in the hags glen, up a slippery snow covered heavenly gates and up onto carrauntoohill. From there we proceeded as you would for the ridge walk along above the devils ladder (looking shittier than ever) up onto cnoc na toinne.
Due to conditions and time our route plan was constantly changing with myself and cillian assessing the situation as we went. We knew that with the gates in the condition they were they would be unsafe as a decent route. Also the vehicles were parked in the high car park so thats where we needed to get to. We both knew of the "zig zag path" on cnoc na toinne however neither of us had ever used the path before.
So having reached the summit of cnoc na toinne and carrying along the ridge to the dip before the bastard we decided to descend rather than continue. Due to conditions the beginning of these zig zags were concealed so we simply began making our way down. With Cillian taking the group I went on ahead to find the real path which on discovery turned out to be a much more defined path than we had realised.
These zig zags are an incredibly easy way to descend and are marked with yellow paint along the way to ease any night descents that may occur there. They bring you right to the base of the devils ladder then its simply a matter of walking out the hags glen (with a river crossing).
Basicly I was just wondering if anyone had used these before or if anyone knows anything about them. I was told after that they were made a year or two ago in order to replace the devils ladder as its horribly unsafe.
Also I'd like to consider this as a descent route for a smaller group along the likes that we take on carrauntoohil in semester two. On this trip there is generally more light and it will only add an our or so to the trip at max. We descended to basicly flat ground from the top of carrauntoohil in about 2 hours and that was with poor visibility and snow.
Anyway I'm ranting. the jist is awesome track, anyone used it? and can we use it?
