Slieve Donard Summit Snow Hole Camp

By Typo-On

So on the receipt of a call on Thursday asking if I was up for taking a stab at Donard again I literally jumped at the chance. With most of our little summit camp bagging crew going to attend how could I resist!

So a swift plan was concocted with the aim being the summit of Slieve Donard and working down from there if conditions didn’t play the game. It was also agreed that we could ride out any bad weather in the summit shelter although two being romantic three would be uncomfortable  I had been watching the weather all week and it seemed like a Ménage à trois wouldn’t be required 

Both myself and Fred headed up earlyish to try and get a start on our snow hole and Rumblebum followed after work.
A stunning walk up the Glen river path greeted us which was a nice counterpoint to the repulsive mess they have made of the second bridge through the forest. I’m astounded that those hand rails actually seemed sensible to someone.

Following the route up, the river crossing was completely covered in snow and further up if I didn’t look back at Newcastle I could well have been following Fred on an Alpine adventure.

The going was good and only on the steeper sections did it become precarious with either just plain old ice or ice masquerading as snow as it only had a thin sheen of snow on top.

Fred was more than happy to provide the knowledge and as it turned out most of the muscle required to build a snow hole and the views were epic although some were better than others.

We had a couple of visitors around 12am after we had all retired but I stayed cosy in the hole and Fred went out to find a couple of Eastern Europeans who had made their up and where going to go back down.

I awoke to Rumblebum cooking some burgers for breakfast which was great as all I had to do was consume mine

I was ready for the Snow zombie apocalypse but Rumblebum was practicing for a music video

I enjoyed every minute of our little adventure, who knows when we will have enough of the right snow to do it again! I think it’s now ranked as my number one camp! I couldn’t believe the difference inside the hole compared to out it was almost silent and seemed much warmer.

Thanks guys for making it one to not only remember but never forget!

A few more pics

By Fred
It was an amazing night. I have visited donard on many winter days but never seen so much snow on top. The snow was nice and firm so a snow hole was a viable shelter. It took a couple of hours to dig, hot tiresome work, but very worthwhile. Afterwards we had hot snacks in the summit shelter. In the cramped confines of the shelter we used a petrol stove to provide a constant supply of hot water from melted snow. This took a surprising amount of fuel, probably because everything was so cold but a gas stove would have struggled. Although we didnt have a thermometer, I would guess that the air temperature was minus 5 to minus 10 degrees. Unfortunately we couldnt light a firelog anywhere since the snow was too deep to find a suitable platform so three firelogs had to be carried home again. The snow hole itself was very comfortable, quiet, draught free and warmer than outside so we had a very cosy nights sleep, probably more comfortable than Alans tent. On the subject of tents, pitching in the snow with ordinary pegs is pointless. Dave provided some large alloy pegs and we used walking poles as pegs as well.

On the following morning we collapsed the shelter in case some unsuspecting walker might fall through the roof. As we were packing up a young lad arrived on the summit and asked us…
“Did you guys spend the night up here?”
We proudly replied “yes”
He asked “why?”
I had to laugh but I havent got a satisfactory answer!
The weather on the way down was beautiful and with all the snow, the mournes had a real alpine feel about them. Thanks to Typo-on and Rumblebum for coming along and making this a great trip.

Here are a few more photos

The original NI-Wild thread is here. With thanks to Typo-On, Fred and Rumblebum.