Topic: Bearnagh Summit Camp (Read 5639 times)

Tim · « **on:** January 03, 2011 »

After receiving some cotswold vouchers for christmas I decided to treat myself to a nice new shiny headtorch, and having read last month's issue of Trail I ended up going for the Petzl Myo XP. Eager to try it out I decided to head up into the Mournes last night, starting off at Meelmore Lodge. I'd originally planned to do a few hours night hike but knowing my friend was keen to try out his new tarp we thought we'd spend the night. We arrived at Meelmore Lodge around 9pm, pitch black with complete cloud cover, although ground visibility seemed fairly clear as we could distinctly see the skyline of the Mournes.

Leaving the car the temperature said 0°c, and as we headed further away from civilization and gain altitude, things seemed to be starting to freeze. Thanks to my trusty new companion Mr. Petzl I was able to avoid breaking my neck on the treacherous icy ascent up to Hares Gap. In the car we'd thought it may be fairly unpleasant conditions on the summit of Bearnagh so we'd play it by ear and decide on a camping spot where we felt suitable, but we made it to Hares Gap and there wasn't even a murmur of wind, so we began the steep climb up the Bearnagh steps, then followed what little path I could find laid out by my headtorch. As we got higher, the ground got whiter and slippier, but this was certainly not going to deter me, not wanting to back down from a winter summit camp.

We reached the summit at around 11.30, and began pitching the two tarps. Shortly after leaving the carpark I had realised that one of my walking poles was broken, not able to tighten it when extended so if lent on the pole shrunk, and if stuck in mud the pole fell apart, so it stayed strapped to my rucksack with me unsure whether or not it would be of any use to support the back of the tarp, but thanks to a handy snowdrift it seemed tall enough. My friend only had one pole so his tarp had to be tied off to the wall. Once the tarps where up, we sat down and tried to take in what we could see of our surroundings, while enjoying some supernoodles. It was a perfectly clear night below the clouds and we could easily see Belfast and beyond. At around 2.30am we climbed the summit tor to warm up before getting into our sleeping bags and went to sleep.

Waking up at around 8.30 we were treated to one of the most beautiful views in the Mournes looking over towards a snow covered Donard, Commedagh, and all the way over to Binian. After cleaning my pot of supernoodles with some of the frozen snowdrift (which worked surprisingly well), I made myself some porridge and sat enjoying the view. At around 11 we began to pack up, and started heading down at around 11.30, stopping to chat to almost everyone on the way down, meeting a very friendly Scottish guy from Edinburgh out enjoying a week in the Mournes. We arrived back at the car (grudgingly) at 1pm, wishing I could spend the rest of the day rambling around the hills.

As for the headtorch, it definitely proved its worth as my friends headtorch went through two sets of batteries on the ascent, so was completely dead by the time we reached the top so we were able to pitch to tarps and have a dander around the summit. Not to mention the fact that it got us through the nasty boulderfield section on the way up to hares gap unscathed.

Hopefully I'll get some photos up soon

suspectmonkey · « **Reply #1 on:** January 03, 2011 »

Nice one Tim, sounds like a great summit camp! I was driving over the Craiganlet Hills yesterday and could see the snow capped Mournes in the distance, was surprised just how much snow seems to have fallen up there in such a short space of time! Anyway, its write ups like that, that remind me sometimes you just need to get out there and do it

PS: Looking forward to seeing the photos!

Tim · « **Reply #2 on:** January 03, 2011 »

Quote from: suspectmonkey on January 03, 2011

Anyway, its write ups like that, that remind me sometimes you just need to get out there and do it

Exactly, and unfortunately my writing skills doing even come close to doing the trip justice.

The only thing missing from the trip was a good steak on the top to wash down my victory can of guinness

RedLeader · « **Reply #3 on:** January 04, 2011 »

Sounds like a great trip, Bearnagh is a great mountain for a summit camp, awesome rocky tors and tremendous views. Looking forward to the pics!

chris · « **Reply #4 on:** January 04, 2011 »

Awesome! The Myo XP is the daddy when it comes to head torches. I did the same route on boxing day to try out some of my new toys and you wouldn't have believed the wind! It literally blew me over several times and I broke both my poles trying to get up! (Never one to back down from a summit attempt either

) Your right about the snow too, best pot cleaner out there!

Tim · « **Reply #5 on:** January 04, 2011 »

Quote from: chris on January 04, 2011

Awesome! The Myo XP is the daddy when it comes to head torches.

It certainly is

Quote from: chris on January 04, 2011

I did the same route on boxing day to try out some of my new toys and you wouldn't have believed the wind!

Did you go up in your crampons and with the iceaxe? How'd they work out?

Tim · « **Reply #6 on:** January 04, 2011 »

And here's the photos... (I hope)

View of Donarad+Commedagh from Bearnagh

Bearnagh's Lower Tor

Bearnagh's Summit

Doan in the centre with Silent Valley on the left and Lough Shannagh on the right

Panoramic from Bearnagh showing Binian on the left and Meelbeg on the far right

Sun Rising over Bearnagh's summit tor

Commedagh and Donard from the tor

The tarps!

Bah doesnt seem to be working. Anyone know how to fix this?

fourman · « **Reply #7 on:** January 04, 2011 »

i,ve been given a led lenser headfire revolution triplex headtorch ,for xmas . anyone heard of them before?

suspectmonkey · « **Reply #8 on:** January 05, 2011 »

Quote from: Tim on January 04, 2011

And here's the photos... (I hope)

View of Donarad+Commedagh from Bearnagh

Bearnagh's Lower Tor

Bearnagh's Summit

Doan in the centre with Silent Valley on the left and Lough Shannagh on the right

Panoramic from Bearnagh showing Binian on the left and Meelbeg on the far right

Sun Rising over Bearnagh's summit tor

Commedagh and Donard from the tor

The tarps!

Bah doesnt seem to be working. Anyone know how to fix this?

That should be them working now

I think you had just added the wrong links for the photos. From the photo page in Picasa click "Link to this Photo" on the right hand side toolbar. Then change "Select Size" to something appropriate like "Large 800px" and tick "Image only (no link)". Now copy the link from the "Embed image" box which should end in ".jpg" and paste between IMG tags on forum. All sounds a bit convoluted I know, although there may be an easier way I haven't noticed yet

andy1984 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 05, 2011 »

looks like a great day for it!

RedLeader · « **Reply #10 on:** January 05, 2011 »

Top photos. I sort of miss the snow now.

suspectmonkey · « **Reply #11 on:** January 05, 2011 »

Quote from: RedLeader on January 05, 2011

Top photos. I sort of miss the snow now.

Don't speak too soon, could be more on the way soon

Tim · « **Reply #12 on:** January 05, 2011 »

Thanks for fixing that Jon

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Author Topic: Bearnagh Summit Camp (Read 5639 times)

Tim

Bearnagh Summit Camp

suspectmonkey

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Tim

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RedLeader

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chris

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Tim

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Tim

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fourman

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suspectmonkey

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andy1984

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RedLeader

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suspectmonkey

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Tim

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