Reach for the sky: Pat Fitzpatrick hits the gym ahead of his next mountain challenge

When two friends raced ahead of him on a mountain walk,Pat Fitzpatrick felt ‘over the hill’ at 52. He needed to get fit — fast.

I got a fright in the Comeragh Mountains last November. Two friends and I were doing the Coumshingaun Loop Trail, a fairly vertical, 400-metre ascent to the top of the horseshoe-shaped cliffs, around a handsome lake.