Praise for Carrauntoohil owners in walkers’ guide

THE men who own Ireland’s highest mountain have been praised for welcoming 25,000 climbers onto their lands every year.

They are featured in a new walkers’ guide book which will be launched at the foot of Carrauntoohil on Saturday by Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue.

The minister is expected to comment on contentious public access issues, hillwalking and tourism during the event in Kate Kearney’s Cottage in the Gap of Dunloe.

The book, Carrauntoohil and the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, was written by Cork-based engineer and hill-walker, Jim Ryan.

He praised landowners Donal Doona, John O’Shea, John B Doona, James Sullivan and Michael O’Sullivan for allowing public access to their lands on and around Carrauntoohil and the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks over the years.

“They are amongst the most welcoming people in the country,” he said.

He met the men, their families and recorded their history and association with the lands for the book.

He includes a study of the placenames in the area and the folklore behind them.

The geology of the mountains, their structure and fault lines, flora and fauna are also detailed.

There is also a vivid account of the eviction of a family 50 years ago from their home in the Gap of Dunloe and how they moved into the Black Valley.

But most of the work went into the production of a detailed walking route through the area.

Mr Ryan, who was involved in the search on Carrauntoohil almost two years ago for missing Swedish climber Olof Jansson, whose body was recovered from the mountain two weeks ago, said it is one of the most detailed guides yet.

Twenty graded walks, ranging from easy, low-level to strenuous, are described.

They are illustrated with 15 specially-commissioned original colour maps, produced by Ordnance Survey Ireland.

“These are walking routes. There are no climbing routes that require ropes,” Mr Ryan said.

The walk descriptions contain detailed instructions for those with little or no experience of the terrain and give information like where you should park your car, where you should cross rivers, and specific landmarks you should be looking for along each route.

The book also contains specific safety instructions, survival tips and escape routes.

Published by Collins Press, Carrauntoohil and the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks will be on sale from this weekend in bookshops and outdoor pursuit shops, priced €20.