Thousands will answer the siren’s call on Reek Sunday

John G O’Dwyer reflects on why humans feel the need to be close to mountains and what are the reasons why a new generation climb Croagh Patrick

Mountains are deeply alluring. Great, eye catching, domes thrusting heavenwards, they have been endowed through the ages with mystical qualities and venerated as the earthly abode of saints and deities. It is the enigmatic quality of high places, their prominence and permanence against our transience and triviality that draws us to them in every age.

So, starting early on Sunday morning, thousands of believers — many of them in bare feet — will respond to the ageless siren call of the highest place. In multitudes, they will travel the same physical journey to seek deeper meaning on a tough spiritual excursion to the summit of Ireland’s holiest mountain. And indeed Reek Sunday is just the best known example of many pagan-era, climbs that have been incorporated into the Christian calendar as Pattern Days and still continue on mountains across Ireland. Materialism may squat immovably at the core of modern life, but the multitudes following a 5,000 year old tradition on Sunday next are living proof of a continuing desire for higher meaning that temporal wealth inevitably leaves unsatisfied.

On Reek Sunday the ascent of Croagh Patrick is, for most, a journey of the soul, but these days, the vast majority of those climbing to our most venerated summit do so at other times of the year. And they ascend for a multitude of reasons that are not always exclusively, or even partly, spiritual. Instead, they may be motivated by challenge, excitement, exercise or fitness; they may hanker after the sublime views or just fancy the bragging rights.

In many ways their motivations are immaterial, but what is important is how they have transformed the Reek into one of the major attractions of the Wild Atlantic Way. Truly, Croagh Patrick is now a gift that keeps on giving for West Mayo and undoubtedly creates a considerable, but so far un-estimated economic footprint, in Westport and the surrounding area. One estimate we do have is that 100,000 climb Croagh Patrick each year, which means that the pilgrim path from Murrisk is being literally walked to death. Unlike other visitor attractions, however, nobody is responsible for managing and maintaining it. The upper reaches of the path have, consequently, become more unstable and dangerous due to continuous and ever increasing footfall. At present, Croagh Patrick is a ‘go as you please’ ascent with the result that the pilgrim path has also been widening and drifting right and is now dangerously close to the steep cliffs on the northeast face of the mountain as climbers try to find the line of least resistance.

So, what should we do about all this? There are many who hold that the answer is nothing, believing that our uplands should be maintained as a pristine wilderness that remains as close as possible to its original state prior to the arrival of mankind. This view has some merit for our most isolated and least visited highlands, but my general belief is that mountains are at their best when they contribute to human endeavour. For me, a ruined booley in a high place affirms this contribution. A working farmstead on a mountainside bears witness to the continuing importance of this relationship. The burial cairns, the stone walls, the pilgrim paths, the summit crosses are not incongruous intrusions but instead tell the story of how past generations have drawn sustenance and comfort from our hill country. Politically, spiritually or economically, the powerful symbolism of the most elevated place has been exploited through the ages to support and bond communities.

These days it is through opportunities for pilgrimage and recreation that mountains such as Croagh Patrick contribute to the survival of endangered communities, but to achieve this, an agreed management system representative of all interests must be in place. Logically, those wishing to climb Croagh Patrick should do so at their own peril, but in the present climate, the risk of legal action is carried by those undertaking any enhancement or safety work. There is, as a consequence, a clear incentive for all parties involved to do nothing. This situation is unsatisfactory and the time has now come for legislative action to return our countryside to a position where recreational visitors to our uplands accept the landscape as they find it and take out their own insurance when appropriate.

Only then, will it be possible for all Croagh Patrick stakeholders to come together and work out how, with the minimum of intervention, the present pilgrim path can be re-routed, consolidated and made safer. This is the best way to ensure that the interaction between humans and a hill that occurs each year on the last Sunday of July continues vigorously into the future.