Sun and snow on the classic northern horseshoe

If you want to see Galtymore at its best then the classic northern horseshoe is far superior to the approach from the south (but you forego the advantage of the high start, so it's much steeper and more energetic). Plenty of parking half a mile up the boreen east of Clydagh Bridge, then follow the easy forest tracks, well waymarked as the route to Lough Curra. Eventually this leaves the forest and goes up fairly steeply to a minor peaklet with a big square block. From here the waymarked route goes off left, but a smaller but clear path goes straight on up past a prominent big cairn to the broad plateau of Slievecushnabinnia. Note that the summit is at the west end, not where shown on the OSi map (grid ref correct on MV). A wall takes you eastwards up to a shoulder of Galtymore, with great views down to Lough Curra, then a steeper pull up to the summit (which isn't the first cairn, although in mist it feels like it should be). There is a white cross just before the proper summit, which has a broken trig point as well as a big cairn. A brief detour to the northern edge gave me a great Brocken Spectre, a nice way to celebrate a second round of UK & Irish 3000 footers. The descent eastwards is steep but easy, then a short pull takes you onto Galtybeg, with a short bit of nice sharp ridge. The views back to the NE face of Galtymore are excellent (with quite an impressive icefall on it when I was there, wonder if it's been climbed?). The first part of the descent towards Cush is quite steep, with something of an "am I about to walk over a cliff?" feel at first, but it soon eases. Cush is a fair pull too, but well worth it for the lovely perch on the summit. I had four ravens wheeling around for entertainment too, probably complaining that I'd nicked their seat! A good path takes you down the NW shoulder to meet the boreen just above the car park. It's about 14km with 1150m of ascent, so "quite a pech", but worth it! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/14/comment/20399/

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Galtee Gradients

A side-on view of Galtymore showing the gradient of its north facing side alongside those of Slievecushnabinnia, Galtybeg and Greenane West. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/14/comment/23561/

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Clinging on for dear life!

Climbed Galtymore 13 Nov 2011 from Black road route Galtwy Rd (R89284 20381) incorporating Knockeentoung,Galtybeg,Galtymore and finishing with the 2 seefins in a 3 hour 20 mins circuit.Unbelievably windy on the summit so only a brief stay for a few pics.Will definitely be back on a clearer day.
Main walk Length:12.7km Start: 08:44, End: 12:02, Durn: 3h18m, Asc: 1045m, Desc: 925m Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/14/comment/6625/

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sduce on Galtymore

As an absolute novice at hill walking, this was my highest peak so far, i have been fascinated by Galtymore for years, love the fact that you can see it from everywhere or so it seems..... We climbed saturday 23rd May, lovely weather, and came up the black road, to the base of Galtybeg, before heading off over the rough ground and bog towards the col between Galtybeg and Galtymore, after resting a while there (not actually the best spot, windy and damp for sitting!) admired the cliffs, took lots of photos, and pondered weather my unfit and middleaged frame would actually get me up, what now looked a very steep ascent to Galtymore, well I made it, took ages! and it was certainly worth it, fantastic weather and view from the top all I ever thought they would be. Spent a half an hour on the summit just enjoying it.
It took me 4 hours to summit, (although I am sure 2 and a half would do it - if there was not quite so many 'rests' and sandwich breaks!) and about 1 hr 45 mins back to the car park. Which was easy enough, I would also at this point like to thank the couple who we met at the summit, and outstripped us going home, but appeared to wait at least half and hour in the car park to make sure we got down ok as the light was starting to fade at 9.45pm. A sincere thank you, a very caring gesture.

In short I would like to inspire anyone who reads this to climb Galtymore (or indeed anything else you fancy) if you are just reading this site, and dreaming like i was for so long .... if i can do it anyone can!
Sarah Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/14/comment/3779/

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