Lugnaquilla, Glenmalure, Co Wicklow

Lugnaquilla at 925m is our highest mountain outside Kerry, putting it high on the to-do list. It doesn’t score highly, however, in terms of eye-catching beauty and few artists or writers have celebrated its form or story.

To me, the Lugnaquilla massif deserves better press: its beautiful wild glens and lonely loughs as well as its songs and stories of rebellion – and of heroism, flight and exile – combine to give it a rich and unique attractiveness. For the discerning hiker, its real glory lies in those glens which were shaped by thousands of years of accumulating snowfall during glacial times.

When our (more benign) snow comes, hikers’ imaginations conjure up the magic of dramatically transformed mountain landscapes, the crunch of snow under boots and the possibility of a cheap and accessible “alpine” experience. And high Lugnaquilla, with its promise of the coldest and snowiest conditions usually calls loudest. And so it did for us on a sparkling mid-February day. A strong ridge and its preceding northerly airflow had nudged a plume of heavy, slow-moving snow showers offshore and a dream day of dry, clear and calm conditions was promised.

Our plan was to get as high as we could, as efficiently as possible, and walk the 2.5km ridge from Clohernagh, virtually all above 800m, to the summit of Lug. And among the easiest, most interesting and cleanest routes up Lug is via the zigzags beside the waterfall on the left about 3km up the valley from Drumgoff. This old hunting access route is now adapted and secured by the Wicklow Uplands Council, with the collaboration of the local landowner, for the benefit of the hiking community.

Dramatic

For us that day, as we progressed up this ideal access route, the vivid white of the uplands dramatically etched the deep blue of the sky above and accentuated the winter greens and browns of the valley floor below. At the rim of the Carrawaystick hanging valley, leaving the zigzags, the clear but now-eroding path climbs steadily 500m to Cloghernagh at 800m. Deep snow made the going tough from Cloghernagh to the summit, though with an alpine-like wonderland all around us and the spectacular snow-corniced curve of the South Prison and Lug ahead, we hardly noticed. The odd teabag stain in the snow marked the sheltered leeside of the summit cairn; and from here we enjoyed a pleasant lunch stop, warmed by the sun and captivated by views of the Galtees in the southwest and even a shining sliver of sea away to the south.

Then it was down into a warm, sunny and snow-choked upper Carrawaystick Valley, admiring half-frozen Kelly’s Lough on the way and floundering in deep drifts blown off the massif. We regained the zigzags a long two hours after the summit and took a leisurely, chatty and self-satisfied stroll down to our car deep in Glenmalure.

Map: OS Sheet 56

Start/Finish: Zigzags in Glenmalure about 2km from Drumgoff Cross, about 8km south of Glendalough on the Military Road

Time/Effort: about five hours; 12km and 840m of climbing

Suitability: moderate level of fitness, knowledge of mountain navigation essential