Mount Brandon via the Faha Ridge

The Met Eireann forecast for Kerry was promising: good sunny spells with some scattered cloud on Friday. The very reliable www.yr.no was even more emphatic – it showed bright sun symbols for the day. I therefore left my hotel in Tralee at 5am anticipating a golden dawn illuminating the Brandon range. It soon became obvious, as I drove west towards Cloghane in the pre-dawn light, that there was little likelihood of such a prospect – the sky was overcast.  Nor was there any improvement when I arrived at the car park in Faha. The sun had risen by now but it was hidden by thick cloud. The only upside was that the cloud cover was above 3000 feet and most of the peaks of the Brandon range were visible.

I’ve been up Brandon a few times and on all but one of them the peak was covered in cloud. The last time I was there I met a Limerick man on his twentieth ascent and he had never been there without a cloud sitting on top. Legend has it that Saint Brendan ascended the mountain around 530AD to see America before setting sail across the Atlanic. He must have hit it on one rare clear day.

There are two routes to Brandon from the Faha side. One is the tourist route along the flank of the Faha Ridge and is well sighposted. It brings the walker into the magnificent valley floor and its string of paternoster lakes. At the head of the valley there is an easy climb with some mild scrambling on to the top of the saddle and from there it’s a short walk left to the summit.    

The other route is via the more difficult Faha Ridge and that is the one I chose. Instead of sticking to the waymarked route I veered right on to the ridge and continued upwards in a westerly direction. The ridge is very wide at this stage. That changes when the top is reached – it narrows very dramatically and it becomes clear that traversing it is not going to be easy. There are sheer drops down each side and it is obvious that once you have made your way across there is going to be a very steep scramble on to the main ridge to the right of Brandon on the other side.

It reminded me of the Crib Goch ridge on Snowdon which I did years ago except that Crib Goch is longer. Crib Goch also has the advantage of plenty of traffic. I saw no other walker on the Faha Ridge so  if I got into difficulty I would have to rely on my mobile phone for assistance - if I was able to do so. Yes, I know it's foolish to be doing such routes solo. One of these days I'll start abiding by good mountaincraft safety guidelines. Otherwise, one of these days......

 The "interesting"part of the ridge begins.

 There were some heart-stopping moments when I said to myself “how the hell do I get past this?” and when I wished I had a rope and the skills to use it. In particular, there is a slab of rock towards the end of the ridge when one has to drop down about 15 feet or so. There are few signs of any defined paths but impressions of bootprints in the earth at least gave me confidence that I was on the right track.

This shows the steep climb on to the saddle at the end of the Faha Ridge section. The route is to the right of the peak in the distance.

 It was a relief to get past that! 

Looking back at the Faha Ridge. 

It was with a great sense of relief that I finally reached the top of the main north-south ridge and from there it was a short walk to the summit of Brandon while enjoying some fine views of the north-west Dingle Peninsula and the Blasket Islands in the distance and down into the valley floor.

 A view of the valley from the top of the saddle just below Brandon.

  

The summit, it needs hardly be said, was covered in cloud.

I didn’t stay there long and I headed east along the ridge in the direction of Brandon Peak. I soon dropped below the cloud and there were some fine views of the direction ahead.

Looking back towards Brandon from near Brandon Peak.

I had a vague notion of walking the length of the ridge towards the Conor Pass and then making my way back to Cloghane via the road. However, on reaching the summit of Gearhane it was obvious that it was going to be a much longer walk than I anticipated.

An alternative would have been to drop down to the valley floor at this point and make my way back to Cloghane via The Pilgrim’s Route. What really put me off either option was the 1.6 mile walk from the centre of Cloghane uphill to the car park in Faha. My heart sank at the dreary prospect. So, I made my back to Brandon stopping off en-route at the summit of Brandon Peak and descended via the tourist route.