Beenkeragh

This shapely pyramid of 1,010m (Ireland’s second highest mountain) sits out to the north of the main ridge of MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, the highest mountains in Ireland, and the country’s most famous walking area.

This really is an outstandingly beautiful area: the Reeks’ ramparts are, from the north especially, a series of long grassy slopes and crags, nestling dramatic cirques, lakes and tarns; at the heart of the range are the forbidding pinnacle and dark 2,000+ ft cliffs of Carrauntoohil and the dramatic spires, cliffs and crags of its immediate neighbours. Beenkeragh, by virtue of sitting out away from the main ridge, commands perhaps the finest of all panoramas of the range.

The most direct approaches are from the north, via the Knockgrinnea ridge. While the trails aren’t as established as the main Carrauntoohil trails, this is a reasonably straightforward if quite long haul from the north or north-east.

Beenkeragh can also be climbed in conjunction with an assault on Carrauntoohil from other directions: the ridge runs invitingly (although exposed in places) on to the broken crags of the nearby Bones Peak, and on (on a knife-edge in places) round to Beenkeragh.

See our MacGillycuddy’s Reeks and Iveragh Peninsula page for more general and practical information and photos. And https://mountainviews.ie/summit/2/?PHPSESSID=mj4pvehpl42kh8rfvpkeq07k40 for some more info.