Glendalough Spink hillwalk in the Snow

Yesterday we went walking in the Wicklow Mountains, and we have had the worst snow in years.

Stage 1
We started out at approximately 12:00 from the Car Park at the upper lake, and walked west along the path on the north side of the upper lake. When we got to the miner's village all of the deer and goats had come down from the mountain into the valley because of the snow. I think we could have taken a hint from them, after all they are the real mountain experts.

Stage 2
We continued up the path to the foot bridge at a height of around 1200ft. We navigated this trough deep snow, and some times we found it hard to find the path. We crossed several gully's on planks thick with ice and snow on our assent to the footbridge. These gully's were partly hidden with snow and were sometimes hard to see.




We eventually reached the footbridge, where we surveyed our route to the top of the Spink. To be honest we could hardly make out our route past the cliffs. We took a short food break, and a hot cup of coffee was a welcome sight. We left our sheltered spot behind the old miners cottage, and proceeded on our way. This was the most precarious part of our journey, and we endured several falls into snow drifts of about 4ft. It was extremely difficult to keep on track, as it was covered in feet of snow. Soldiering on to the summit of the Spink we came increasingly closer to the side of the cliffs. i was glad to reach the summit of the Spink and could see the mountains and valleys from a perspective that many would never.

Stage 3
We continued our journey towards Poulnass Waterfall. Along the top of the cliffs we trekked close to the treeline at times, and many a times we fell flat on our faces, and sometimes on our backs. The boardwalk was like glass, and was almost impossible to walk on. Mind you the odd snowball across the back of the head did not make it any easier. When we started to fall their was not much you could do except try to land with a bit of grace amid the crunch of ice and snow under you. "Get up, laugh it off, move on" was our outlook, and considering we fell about 50 times it was the only outlook anyone could have. One broken leg or a twisted ankle or knee out here, and we would have had a problem. we were 2 hours from raising the alarm, and I did not bring my PSP.


Stage 4
Eventually the treeline was reached, and we started our descent trough the forest. The path here is underneath the trees, and is made of wooden steps. these steps are covered in ice and are impossible to walk on, and we added a few spectacular falls to our catalogue. Our final leg took us past the waterfall, and when the snow starts to melt the volume of water coming down the river must be something else.

We arrived back at our starting point at 17:20, changed our clothes and headed for home.