The PROBLEM With IRELAND'S Tallest Mountain

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this is Carville the tallest mountain in

Ireland it's

1,38 m which by International standards

is not that high but it's incredibly

popular with casual hikers and tourists

and it's got a little bit of a problem

and that problem was very bluntly

brought home to me because the minute I

parked in the car park yesterday and got

out of my van I met a man who' just come

down from the mountain and he was

covered in blood his head was split open

his arm was bleeding his ankle was

bleeding his leg was bleeding he had a

gash along here and his hands were both

M bit B mangled and bloodied as well and

he thinks he'd broken a finger then to

make matters worse as you leave the car

park there is a wall first of all with a

warning from Mountain Rescue telling you

not to underestimate this mountain

and also Memorial plaques of people who

have died this is not a mountain to be

underestimated it and I'm climbing it

today for the very first time and I'm

going to go up the most popular but

possibly the most problematic route

which just so happens to be called The

Devil's ladder to find out exactly what

it is that makes this mountain so risky

and to make things a little bit more

challenging perhaps I'm going to be

doing it in a pair of barefoot style

hiking boots let's go

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the hike up this trail from cronin's

yard is absolutely gorgeous but that's

tempered somewhat by the fact that I

came across a bench and then bridges

that seem to have been dedicated to

people who died hiking up here it's

bizarre I've never come across another

mountain in Ireland that's got such a

strong association with death sign post

it to everybody who hikes up

here car tool is part of the mcil C

reeks here in County Kerry which

contains nine of the 10 tallest

mountains in Ireland it's a range of

jagged Peaks Ridge lines and treacherous

drops in places and because it's down on

the west coast it means the weather is

also incredibly unpredictable as

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well so I'm going to be going

up that way up the summit and then

hopefully come down that way by the

brother of sh

Gully this is going to be fun so another

issue with up here is that in Ireland on

like say um England where a lot of the

mountain ranges are within national

parks you know and kind of under the

ownership of organizations like the

National

Trust this is under private ownership so

there's been concerns about people if

people get it injured what if they sue

the landowner and there was an attempt

to sue a landowner in Wicklow a number

of years ago where a hiker had had an

injury now that case wasn't

successful but it did make land owners a

little bit nervous and it actually meant

that a few years ago land owners were

considering restricting access to these

mountains now thankfully that never

happened but the right to actually go up

here and Hike is something we just can't

t for

granted I can immediately

see why this is such an accident hot

spot this is nearly a scramble

it is actually quite therapeutic walking

up through here if you just stop for a

second

hydrotherapy what what kind of makes it

worse is because it's the tallest

mountain in Ireland and it's in one of

the most popular tourist destinations in

Ireland and it's on a lot of lists of

top touristy things to do in Ireland it

means that I think a a lot of people a

lot of tourists just assume that it's

you know an easy thing you can just turn

up and do without really that much

preparation there goes another rock so

you can imagine what that's like in the

middle of summer when you've got

hundreds of people climbing up here

playing Dodge The Rock

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woo that's the devil's ladder now the

Summit is up there in the

clouds there's not a lot to see up

here if it wasn't for the fact that I

briefly used my map app back there I

would have gone slightly in the wrong

direction I was merily heading off in

that direction which was sort of towards

a rather nasty drop until it realize

maybe going this way I think that kind

of

illustrates um why why it's quite risky

up here if the clouds come down and you

don't know where you are and you don't

have a map or an app or anything to kind

of point you in the right direction

accurately you could quite easy

go in a direction that leads you down

somewhere incredibly dangerous I just

met two tourists I think they were

Germans and the first thing they said to

me was is this the way to the Heavenly

Gates and then the secondly the second

thing they said was uh have you seen a

group of people neither of those things

are

encouraging so they're up here they've

gotten lost they're planning and going

down the heaven the gates route which I

understand it's an even riskier route

than the devil's ladder

and they don't know where they are and

they don't know where their friends

are yeah

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for

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well I'm glad I didn't hike up here for

the views

because here are the

views listen how quiet it is up here

it's silent the wind is completely

stopped and we're so far up through the

clouds that the sun is trying to break

through you can see it just about there

so I'm actually getting rant heat from

the sun it's really really warm up here

which is weird I think that's the first

time I've ever climbed a mountain and

been warmer at the summit than I have

been halfway up it's so so strange

should I not have to make my way down

this Ridge and try and find the BL the

brother the brother o Gully and find my

way back down and of course the brother

OA Gully is named after brother OA who

fell to his death there in I think

1968 you've got horrible drop in that

direction and you got a horrible drop in

that direction and I think the way I

need to go is this

way this is a really good example of how

nasty the rocks are up

here they're really really sharp and

that's similar to a lot of rocks on the

ground like this one it's really really

sharp if you tripped and fell hit your

shin off that oh you do yourself serious

damage and that's what happened that

poor guy I met in the car park he was up

here near the summit he stepped in a

rock which moved it slipped out beneath

him and he came splatting down this is

where I'm going to get the walk and PS

out to give me a little bit of extra

stability I did not want to fall my face

today or any day really I wonder if this

is where brother OA fell from

what's over

here oh no no no no no no no no it would

be a nightmare trying to follow this

Trail in the dark I can get down here

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look at this

view look at

that this is me heading down o Gully now

and at the bottom of this Gully that

lake is the highest Lake in Ireland and

I can't wait to get dark in there

because I'm really really thirsty

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oo think a little bit of peek about it's

definitely harder to go D this slippy

crumbly scre like stuff oh good Some

solid grind

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I just gave myself brain free that water

is so cold you might be thinking stepen

there is no way you need a water filter

for the highest leg in Ireland but I

have just noticed the saddest thing in

the world see just

there I noticed there was a sheep

sitting and just beneath the sheep in

the water is a dead lamb that mother

sheep is sitting there waiting for a

dead lamb to

move well that's a major

Diner right I'm not 100% sure if the

lamb is dead or not so I've left my

stuff there and I'm going to quickly

make my way around the lake and

check I'm also wondering if maybe the

mother sheep has fallen after it and is

actually sitting there with the broken

leg cuz I've been watching it for about

15 minutes and it hasn't

moved hi sheep oh

okay don't worry I'm not going to show

it but I'll go and see if the lamb is

Def

oh

yes

ah that is 100% a dead lamb and

something has been eating at it as as

well I'm sorry

sheep go go live your life you try again

next

year oh the Pu

lamb they did not look cute on the

inside

that is a jaw bone of a sheep I've seen

quite a few bones lying down in here

from unfortunate sheep that have taken a

tumble human or animal you got to be

careful up

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here look at this the water

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look at that view and I think this is

the perfect place to end this video

because I've been making a video for 9

hours now and I just want to enjoy a

little bit of the hike on my own without

any cameras I don't have too much to do

I just got to follow this down

here down to the Glen and follow the

road back to cronin's yard where I then

have a six-hour drive back to County

Anam so how dangerous do I think K Hill

is um it's definitely a lot more

dangerous than anything in the M

mountains um with the possible exception

of a couple of places like the the

devil's Coach Road that you know not

that many people actually go up on and I

I can totally see why with a huge volume

of people coming up here why there are

so many call outs I don't really need to

say much more you saw what it was like

on the way up here

and don't let me put off anyone who has

been thinking that they might want to

climb car and Tool I know people of all

edges who've made it up and down there

it is perfectly doable as long as you're

prepared you got all the right equipment

you check the forecast and if you're in

experience my advice would be either go

with a grip or even better find a local

guide to take you up and down for your

very first time but it was absolutely

incredible hike my first time in this

range I am going to be back and explore

more of it I feel like I've barely

scratched the surface if you want to see

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this leave a comment like the video and

I'll catch you on the next one which I

think might actually be camping in a

Tesla here's a bonus feature because uh

on this part of the rout there's a

couple of climb

downs and this is the first one so I got

to climb climb on

that three points of contact three

points of

contact down to this

bit to here down to

here there am we going this way

there we

go

okay that wasn't too bad