Mweelrea

Mweelrea (; ) is a mountain on the Atlantic coast of County Mayo, Ireland. Rising to , it is the highest mountain in the western province of Connacht, and is noted for its southeastern cliff-lined corries, and its views. Mweelrea overlooks Killary Harbour and is at the heart of a "horseshoe-shaped" massif that includes the peaks of Ben Lugmore and Ben Bury. The massif is called the Mweelrea Mountains or the Mweelrea Range.

Mweelrea is also the 26th-highest peak in Ireland on the Arderin list, and the 34th-highest on the Vandeleur-Lynam list.Mountainviews, (September 2013), "A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: The Vandeleur-Lynams & the Arderins", Collins Books, Cork,

Geology

The geology of what is known as the '' Mweelrea Formation'' is very different from that of the Twelve Bens, on the other side of Killary Harbour. At a summary level, the ''Mweelrea Formation'' consists of Ordovician period sandstones originally deposited on large alluvial fans, and distally‐equivalent alluvial plains and delta fans. Interbedded with these sandstones are ''tufts'', being ash deposits from Ordovician period volcanos.

Geography

Mweelrea, and its subsidiary peaks, form the southern half of the "horseshoe-shaped" massif of the Mweelrea Mountains, which are bounded by Killary Harbour, Ireland's deepest fjord, to the south, and Doo Lough to the north.

The valley in the centre of this "horseshoe" is the townland of Glenconnelly (). Two deep corries lie at the head of the Glenconnelly valley, below Mweelrea's southeast face; the southerly corrie contains Lough Lugaloughan, while the northerly corrie contains Lough Bellawaum; both are drained by the Sruhaunbunatrench River, which empties into the Bundorragha River, which itself flows into Killary Harbour.

Mweelrea at , is the highest mountain in massif, and is the provincial top for Connacht. Mweelrea's prominence of qualifies it as a Marilyn, and it also ranks it as the 16th-highest mountain in Ireland on the MountainViews Online Database, '' 100 Highest Irish Mountains'', where the minimum prominence threshold is 100 metres.

Northeast of Mweelrea is Ben Bury (or , meaning "breast of the little crag"; it is also known as "Oughty Craggy"), at , and whose prominence of qualifies it as a Vandeleur-Lynam (it is the 43rd-highest Vandeleur-Lynam in Ireland).

Further east around the "horseshoe" lies the long high summit ridge of Ben Lugmore (and its subsidiary peaks), that is only slightly lower than Mweelrea at , and its northeast face forms the headwall of the cliff-lined Lug More corrie.

Southwest of Mweelrea is the southern arm of the "horseshoe", which is both lower and less sustained than the northern side. It includes the Mweelrea SE Spur at (sometimes called "point-495" in guidebooks), and finishes with the isolated Teevnabinnia (, meaning "side of the peak"), whose height is only , but whose prominence of qualifies it as a Marilyn. West of Mweelrea lie the County Mayo beaches of Uggool Beach and Silver Strand.

Recreation

Hill walking

As the highest mountain in Connacht, Mweelrea is climbed in "Four Peaks Challenge" formats, being the highest mountains in the four provinces of Ireland.

The fastest and most straightforward way to summit Mweelrea is via the 8–kilometre 3-hour ''Silver Strand Route''.

A longer route is the 13-kilometre 6-hour round trip via the Lug More (or ) corrie and the valley of Glen Glencullin that take in the summits of Ben Bury and Ben Lugmore. A notable feature known as ''The Ramp'' is used, which crosses the headwall of this corrie at mid-way, from east to west in an upward slope; reaching the ridge of Ben Lugmore at a col with Ben Bury. While this route is direct, caution is advised in properly finding ''The Ramp'', as the corrie has extensive cliffs.

Mweelrea is also climbed as part of the 15-kilometre 6-7 hour ''Mweelrea Horseshoe'', which is described by a notable Irish guidebook as one of "the top three" in Ireland. The circuit starts and ends at the ''Delphi Mountain Resort'', and takes in all the peaks of the massif of Mweelrea, including Ben Lugmore (and its subsidiary peaks), Ben Bury, Mweelrea and the Mweelrea SE Spur (or point 495-metres).

Rock climbing

While the main rock-climbing on the Mweelrea massif is on the northeastern slopes of Ben Lugmore (see here), there are long Grade 1 and 2 scrambles on the northeastern slopes of Mweelrea/Ben Bury.

Winter climbing

The Lough Bellawaum corrie, Mweelrea's northeastern corrie, also has a number of winter-climbs, the most notable of which are ''Blue Route'' (Grade II/III, 270 m), and ''Red Route'' (Grade III, 305 m).

Gallery

File:Mweelrea (back left), and Ben Lugmore (centre), from summit of Ben Gorm.jpg, Mweelrea (back left), and Ben Lugmore (centre), viewed from the east on the summit of Ben Gorm
File:Lough Bellawaum, Mweelrea, Mayo, Ireland.jpg, Mweelrea and the corrie lake of Lough Bellawaum, as viewed from Ben Lugmore
File:Mweelrea & Ben Lugmore from massif of Leenane Hill.jpg, Mweelrea massif as viewed from Leenaun Hill, with Mweelrea (back left), Ben Lugmore (back, right) and Teevnabinnia (centre, front)
File:Mweelrea Mountain from Renvyle.jpg, Mweelrea viewed from the south in Renvyle
File:Mweelrea from the East.jpg, Mweelrea eastern summit ridge as viewed from Ben Bury

Bibliography

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See also

* Maumturks, major range in Connemara
* Twelve Bens, major range in Connemara
*List of Irish counties by highest point
*Lists of mountains in Ireland
* Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles
*List of P600 mountains in the British Isles
*List of Marilyns in the British Isles
*List of Hewitt mountains in England, Wales and Ireland

References

External links

MountainViews: The Irish Mountain Website
Mweelrea

the largest database of British Isles mountains ("DoBIH")
Hill Bagging UK & Ireland
the searchable interface for the DoBIH

{{Irish Rock Climbing

Marilyns of Ireland
Hewitts of Ireland
Mountains and hills of County Galway
Geography of County Galway
Mountains under 1000 metres