Cnoc na Péiste ( Irish for "hill of the serpent"), anglicised Knocknapeasta, at , is the fourth-highest peak in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, on the

Arderin Arderin () is a mountain on the border between counties Laois and Offaly in Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is ...

and Vandeleur-Lynam lists. Cnoc na Péiste is part of the

MacGillycuddy's Reeks MacGillycuddy's Reeks () is a sandstone and siltstone mountain range in the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. Stretching , from the Gap of Dunloe in the east, to Glencar, County Kerry, Glencar in the west, the Reeks is Ireland's high ...

range in

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

. It is one of only two 3,000 ft peaks in the Reeks with a prominence above the Marilyn threshold of 150 metres, and is the highest summit of the '' Eastern Reeks''. In 1943, a

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

plane crashed into the mountain, killing all five crew, and parts of the wreckage can still be seen in Lough Cummeenapeasta.

Geography

Cnoc na Péiste is the highest point in the '' Eastern Reeks'' section of the MacGillycuddy's Reeks range, which consists of a long narrow ridge that takes in several summits before ending at

Cruach Mhór Cruach Mhór (Irish language, Irish for "big stack"), at high, is the tenth-highest peak in Ireland on the Lists of mountains in Ireland#Arderins, Arderin list, and the eleventh-highest peak in Ireland according to the Lists of mountains in I ...

and descending into the

Gap of Dunloe The Gap of Dunloe (), also recorded as ''Bearna an Choimín'' (meaning "gap of the commonage" or "gap of the little hollow"), is a narrow mountain pass running north–south in County Kerry, Ireland, that separates the MacGillycuddy's Reeks mou ...

, to the ''Head of the Gap'', only to rise up again towards the Purple Mountain Group. To the southwest of Cnoc na Péiste is the peak of Maolán Buí () and a generally flat grassy ridge to the

col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...

at the '' Devil's Ladder''. To the northeast is the narrow sharp rocky

arête An arête ( ; ) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...

that joins with

The Big Gun The Big Gun (), at high, is the ninth-highest peak in Ireland on the Lists of mountains in Ireland#Arderins, Arderin list, or the tenth-highest according to the Lists of mountains in Ireland#Vandeleur-Lynams, Vandeleur-Lynam list. It is part o ...

(), and

(), which marks the end of the eastern ridge of the Reeks. Between Cnoc na Péiste and The Big Gun are two small

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s—Loch Coimín Piast (anglicised Lough Cummeenapeasta) and Lough Googh — one on either side of the ridge. A

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

called Glasheencummeennapeasta flows northwards from Lough Cummeenapeasta into Hag's Glen, to join the Gaddagh River. On the other side of the ridge, a stream flows southwards from Lough Googh into the Derrycarna River. Because of its positioning, Cnoc na Péiste is usually climbed as part of a ''horseshoe'' of the eastern section of the Reeks, starting from the ''Hag's Glen'', and taking in Maolan Bui and The Big Gun, or as part of the even longer '' MacGillycuddy's Reeks Ridge Walk''. It is the 231st-highest mountain in Britain and Ireland on the

Simm A SIMM (single in-line memory module) is a type of memory module used in computers from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. It is a printed circuit board upon which multiple random-access memory Integrated circuit chips are attached to one or ...

classification. Cnoc na Péiste is regarded by the

Scottish Mountaineering Club Established in 1889, the Scottish Mountaineering Club is a club for climbing and mountaineering in Scotland. History The Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) was formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in March 1889, as one of Scotland's first mountaineering ...

("SMC") as one of 34

Furths This is a list of Furth mountains in Britain and Ireland by height. Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles#Furths, Furths are defined as mountains that meet the Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles#Munros, classification c ...

, which is a mountain above in elevation, and meets the other SMC criteria for a

Munro A Munro (; ) is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevi ...

(e.g. "sufficient separation"), but which is outside of (or ''furth'') Scotland; which is why Knocknapeasta is sometimes referred to as one of the 13

Irish Munro This is a list of Furth mountains in Britain and Ireland by height. Furths are defined as mountains that meet the classification criteria to be a Scottish Munro, including being over in elevation, but which are ''furth'' of (i.e. "outside" of) ...

Panamora of Cnoc na Peiste and Loch Cummeenapeasta

Cnoc na Péiste's prominence qualifies it to meet the British Isles Marilyn classification, being the only other 3,000 foot Reek alongside

Carrauntoohil Carrauntoohil, Carrauntoohill or Carrantuohill ( ; , meaning "Tuathal's sickle") is the Lists of mountains in Ireland, highest mountain in Ireland at . It is on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, close to the centre of Ireland's highest mo ...

to meet the 150 metre Marilyn prominence threshold. Cnoc na Péiste exceeds the P600 prominence threshold of , which classes it as a "Major" mountain. Cnoc na Péiste also meets the

and Hewitt classifications. Knocknapeasta ranks as the second-highest mountain in Ireland on the

MountainViews Online Database In these lists of mountains in Ireland, those within Northern Ireland, or on the Republic of Ireland – United Kingdom border, are marked with an asterisk, while the rest are within the Republic of Ireland. Where mountains are ranked by height ...

, '' 100 Highest Irish Mountains'', where the prominence threshold is over 100 metres.Mountainviews, (September 2013), "A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: The Vandeleur-Lynams & the Arderins", Collins Books, Cork,

Aircraft crash

At about 7 am on 17 December 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) plane crashed into the northerly face of Cnoc na Péiste.Warplane Research Group of Ireland
/ref> The plane was a ''

Douglas C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

'' or ''Dakota'' (serial number 43-30719) with five crewmen aboard. It struck the mountain just above Lough Cummeenapeasta at an altitude of about 2,000 ft—killing all five passengers. The Gardaí were not alerted to the crash until 3 February 1944, and the following day an

Irish Army The Irish Army () is the land component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. ...

detachment was sent to recover the bodies. Pieces of the aircraft can still be seen on the mountainside, and in the lake below (a rope is tied to a piece of the wreckage in the water). A plaque was placed at the shore of the lake to commemorate the victims.

References

External links

MountainViews: The Irish Mountain Website
Knocknapeasta

the largest database of British Isles mountains ("

DoBIH The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...

")
Hill Bagging UK & Ireland
the searchable interface for the

Ordnance Survey Ireland ("OSI") Online Map ViewerLogainm: Placenames Database of Ireland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cnoc na Peiste Marilyns of Ireland Hewitts of Ireland Mountains and hills of County Kerry Furths Mountains under 1000 metres Aviation accidents and incidents in Ireland

Geography

Aircraft crash

See also

References

External links