Training - Keeper Hill
So yesterday morning at the early time of 5.30am off 6 of us set to climb Keeper Hill. We will be absolutely experts at hiking in the dark after all this training is completed. In fact we might actually get disorientated having to hike in daylight when the challenge date arrives. Someone asked me what we bring with us on a hike. For me I have a Ledlenser H19R head torch and in my bag I bring a rain jacket, banana, water and a protein bar. Hiking boots are essential and for me a wear a pair of high rise Merrell hiking boots (although I am purchasing a new pair as these ones are old).
Keeper Hill is a 16km to and from hike with an elevation gain of 610m from the car park. It’s a gravel road the entire way up although this road was very mucky in parts from machinery travelling on it over the last few weeks. Yesterday morning was cold especially at the top of the mountain so keeping moving was essential. We set off at a good pace. It was clear that the realisation of lads fitness and preparations for the previous weekends hike up Moylussa made them more determined for this hike. A good and a bad thing about hiking at night is that you don’t get a sense of where you are. Bad as you can get lost very easily (more about this in a bit). Good because not knowing what’s in front of you makes hiking easier to a degree.
The hike is a nice gradual hike until the last 20mins of it when the hike becomes more steep. As we got to this point the cloud starting rolling in and there was notable ice on the ground. The wind was also picking up a bit. Doing a hike with a group is a different experience to hiking on your own. When on your own it’s more of a mental battle with yourself to keep pushing yourself and not stop. In a group it’s easier to keep going as each person is driving the other on. We eventually got to the top but this is where my eyes were open to some of the challenges we might face with the 4 Peaks. As everyone who hikes knows you are not at the top of a mountain until you go to the trig pillar which is a concrete pillar that is at the top of most mountains and hills in Ireland. Now I have hiked Keeper Hill close to 20 times in my life so I know it pretty well. This time however in the dark and with a cloud around us we couldn’t see but a few feet in front of us. It made finding the pillar very hard. Eventually after a few mins searching we came across it. It made me think that if something like this could happen on a hike we know so well what would happen on a hike we might have only done once or twice if conditions are similar on the day of the 4 Peaks challenge. Indeed it has me considering whether to get a guide to help with 1 or 2 of the hikes.
Anyway a quick stop at the top to refuel as it was Baltic up there and off we set back down. Sunrise was approaching so as we were descending the views were on show as the brightness kicked in. We got back down around 8.30am so all in all a 3hr hike. The legs were tired but a great feeling to get a hike done to kickstart our day. Planning for next weekends hike has kickstarted.
