curve gully

so yesterday i went on my favourite hike ever with the uccmc.
it definitely wins hands down for so many reasons
-snow
-curve gully
-carrauntoohil
-7 really awesome people
-climbing up waterfalls
-sliding down hills
-heavenly gates
-snowball flights
-gorgeous views of the reeks and co. kerry
-singing on the bus home

yesterday's hike was epic.

woke up and the wind was lashing, but luckily not raining. i knew it was going to be a cold day, and especially since we were going to the reeks and carrauntoohil, but was excited to be in the reeks.
met everyone at the bus, and luckily there was only about 40 people! yay! so after a bus ride, which took forever, because when we got to the cork/kerry border, the hills there was covered in snow, as well as the roads had about an inch or two, and in ireland that is a hell lot of snow. so after thinking for a bit, that we weren't going to be able to go to the reeks, because pj, the fabulous bus driver, was slightly worried about the roads later that evening, but after another bus of schoolboys was going to the same place as we were, pj decided we could go to the reeks. so big YAY!

so there were going to be 2 groups each doing a different route up the mountains, when i heard karen saying something about curve gully, so i asked if i could join, and there was room for me, so i went off with karen, karen2, amanda, dave, denis, philip and richard. and it was great to be in a small group of awesome people, who all could hike and we all were excited about the snow. so we had a fun time walking through the hags glen, and then finally in the snow up to the beginning of the part before curve. so there was about a foot and a half of snow- thank god for waterproofs, because i was nice and dry, and it was lightly snowing again! so we start in this little gully, which had turned into a waterfall, under the snow. so the fun part was trying to figure out how to climb up a waterfall. so a few times the only option was to stick your hand into the water and use a rock in there as a handhold, but it was soooo awesome, but slightly chilly. so we make it to the start of curve and we all were having a blast and continued to plow our way up through the snow - it actually wasn't too hard, the snow made it a lot easier, because normally it is quite wet and slippy. so it was a really fun climb up the gully. then we had some lunch on the top of ireland :) and then ran into orla's group as they summited, and all of a sudden the clouds cleared and there was a gorgeous view!!

so on the way down, it was fab, there were amazing views. and honestly you could just sit down and slide down the mountain, so we all did and then we had a gigantic snowball fight and just laughed our way towards the heavenly gates. we found little brian, at the heavenly gates, who had brought 2 girls down and was coming back to meet a group, so he joined us on the way down. so we stopped to look at howling and how awesome it is. i would love to climb howling, it is a really intense climb, but looks so awesome! then we stopped for a few so little brian could make a snowman, and then hiked back down to the bus and waited for the other 2 groups to come back.

it was a fabulous hike, and such a gorgeous day in the reeks!
then the bus home was fun and we sang the way home from killarney.
then the pub back in cork, where we all were falling asleep. haha.

so then went home and i wanted to watch the superbowl, but it wasn't starting until 11.30, over here and i went out to watch the game and to lie on the couch, but my housemates and friends were watching a movie, so i went back to my room and i fell asleep. kara did text me at 3am to let me know that the giants won, which i was pretty happy about :) kinda mad i didn't watch the game, as the last 2 minutes were amazing, but oh well. sleep won.

yesterday the highlight of my day was climbing the greens on the wall with only 1 non-green!
i am slowly getting this monster! last week i did 3 non-green, so that is exciting, the place where i cheat is gonna be a hard one though, as it is the hardest move on the wall... so gonna keep working on that. otherwise it was a boring monday like usual, worked all day, made a million photocopies in the library, met with kara for dinner and the wall.

oh, i got a haircut friday and i love it! yay! my hair was getting so long.

hiking up to the reeks in the hags glen

panoramic of the valley and reeks from about halfway up to the gully

climbing up curve gully

me along the mountain, going down carrauntoohil, covered in snow from sliding and snowballs

coming down the heavenly gates.. howling is around here too.

the group with philip's snowman

the reeeeeks

the greens at the wall


such a fabulous day :)

kinda in a blah mood the last few days, so this hike definitely helped my mood.
i'm kinda stressed with all the work i should be doing, but i keep ignoring.
i need some sunshine and not so cold weather, and not to feel so tired.
goal this week is to be productive and to meet with cindy and talk about my research...