A rolling wonderland of pristine snow

In November, I wrote of a "sublime" summery day in winter in Wicklow's Glensoulan – a day of shorts, calm sunshine and almost warm breezes! This Sunday in January couldn't have been more different. Night-time snow had settled quietly on the high ground of Dublin and Wicklow, courtesy of a small low pressure system virtually stalling in the Irish Sea off Dublin. For the city, it had just been a cold sleety rain. But for those living or driving above about 150m in Dublin and Wicklow, outside lights and car headlights were picking up the magic – and shock – of swirling heavy snow. And for us hikers who witnessed it, it was very much the former!

Crone car park was busy that Sunday morning as nine of us gathered for a deep winter visit to beautiful Glensoulan. By the time we got to the summit of Maulin, we knew the day was going to be special! Okay, it was cold and windy and the snow had been wet and muddy on the ascent – but off to the south west, and into the fastness of the upper Dargle valley, there lay a rolling wonderland of pristine snow, the likes of which we hadn’t seen since 2010. That said, Djouce summit, an hour later, was an Arctic shock. Our footsteps dislodged powdery snow, blowing in an icy mist that rimmed our hoods and rucksacks, as we made our way to lunch in the meagre snow-filled lee of the enigmatic Coffin Stone. And in that col between Djouce and War Hill, our next objective, the bitter south-west wind had drifted the snow in and around the eroded peat hags, providing great entertainment as some of us floundered in hidden snow-filled gullies!

By War Hill the ice-mist had lifted – thankfully, because the snow confused route-finding and it was far too cold even to think of taking a bearing! High heather with snow cover sitting on it, as well as more snow-filled peat gullies, made for a tough and tedious descent off War Hill, despite the sunlit beauty of sky and snow all around us. By now, we were beginning to remember, from days gone by, some of our snow-walking skills – the most important of which is to never to lead. And so the nine of us snaked up the Tonduffs in a very definite and distinct line behind Brian, the Alpha male of our group, who broke a clear path through the snow and/or demonstrated (the hard way for him) where the rest of us should avoid!

From the Tonduffs back to Maulin, we unashamedly exploited the trail of a previous large group as it wound through and around the snowy peat hags, with Maulin drawing us by now eastwards. The legs began to feel the strain of the day, and especially the difficult ground/snow conditions, as we carefully descended the icy path off Maulin and down to our cars at Crone.

WALKS GLENSOULAN, CO WICKLOW

Map: OS Discovery Series no 56

Start/Finish: Crone Car Park, about 7km south-west of Enniskerry, on R760 for first 3km

Time/Effort: 1,050m of climbing, about 17km, and 6hrs

Suitability: moderate fitness (high in snow), knowledge of mountain navigation