Caption. From the top, a stall used on Reek Sunday for selling drinks and snacks is covered in frost and ice; an interior view of the same stall; the east-facing end of the church on the summit of the mountain;the cross on the church covered in ice;the west-facing side of the church – the wind was coming from the east, so the west side was where everyone headed for shelter;icicles hanging from a bank of peat about 80-100 metres below the summit on the western side of the mountain;a view of the Croagh Patrick summit and church from the ground (looking from the north-west).
I think we’ll have to stop complaining about the weather in the west. Over the last few months, the rest of the country – and most of Britain too – has been hammered by either torrential rain (Causing flood damage) or frost and snow. In the northern counties, the huge amounts of snow has devastated the lambing season.
Yesterday, a number of us climbed Croagh Patrick in Co. Mayo. The sky was blue, the air was cold and a ferocious wind scoured the summit. But from the top, looking north towards the Nephin mountain range and south towards Connemara, it was obvious that there was very little snow or ice on any of the mountains, save the summit of the highest peaks.
The combination of wind and moisture caused huge icicles and frosting on any standing structure. I’ve been on Croagh Patrick in cold weather before, but the formations visible yesterday were the biggest I’ve ever seen.
Here is a picture of an adjacent stall in warmer weather, and here is a picture of the same adjacent stall on Christmas Eve, 2010.