What to know when hillwalking
Click on any of the headings below to find out more information.
Simple navigation techniques and route finding skills allow you to identify the land around you and to choose a good route avoiding dangers such as cliffs and avalanches. Like many mountaineering skills they are easy to learn, but using them under stress is a different matter.
Click here for some of the fundamental techniques, but take your time, practice them with an experienced walker to give you a hand or try Mountaineering Ireland's Mountain Skills Courses.
Click here to access Mountaineering Ireland's Hillwalking Skills Series - a series of short videos to help you refresh your own hillwalking skills or encourage you to learn new skills. Here's the first video of the series, Mountain Features.
Mountains can be inhospitable and dangerous places for the ill prepared. From one hour to the next, from one hill to the next, they can exhibit a dramatic variation in weather conditions. Whether it's a well-planned expedition or a spur of the moment decision to go to the hills, it is important to check the forecast.
Make sure to check the weather forecast (www.met.ie, www.yr.no). Bring extra clothing, food and water, and be flexible about turning back if the weather deteriorates.
When parking, take care not to block access for farmers, local residents or the Emergency Services.
People who take part in outdoor pursuits are urged to protect themselves against Lyme disease, which is spread by tick bites. Lyme disease can, in a minority of cases, cause severe debilitating heart and nervous system disease.
Take home all your rubbish – there’s no litter collection service in the outdoors. Rubbish is harmful to wildlife and it takes from the beauty of the landscape.
Ireland’s outdoors is made up of both public and privately-owned land, please be considerate towards those who own the land and others who live in the area.
Enjoy the outdoors safely and responsibly!