MOUNTAIN LOG HIKER EXTRAORDINAIRE 69 Earlier this year, Aidan Ennis fromWaterford won Outsider magazine’s Man of the Year award. He had become the first person to through-hike all 275 mountains over 600m (2,000 feet) in height in Ireland – the VandeleurLynam mountains – without stopping. He completed the hike in 49 days last year, carrying all his own gear and sleeping in his tent. Some individual days from Aidan’s many great hikes stand out as particularly noteworthy feats of endurance. On June 6th, 2022, he left Killarney and climbed the entire McGillycuddy’s Reeks ridge, including all eleven 3,000-footers, and reached his next stop, Killorglin, at 9.45pm. Last year, as part of his Vandeleur-Lynams expedition, he climbed all seventeen of the peaks over 600m in the Mournes in one day. And the very next day he ran from Kilkeel, Co Down, to Annagassan, Co Louth – it was the longest distance he had ever run in a day: 73.5km. Also last year, he traversed the entire Galty Mountains range in one day, starting from a campsite in Clogheen and finishing at the Glen of Aherlow campsite – a hike of 63km. Aidan has written several pieces for the Mountain Log about his expeditions, and they make for fascinating reading, but I wanted to know, and to share with readers, how he managed to complete them. His exploits reminded me of ‘The Things They Carried,’ an award-winning 1991 book by Tim O’Brien Pictured this page: Overnight shelter spot in the Sperrin Mountains, Co Derry. Photo: Aidan Ennis Previous page: Aidan Ennis at Crow Head on The Beara Way, Co Cork, on the final day of his Great Irish Trail hike in 2021 (43 days, 2,229km) as he hikes towards Dursey Island on the way to completing his trek. Photo: Aidan Ennis
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