A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits

Peakbaggers looking for a new challenge could do worse than cast their gaze across the Irish Sea to the land of Arderins and Vandeleur-Lynams.

More than 400 of the former and 269 of the latter provide a hillwalking list to aim at, and they are all contained in a new book out next month.

A Guide to Ireland’s Mountain Summits has been produced by the team behind the Mountain View community, a not-for-profit group that has run a popular website for more than 10 years.

Vandeleur-Lynams are summits with a height of 600m or more, of which there are 269 in Ireland.

The term Vandeleur-Lynam is based on a list originally compiled in the 1950s by the Rev CRP Vandeleur and the late Joss Lynam.

Arderins are hills 500m or higher and there are 404 in Ireland.

Arderin borrows the name from a typical 500m+ summit central to Ireland in the Slieve Blooms, coming from Ard Éireann, ‘the height of Ireland’.

The authors of the book, which will be published next month, said: “It’s an invaluable resource containing contributions from the wide range of Mountain View’s members. The book is a comprehensive list of Ireland’s summits: the Vandeleur-Lynams and Arderins, as well as the County High Points and Hundred Highest.

“Sixty mountain areas are covered in this book with information for the summits in each area, including the mountain name in English, a possible alternative in Irish, classification, height, county of location, OS/OSNI map number, map grid reference, and a height rank.

“There are photos, many from less well known angles, as well as space for the reader to mark the date when they bagged each peak.”

Mountain Views was founded by Simon Stewart, who does the development work for the website and edits the monthly newsletter. The most recent project has been the creation of a user GPS track recording and display system.

A Guide To Ireland’s Mountain Summits – The Vandeleur-Lynams & The Arderins compiled by Mountain Views, is published by The Collins Press, price €12.99 or £10.99. It is available online from Collins Press.