In 2021 I started the year by climbing Mount Errigal on New Year’s Day to experience the sunrise from the summit. It was an unforgettable experience that I didn’t want to be a one-off. 2022 saw a very stormy start to the year forcing me to give up the idea and last year I was laid low by a horrible cold.

I’ve been watching the weather for the last 10 days with an eagle eye. MountainForecast.com has been up and down but the last few days it steadied out to be mostly dry and promising decent visibility so I was set to go.

To tease further I saw a number of posts online with photos of Errigal with a decent covering of snow. The summit forecast was giving snow showers for at least 24hrs ahead of NYD and with temperatures close to zero and a significant windchill I was expecting a wintery summit.

I arrived at the car park just before 6am and was walking by approximately 620am. The trick was to allow enough time to get to the top without killing myself but not arrive too early and have to suffer the cold for too long.

A van arrived at the car park just after me but the two guys started before me. Another guy arrived after I’d started but he passed me fairly quickly. I could see other cars arriving and lights on the track behind me but with my head start I had the hill all to myself for the full climb.

Since my last visit the path has had extensive work which made for a much more enjoyable hike. The slog across the wet bog has been replaced by a gravel and stone path and the slippery gravel climb of the mountain has been stabilised with a rocky path. I was worried that the mountain experience would have been spoiled but it’s been excellently done and is a much better climb as well as being better for the mountain itself. The descent was especially noticeably more enjoyable compared to the last time.

Having a breather at the circular stone shelter below the last climb to the summit I played around a little with the camera on my new phone. This shot was taken in the dark with only the moon to help!

I sheltered below the summit for about 20min before making the final push, arriving at the first peak just before 8am. The sky was showing the first signs of dawn with a small bank of cloud breaking apart.

After about 15min a group arrived and with limited space I crossed over to the second peak. The guys from the car park were here ahead of me and one kindly took a summit photo for me.

As the sun came up the sky continued to lighten and the landscape below started to appear from the darkness.

A thick band of cloud moved in, threatening to spoil the sunrise but eventually we spotted the orange ball of the sun breaking through.

At 9am it looked like that was all we were getting so I started to head back down. Just below the summit the clouds parted and we were treated to the full sunrise after all 😍

Halfway down a shower of rain and hail blew in but combined with the sun to provide us with a magical rainbow to finish the hike.

A magical start to 2024. Happy New Year Everyone 🥳 🥳 🥳

Header image by Aodh Mairtin O Fearraigh and published by “Donegal Has It All“.