Brandon Peak east ridge + Mount Brandon Faha ridge

Mount Brandon is the highest point on the Dingle peninsula and the highest Irish mountain outside of MacGillycuddy's Reeks. The most popular ascent is the "Pilgrims path" which passes below the Faha ridge. The Cicerone guidebook "The Ridges of England, Wales and Ireland" describes two more challenging routes in the Brandon range: the Faha ridge itself and the east ridge onto Brandon Peak. I set out to combine both ridges.

Upon entering Cloghane, I take the first road on the left. Following the narrow, fairly straight road south-west for a little over 3km, I park the car at a junction by a small bridge. I head up the track on the right, past a farm and up to the Loch an Mhonain. From here, I follow the fence, traversing towards the larger Loch Croite. There's no real path anymore, and if you are wearing short trousers like me, expect to get some scratches on your legs from the heather...

The ominous east ridge of Brandon Peak now rises directly above the lake. Only it isn't really a ridge at all. It's a much wider steep wall, a complicated structure of buttresses and gullies, which only narrows to a proper ridge much higher up. It's not very clear where my route is supposed to go up. I gamble on the northernmost buttresses, but the terrain is rather uncomfortable and not fitting the route description. After a while, I escape into a gully on left, where I find some traces of a path. The trail gives me the option to stay in the gully, or head left onto the next ridge. I take the latter option; it's supposed to be a ridge scramble after all. This gives me some nicer terrain for a while, until I get stuck on this line as well. I once again escape into the next gully on the left, which I am able to follow up to the 550m contour, where I find myself on the actual Brandon Peak east ridge, which is now narrower but also less steep and much easier.
All along the terrain has been pretty serious (T5+, I), without extreme technical difficulties, but with a permanent danger of suddenly finding yourself out of your depth and cragfast. It's pretty clear that I haven't been on the recommended route and that I've missed out on the good scrambling that is supposed to be found there. Where did I go wrong? Only later, after I have looked back at the Cicerone guidebook, my mistake becomes clear. I had photographed the route description of the climb from the book. However, I had omitted the "approach" section of the route description on the preceding page. This section would have told me to follow the broadest heathery gully up to above the 400m contour, and only there does the route itself really start. I was looking for the start of the ridge much lower down, which led me too far north into unfriendly terrain...

Above 550m, the remainder of the ascent to Brandon Peak is along a rough path on the east ridge, but without further technical or navigational difficulties. At one point, there's a spectacular vertical drop into the north face, a good photo spot.

The path from Brandon Peak to Mount Brandon involves a quick descent over scree and grass, followed by a much longer and gentler ascent. I haven't encountered a single other hiker all day, so it's quite a shock to find twelve women on a hen party on the summit of Mount Brandon...

Descending north from Mount Brandon, there are spectacular views down to the Paternoster Lakes and over towards my next goal, the impressive Faha ridge. According to the route description, a direct climb between P. 891 and the Faha ridge should be possible. However, from above, I can only see a lethal vertical drop without any sign of where a way through might be found. It makes no sense to try to descend here.
I'm getting rather frustrated with this mountain at this point. It shouldn't be this hard to find the correct route on a ridge hike! But there's still one chance for redemption. I go back to the pilgrims path (sign "down / abstieg" - yes, that's not Irish but German!) and descend along the path (T3) towards the lakes, until at 710m there's a vague trail doing an ascending traverse towards the saddle between P. 891 and the Faha ridge.

The crux of the Faha ridge now comes immediately at its western end. A big step offers some challenging scrambling when taken directly (T5, II). At least I now have the advantage of taking the crux in ascent; it would have been somewhat uncomfortable in descent without a rope. On top of the step, you have to cross some slabs along the ridge. Slipping here would not end well, but in dry conditions this shouldn't be a problem. There is an alternative way that avoids the step and the slabs on the northern side, which should be a little easier. The rest of the Faha ridge is less complicated, with only short bites of scrambling. On the highest point (822m), the ridge suddenly widens, and the descent on the south-eastern side is entirely straight-forward.

All that remains is a long, gentle descent along the eastern side of the Paternoster Lakes back towards the car.