Caher is the third-highest mountain in Ireland, at 1,000 m, and the least-trodden of the three. The other two thousand-metre peaks, Carrauntoohil and Beenkeragh, stand on the same skyline and take most of the boots; Caher holds down the south-western corner of the Coomloughra glen, with a ridge running east to Carrauntoohil and on to Beenkeragh beyond. Walk the full round of that glen and you have the Coomloughra Horseshoe, reckoned one of the classic ridge walks in the country.
Set your expectations before you set out. This is not a viewpoint you drive to: there is no path from a car park to a lookout, and no shortcut to the top. Caher is a strenuous mountain day on exposed ground, for hillwalkers who can navigate in cloud and read the weather. Done right, it is one of the best days out in the Reeks.
The ridge and the horseshoe
The summit is twinned: Caher itself at 1,000 m and Caher West Top at 973 m, joined by the narrow Caher Ridge that scramblers know well. With a clean drop of over a hundred metres to its col, Caher counts as a peak in its own right, and it turns up on every list that matters to baggers, Arderin, Vandeleur-Lynam, Simm and Hewitt, and as one of the 34 Furths, the 3,000-foot peaks outside Scotland that would be Munros if they stood north of the border.
Two ways up are worth knowing. The full Coomloughra Horseshoe, taking in Caher West Top, Caher, Carrauntoohil, Beenkeragh and Skregmore around the glen, is a 6-to-8-hour day and the finest of them, though the Beenkeragh Ridge section is a knife-edge best left for a clear, still day. Shorter, the Caher spur makes a longer but far pleasanter way onto Carrauntoohil than the badly eroded Devil’s Ladder, the standard tourist route on the far side.
From the top the view runs over the Coomloughra lakes and Lough Acoose, down to the figure-of-eight Lough Eighter below, and out across the Iveragh peninsula.
Getting there and access
Most parties start from the Hydro Track above Glencar, reached by narrow lanes from Killarney or Beaufort: a locked gate, a free parking area, and a steep concrete service road that climbs toward the reservoir before the walking begins. Some other Reeks trailheads cross private farmland and charge a few euro to park, so carry coins. There is little public transport out here, so a car, or a pre-booked taxi from Killarney, is realistically necessary. Killarney has the hotels, gear shops and pubs; Beaufort, at the foot of the hills, is the quieter base.
Before you go
The Reeks are full mountains and the weather changes fast. Carry the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 MacGillycuddy’s Reeks map and a compass and know how to use them, because the ridge is poorly marked and easily lost in cloud; a GPS track is a sensible backup, not a substitute. The slopes falling away from the ridge are steep and dangerous, so if the cloud comes down, retrace your route rather than improvising a descent. In winter the whole thing becomes a technical climb needing an ice axe, crampons and the experience to use them. For emergencies, dial 999 or 112 and ask for Mountain Rescue.
The name
Caher is Cathair na Féinne, ‘the stone fort of the Fianna’, Fionn mac Cumhaill’s legendary warrior band, though there is no fort up here but the shape of the mountain itself. The legend lingers on the ground below: the townland on Caher’s western slopes is Derrynafeana, Doire na Féinne, ‘the oak wood of the Fianna’. Pick a long, settled summer day, start early, and give yourself daylight to spare for the way down.