Climbing Mount Brandon on a clear day

The column below appears in all INM regional titles in Ireland today.

By Michael Commane
It’s well I was not up partying until the small hours on the Friday after the Junior Cert results were published, as it would have made for a tough day ahead.

Although I had not been to bed until 01.00 or so I was down to school on my bike for English class at nine. But before getting to the classroom the school principal sidled up to me and asked me if I would accompany the transition year up Mount Brandon. It was 08.50 and planned departure time was 09.15. It meant I had to dash home, make a sandwich, get clothes for the mountain and put on a pair of boots.
We were at the base of the mountain circa 09.45. Our guide was there waiting for us and we set off at 10.10.

There were 16 of us, 14 students, our guide and yours truly. It must be about 10 years since I was up the mountain. While I am on a bicycle every day and do a fair share of walking and swimming, I am 61 and it had been some time since I had been out climbing.

Before getting off the bus I did say to the students that I did not want to hear one vulgar word on the mountain.

They had received their Junior Cert results on the Wednesday and as you can imagine, they were full of the joys of life. None of them had been up the mountain before so I presumed we would be pulling and coaxing some of them up to the top. Nothing of the sort. I was flabbergasted with how fit they were and somewhat embarrassed that it was I who had to be pulled and coaxed. Well not really. But still they were as fit as fiddles.

It was a perfect day. We could see for miles and miles. Yes, I know we have gone metric but miles are far more descriptive than kilometres in this context.

We got to the top at 12.30 where we had our lunch and took a 30-minute break.
They really were a special group of students. It has often struck me with young Irish students how they seem to have little or no interest in anything to do with nature or art. It seems as if everything is a bore for them and all they want is a McDonalds and a shopping spree. The moment we reached the top ridge on Brandon I heard one of the 15-year-old students express his wonder and awe at the sheer beauty of what lay all around him. It really was a great moment.

The entire operation was really a magical experience. Everything went perfectly. Maybe it had something to do with the professionalism of our guide Noel from Irish Adventures in Dingle. He was most impressive and had that gift of being totally in control and yet at the same time managing to merge so perfectly with the young people he was guiding up the mountain. Never once during the walk did he have to shout or discipline anyone. That was probably a mixture of the attitude of the group and the guide’s professionalism.

We arrived back in the car park at the base of Mount Brandon at 14.50. Mission accomplished. We had been to the top of the second highest mountain in Ireland. At 952 metres (3,123 feet) on a day of blue skies and not a sign of a whiff of wind. Incredible good fortune.

On the pole at the top of the mountain was a red and white flag blowing ever so gently. Some of the group were not at all happy. It was two days before the All-Ireland. I tried to explain that it was good for the game to spread around the honours!

The behaviour of the students was impeccable. Never once during our five hours on the mountain was there a hint of misbehaviour. Of course they are not saints. No one is. But I was greatly impressed with both their attitude and behaviour. I was impressed with their fitness and their support for one another. No one was left behind, well maybe, except for me! Nobody sulked. It really was a perfect day.
Our school is a small 130-student school in West Kerry. I have taught in in a number of schools and am forever impressed with the good nature of the vast majority of our school-going students.

But there is something special about this school in West Kerry. Maybe it is that it is a small school. No doubt economists and politicians will tell us that schools have to cater for large numbers so as to be viable. Surely it is a matter of what is best for the children.

And to boot our school is not a fee paying school.
Not once in the course of the day did I hear one bad or vulgar word. They kept their word. That too is important.