Challenge yourself to climb every mountain summit on Achill Island. On this page you will find information about the Achill Mountains Challenge including its summit list, useful car parking locations, recommendations for guide books and maps, and links to local facilities.
This is a flexible hillwalking challenge to be undertaken independently. It is not a set-date, mass-start event. Each individual participant is free to choose their own start / finish dates and duration period.
This is a flexible hillwalking challenge to be undertaken independently. It is not a set-date, mass-start event. Each individual participant is free to choose their own start / finish dates and duration period.
The summits
The Achill Mountains Challenge requires participants to visit 3 summits in the West Achill Hills range. These are marked on the map along with nearby car parking options. Click on a marker for more details. This challenge is intended only for experienced and well-equipped hillwalkers and mountaineers who can navigate themselves confidently through rugged and exposed terrain in any weather. Route choice is entirely up to the participant, therefore we have not included any route suggestions on the map. Route planning is part of this challenge.
| Summit name | Elevation | Irish Grid Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Croaghaun | 688m | F:560:061 |
| Slievemore | 671m | F:650:087 |
| Croaghaun West Top | 664m | F:554:058 |
Challenge information
The Achill Mountains Challenge is one of our 23 range-specific, anytime Irish mountain challenges. Registered participants who successfully complete this challenge in a single day during the Sport Hillwalking season can claim a Certificate of Completion (once per season) and score 32 points in the Irish Challenge Hillwalker of the Year competition (once per season).
Throughout the Sport Hillwalking season, registered participants can also score points for each logged mountain summit in the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships (up to four times per summit per season) and in the Irish Mountaineer of the Year competition (once per summit per season). A full challenge completion is not required for either of these two competitions.
Instructions
Follow the links below for the various instructions related to this challenge:
- Claim a Certificate of Completion for undertaking this entire challenge in a single day
- Count this challenge towards your Irish Challenge Hillwalker of the Year score
- Count this challenge's individual mountain summits towards your Irish Mountaineer of the Year score
- Count this challenge's individual mountain summits towards your All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships scores
Disclaimer
This challenge is intended only for experienced and well-equipped hillwalkers and mountaineers who are physically fit and can navigate themselves confidently through rugged and exposed terrain in any weather. If you are planning to undertake this challenge, please be aware that hillwalking and mountaineering are risk activities. The Ireland Walking Guide, High Point Ireland and Donard Media (the websites' publisher) accept no responsibility for any injury, loss or inconvenience sustained by anyone undertaking this challenge. Personal safety is entirely the participant's own responsibility. We will not support any legal action taken against any third-party individual, group or organisation as a result of any injury, loss or inconvenience sustained by anyone undertaking this challenge. We encourage each participant to have adequate insurance to cover any injury, loss or inconvenience that may result from their hillwalking activities.
The inclusion of each summit in this challenge is based entirely on it having been officially classified as a mountain. This classification is reserved exclusively for summits higher than 2,000 feet with a topographical prominence of at least 30m (see 'What is an Irish mountain?'). Summits which do not meet these two requirements do not qualify as mountains, even if the word 'mountain' appears in their names. It should not be assumed that access is permitted to any of the mountain summits. The Ireland Walking Guide, High Point Ireland and Donard Media recommend that anyone planning to visit any of the summits as part of this challenge should check for potential access restrictions and to request permission from the relevant landowner(s) in advance.
Register
The registration process for Single-Day Local Hillwalking Challenges and the Irish Sport Hillwalking Competitions can be initiated at any time before 30th June by completing and submitting an online Sport Hillwalking Entry Form. This can be accessed by clicking the green button below. If a registered participant manages to score at least 50 points during the first two rounds of the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships before the halfway cut-off point (30th June at 11:59pm), they will be emailed a link giving them access to the Hillwalking Challenge Completion Form (2025 Single-Day Challenges) and all remaining Peakhunter elements of the competitions.
To claim a Certificate of Completion for this challenge and add its points to their Irish Challenge Hillwalker of the Year score, registered participants must also log all of the challenge's required locations using the Peakhunter app within a single-day during the Sport Hillwalking season between 1st May and 31st August AND submit an online Hillwalking Challenge Completion Form (2025 Single-Day Challenges) within 7 days of completion (or within 7 days of receiving the form's link, if later).
Please note that Certificates of Completion for single-day local challenges cannot be claimed by individuals who do make the halfway cut in the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships.
Recommended guide books
Walking guide books are a great way to find the very best walks in Ireland which have been hand-picked by local experts. Recommended guide books for the Achill Mountains Challenge are listed below. These describe various ascents, descents and inter-summit link routes.
Recommended maps
Ireland is covered by a good selection of quality maps produced by a variety of publishers. The most useful maps for walkers range in scale from 1:25,000 to 1:50,000. For the Achill Mountains Challenge, the recommended titles are listed below.
- EastWest Mapping 1:25,000 - Achill, Corraun & Clare Island
- Ordnance Survey Ireland 1:50,000 Discovery Series - Sheet 22
- Ordnance Survey Ireland 1:50,000 Discovery Series - Sheet 30
A hardcopy map and compass are the preferred navigational tools used by all competent self-navigators in the mountains and hills. Relying exclusively on a GPS device or phone for navigation is strongly discouraged. The person who follows a dot, crosshairs or a GPX route on a tiny screen is not navigating. They are effectively being led by their device. This involves no skill whatsoever and will only increase that person's reliance on technology. We recommend using hardcopy maps and traditional magnetic compass because:
- their use requires and reinforces an elementary outdoor skill.
- the user is the navigator (this is not the case when using a GPS device, especially one with the day's route loaded in).
- they do not require a power source, therefore have less impact on the environment.
- hillwalking and mountaineering should be about having a digital detox in nature, not squinting at yet another screen.
- satellites, phones, GPS devices and their associated networks and systems are vulnerable to potential outages caused by external factors (e.g. hacking, ransomware, terrorism, solar fluctuations, space junk, etc).
In short, you should always have the relevant hardcopy map and a traditional magnetic compass in your pack when venturing off the beaten track. The convenience of a GPS is not a valid reason to go into the uplands or other wild areas without these two basic essentials.
Local facilities
If you require accommodation, food and drink, or other local facilities while undertaking the Achill Mountains Challenge, we recommend you check out what's available in the following nearby destinations.
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