page_title: Mount Brandon
section_title: Hill walking
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Brandon / Hill walking
caption_attribution_description: English: The east face of Mount Brandon showing its corries from Cloghane (the Faha Route)
context_page_description: Mount Brandon or Brandon, at 952 metres, is one of the ten highest peaks in Ireland, being the 8th–highest peak in Ireland on the Arderin list, and the 9th–highest on the Vandeleur-Lynam list. Brandon is the highest Irish mountain outside the MacGillycuddy's Reeks range and has the greatest prominence of any Irish peak except Carrauntoohil, Ireland's highest mountain.
  Mount Brandon is at the centre of a long high ridge called the Brandon Group range of mountains in the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry. The ridge contains seven other major peaks; one is the similarly named Brandon Peak. The positioning and dimensions of the Brandon Group ridge have made it the scene of several air accidents over the years. The mountain, and range, is named after Saint Brendan, and is the end of a Christian pilgrimage trail known as Cosán na Naomh. It is also well regarded for hill walking with routes such as the 4–5-hour Faha Route, and the 6–7-hour traverse of the entire range known as "one of the finest ridgewalks in Ireland".
context_section_description: The quickest and easiest route to the summit of Mount Brandon is from the west via the final stages of the medieval pilgrim path, The Saint's Route (Irish: Cosán na Naomh), which begins 18 kilometres (11 mi) away in Ventry. The route starts from the car park of Ballybrack (Irish: Baile Breac) (W434094), and follows the straight grassy path, marked by large crosses, to the summit of Mount Brandon; then retracing back to Ballybrack. The 8-kilometre (5.0 mi) route takes 3–4 hours. A longer 5-hour variation is to continue north along the summit ridge from Mount Brandon to Piaras Mor, and then descend to Ballyknockane.
  A scenic variation is the 9-kilometre (5.6 mi) 4–5-hour Faha Route, the Pilgrim's Path, which starts from the east via the car park at the Faha Grotto (Q493119) just outside Cloghane. The route to the summit is marked, and offers views of the deep corries and paternoster lakes on Brandon's glaciated east face. It follows a trail below the Faha Ridge to the summit; then retracing back to Faha Grotto.
  The full ridge walk of the entire Mount Brandon range, regarded as "one of the finest ridge walks in Ireland", crosses the full 15-kilometre (9.3 mi) ridge of the Brandon Group from the Conor Pass to Masatiompan and takes 6–7 hours. The route from the Conor Pass to Mount Brandon and back to the Conor Pass is even longer, at 21 kilometres (13 mi) and takes up to 8 hours to complete.
caption: East face of Mount Brandon seen from the Faha Route, at Cloghane.
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