HardHigh circuit · Dingle

Barr Trí gCom
High above three hollows.

A hard circuit onto the highest ground of the Slieve Mish Mountains, crossing rough, exposed slopes to the 851 m summit of Barr Trí gCom.

Also known as Baurtregaum.

DISTANCE

9.55km

ASCENT

815m

HIGH POINT

849m

My time 4 hr 01 · steep, exposed mountain circuit GRADE GUIDE ↗

Reading the map…

INTERACTIVE TERRAIN · ACTUAL GPX TRACKACTUAL GPX TRACK

A recorded time is not a planning estimate. Build your own from pace, ascent, ground, weather and daylight.

GPX EMERGENCY

01 · DECIDE

Is this your day?

ELEVATION PROFILE

An 815 m climb to the 851 m summit.

The circuit rises steeply from the southern approach to the broad summit plateau before returning on a separate descent. The summit is 851 m on Ordnance Survey mapping; the recording’s own high point reads 849 m.

Reading the forecast

815 m ascent · 819 m descent

THE LINE

The summit of the three coums.

The route begins on the southern side of the Slieve Mish Mountains and climbs quickly away from the valley. Rough open ground leads to the broad, stony summit of Barr Trí gCom, Baurtregaum on the Ordnance Survey sheet, marked by its trig pillar. From there the route crosses the high ground and comes down on a separate line to close the circuit near the start.

The three coums

The name says what the mountain is: the summit of the three coums. Naming them individually took longer. Patrick Flahive of Shanakeal, on the south side, gave them to his daughter Mary for the Schools’ Collection in the 1930s as Koum Mhuire Mór, Derrymore Koum and Koum Breac.

Com Doire Mhóir, the western one, takes its name from the townland of Derrymore below it and holds a few small corrie lakes. Com Breac to the east is the upper part of Gleann Breac, and breac is dappled or mottled.

Com Mhuire Mór

The third, the smaller lakeless one on the north side between the other two, is the one nobody has settled. Muire in a placename usually points to Our Lady, which does not fit this ground at all. Barry Dalby has suggested that the written muire may stand for múr, a wall or a rampart, since the back of the middle coum rises very steeply to the summit, which would make it the coum of the great wall. His own objection is that walkers and climbers call such places walls but Irish upland placenames do not.

So the third coum of the three is still open. If you know of múr used that way on a hill anywhere else, that is the sort of thing that would settle it.

Caherconree, 22 m off

One more thing sits on this circuit. Twenty-two metres off the recorded line is Caherconree, National Monument 184, the inland promontory fort on the spur at 625 m with its 110-metre wall shutting the one open approach. It is the same fort the Cathair Conraoi route is named for, and that page describes it.

01Southern approachThe walk begins at about 230 m and climbs directly onto open mountain ground.
02Steep ascentA sustained climb crosses rough grass, bog and broken rock towards the upper ridge.
03Barr Trí gComThe route reaches the broad summit plateau and trig pillar, the 851 m high point of the Slieve Mish Mountains.
04High traverseThe route continues across exposed high ground with wide coastal and mountain views.
05Circuit descentA separate descent returns towards the southern approach and closes the loop near the start.

The three coum names come from Patrick Flahive of Shanakeal, recorded by his daughter Mary of Fybagh National School in the Schools’ Collection, by way of Barry Dalby of EastWest Mapping ↗, writing in September 2022. The reading of muire as múr is Dalby’s suggestion and he flags the problem with it himself; it is not a settled derivation and is not treated as one here. Com Doire Mhóir looks down on the Derrymore Glen Loop. Caherconree is Archaeological Survey record KE046-003, measured from the recorded GPX to its published coordinate and described on the Cathair Conraoi route.

Forecast for around 850 m

Reading the forecast…

NOW

WIND

TODAY’S PEAK RAIN CHANCE

PLANNING FORECAST · AROUND 850 M

Reading the forecast…

–cloud

–humidity

–km/h peak gust

Strongest wind today–

Peak gust–

RECENT RAINFALL · LIKELY GROUND

RAIN, GUST & VISIBILITY WINDOW

BEST HIKING WINDOW

DAYLIGHT PLAN

MET ÉIREANN · KERRY

NEXT SIX HOURS · swipe

Reading the forecast

Forecast. This is a modelled estimate for this route’s high ground; conditions can differ sharply across the mountain. Derived from Open-Meteo forecast data ↗.

HAZARDS & OPTIONSKnow the commitment.

This is a steep, strenuous mountain route with roughly 815 m of ascent in under 10 km.

The summit plateau is broad and featureless in cloud; accurate navigation is essential.

The route crosses wet, pathless ground, loose rock and steep slopes where progress can be slow.

High winds, poor visibility and rapidly changing weather can make the exposed upper mountain serious.

Keep well back from corrie rims and steep broken ground, especially in cloud or strong wind.

Turn back along the known ascent before committing to the high circuit if cloud, wind or fatigue is building. From the summit plateau, do not improvise a descent into unseen corries or steep ground; use the recorded line and independent mapping.

HIGH SLIEVE MISH

My photographs.

8 photographsSwipe and tap to enlarge from the walk · select to enlarge

Sharp red sandstone pinnacles rising from the high slopes of Barr Trí gCom — 01Rock pinnacles on the high ground

The trig pillar on the broad stony summit of Barr Trí gCom — 02Barr Trí gCom summit

Red rock and the high ridge of Barr Trí gCom above the distant Kerry coast — 03High above the coast

Warm light on the summit trig pillar with distant mountain ridges beyond — 04First light on the summit

A small green tent pitched beside a steep high ridge — 05A camp on exposed high ground

A walker and cairn above cloud with a circular glory in the mist — 06A Brocken spectre above the cloud

The shadow of a walker surrounded by a bright circular fogbow — 07Fogbow on Barr Trí gCom

A pale glory forming in cloud below the mountain — 08Light in the cloud

03 · GO

Getting there.

Start well.

STARTBóthar na gCloch

Select coordinates to copy

The walk starts from a small lay-by on Bóthar na gCloch, the narrow mountain road south of Camp, with very limited space. Park only where it is safe and legal without blocking homes, gates, farm access or the road. This is working hill country: check current access locally and leave every gate as found.

ROUTE FILE

Take the route with you.

The original GPX, exactly as walked. Load it into your watch, phone or offline mapping before you leave signal.

Distance, track and heights come from my GeoJSON, and the time from my GPX.

Download original GPXbarr-tri-gcom.gpx · as recorded

More formats

GeoJSON KML

Confirm the download when your browser asks, then open the file from your browser’s downloads and your mapping app will offer to take it. HiiKER and Garmin Explore both do; the route loads on HiiKER’s free tier, though its EastWest mapping of the Irish uplands is a paid layer. Onto a watch: import the GPX into Garmin Connect, Komoot or Strava and send it to the device from there.