The Big Gun

Geography

The Big Gun is in the eastern section of the MacGillycuddy's Reeks in County Kerry, Ireland's highest mountain range. It is on a narrow rocky arête between the mountains of Cnoc na Péiste 988 m to the southwest, and Cruach Mhór 932 m to the north, and is considered as offering some of the most exposed and serious hill walking in Ireland (equivalent to The Bones on the nearby Beenkeragh Ridge).

Because of its positioning, The Big Gun is usually climbed as part of a horseshoe, or loop-walk, of the eastern section of the Reeks, starting and ending from the Hag's Glen. It is also climbed as part of the even longer MacGillycuddy's Reeks Ridge Walk, which often starts at The Big Gun's eastern end, from Kate Kearney's Cottage in the Gap of Dunloe.

The Big Gun is the 378th-highest mountain peak in Britain and Ireland on the Simm classification. It is regarded by the Scottish Mountaineering Club ("SMC") as one of 34 Furths, which is a mountain peak above 3000 ft in elevation, and meets the other SMC criteria for a Munro (e.g. "sufficient separation"), but which is outside of (or furth) Scotland; which is why The Big Gun is sometimes referred to as one of the 13 Irish Munros.

The Big Gun's prominence qualifies it to meet the Arderin classification, and the British Isles Simm and Hewitt classifications. The Big Gun does not appear in the MountainViews Online Database, 100 Highest Irish Mountains, as the prominence threshold is over 100 m.

References

References

1. [http://mountainviews.ie/summit/10/ ''The Big Gun''] at mountainviews.ie. Accessed on 3 Feb 2013.
2. Tempan, Paul. (February 2012). "Irish Hill and Mountain Names". MountainViews.ie.
3. (2006). "Carrauntoohil and MacGillycuddy's Reeks: A Walking Guide to Ireland's Highest Mountains". Collins Press.
4. O'Dwyer, John. (6 June 2015). "Walks: The Big Gun is a blast on the Reeks Ridge, Co Kerry". [[Irish Times]].
5. Lucey, Anne. (22 April 2013). "Climber dies after falling from mountain ridge between The Big Gun and Conc na Peiste". [[Irish Examiner]].
6. Moriarty, Con. (2018). "The Ridge of the Reeks". Hidden Ireland Tours.
7. (2018). "The Database of British and Irish Hills". [[Database of British and Irish Hills]].
8. [http://www.smc.org.uk/Hillwalking/HillKeyFacts.php ''Mountains – Key Facts. The Munros, Corbetts, Grahams, Donalds & Furths''] {{Webarchive. link. (22 August 2012 at www.smc.org.uk. Accessed on 5 Feb 2013.)
9. Mountainviews, (September 2013), "A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: The Vandeleur-Lynams & the Arderins", Collins Books, Cork, {{ISBN. 978-1-84889-164-7