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Home  »  Initiatives  »  Awards  »  Specialist Awards  »

Irish Mountaineer of the Year




​
Do you have what it takes to claim one of Ireland's top-3 annual mountaineering awards? If so, we are delighted to offer you that chance. The Irish Mountaineer of the Year award is a unique outdoor sports competition based on the official Irish mountain list (i.e. the Irish Hewitts). The award is open to all hillwalkers who visit mountain summits throughout Ireland during the Sport Hillwalking season. To take part, mountaineers must log their visits on location using the Peakhunter app.

The Irish Mountaineer of the Year award is the highest level of recognition in this specialist Sport Hillwalking discipline. A dedicated award is also available in each of the other two disciplines: Highpointeering and challenge hillwalking.

To compete in this competition, mountaineers must also take part in the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships - the official national-level multi-discipline Sport Hillwalking competition open to all mountaineers, Highpointeers and challenge hillwalkers in Ireland. 
 

Take part


​In order to take part, hillwalkers must submit a Sport Hillwalking Entry Form AND score at least 50 points in the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships before the halfway cut-off point of the Sport Hillwalking season (11:59pm on 30th June). Championship participants who make the halfway cut will be issued a link which allows them to sign up for the Irish Mountaineer of the Year competition on Peakhunter. Points for any mountain summits they logged during May and June will automatically appear when they sign up. Once registered, they need to keep visiting mountain summits throughout Ireland for the remainder of the Sport Hillwalking season and log them on site using the Peakhunter smartphone app. Each of Ireland's 209 proper mountain summits (Hewitts) can be counted once between 1st May and 31st August.

​
Instructions

  1. Take part in the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships. Click here for step-by-step instruction for the Championships.
  2. You must complete and submit a Sport Hillwalking Entry Form AND sign up for Round 1 (May) and / or Round 2 (June) of the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships.
  3. Log visits to mountain summits in Ireland while on location using the Peakhunter smartphone app. All 209 proper mountain summits (Hewitts) have been added to the Peakhunter database as virtual markers. Please be aware that multiple markers for the same summit may exist on Peakhunter. Only one marker carries competition points for each summit, so please check your logbook in the Peakhunter app before you leave its location to ensure that you have logged the correct one. If you log the correct one, an orange "C" icon will appear in the logbook. If this does not appear, you need to seek out the correct one, otherwise the points will not be added. It is your own responsibility to make sure that you log the correct marker before you leave each summit. Please note that some Peakhunter marker names may not match summit names on published hardcopy maps. It is therefore important to compare these as part of your pre-walk planning. We will not be manually adjusting any scores as a result of logging a wrong marker or missing a summit.
  4. Submit your logs to Peakhunter as soon as possible to avoid accidentally loosing any of your hard-earned points. You need to do this in the logbook section on the Peakhunter smartphone app. You may be able to do this on location if you have sufficient mobile network signal. If not, you can wait until you get back to civilisation. Please note that there are weekly deadlines for submitting your logs to Peakhunter during July and August as explained in paragraph 8 below.
  5. If you successfully make the halfway cut in the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships by submitting a Sport Hillwalking Entry Form AND scoring at least 50 points by 11:59pm on 30th June, you will receive access details allowing you to sign up for the Irish Mountaineer of the Year competition on Peakhunter. This will also provide access to the live leaderboard which will update automatically throughout the competition season. Your score for any mountain summits you logged during May and June will automatically appear when you sign up.
  6. Continue to visit mountain summits in Ireland for the remainder of the competition season. Log each visit while present at the respective location using the Peakhunter app.
  7. Each mountain summit has been assigned a weighted point-score value based on its elevation and prominence. When you log and submit to Peakhunter your first mountain summit of the competition season, your score will automatically appear in the real-time leader board after you sign up.
  8. During July and August, you must submit all new logs you create before the weekly deadline of 8:00am on each Wednesday. This new rule is being introduced for 2025 to ensure that the live leaderboard is kept up-to-date so that it reflects the actual state of play as closely as possible. In the interest of fair competition, this will allow all competitors to see exactly how their scores relate to everyone else's at any given time. If you fail to submit new logs on a weekly basis during July and August, it could result in having all points deducted for the respective week(s) when logs were not submitted on time. Please note that logbook entries are only stored locally on your phone until they are submitted to Peakhunter. Unsubmitted logs and all points associated with them are at risk of being lost. For this reason, we recommend submitting each log as soon as it is created.
  9. The Sport Hillwalking season generally starts on 1st May and ends on 31st August each year. During the four-month-long Irish Mountaineer of the Year competition, you are permitted to count each mountain summit once.
  10. You can keep track of all participants' scores throughout the competition on the live leaderboard.
  11. You are also welcome to take part in the Irish Highpointeer of the Year and Irish Challenge Hillwalker of the Year competitions as well as the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships.
  12. We aim to announce all competition results by mid-September.

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Winner selection

​   
  • Each Irish mountain summit has a point-score value based on its elevation and prominence. Points are automatically applied to the participant's score when they log a mountain summit on Peakhunter.
  • The highest-scoring man and woman on Peakhunter's live leaderboard at the end of the Sport Hillwalking season will each earn the title of Irish Mountaineer of the Year and will each receive a Gold award.
  • In the event of a draw, the winner will be top-scoring individual who logged the most mountain summits.
  • The 2nd and 3rd highest-scoring men and women on Peakhunter's live leaderboard at the end of the Sport Hillwalking season will each receive a Silver and Bronze award respectively. 
  • The award winners will be announced in early September.

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Previous results



  • The 2025 Irish Mountaineer of the Year competition will take place between 1st May and 31st August.
  • The results will be announced in September 2025.
​

​

2024

Placing Name Score Award
1st Man DOLEBOY 1,015 pts GOLD
2nd Man ANSAR 977 pts SILVER
1st Woman ELENAM 596 pts GOLD
2nd Woman MOUNTAINTOP TASCHA 393 pts SILVER
3rd Woman NAN 385 pts BRONZE
3rd Man PADDYOB 384 pts BRONZE




2023

Placing Name Score Award
1st Woman CAROLYN HIKE ON 140 pts GOLD
1st Man ANSAR 115 pts GOLD
2nd Man GALTY JACK 94 pts SILVER
2nd Woman MADMAR 92 pts SILVER
3rd Woman ELENAM 90 pts BRONZE
3rd Man PADDYOB 81 pts BRONZE




2022

Placing Name Score Award
1st Man MOUNTAIN MIKE 184 pts GOLD
=2nd Man DILLON LYNCH 162 pts SILVER
=2nd Man PADDYOB 162 pts SILVER
1st Woman NAN 45 pts GOLD
2nd Woman CAROLYN HIKE ON 44 pts SILVER
3rd Woman N/A - -




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Irish Mountaineer of the Year - A Sport Hillwalking award for the specialist discipline of mountaineering in Ireland





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All of our Sport Hillwalking initiatives are 100% free for you to take part in. However, please note that we do have significant operational costs which we cover on a voluntary basis ourselves. The long-term development strategy for High Point Ireland, Sport Hillwalking and our growing family of independent Irish information websites will continue to be implemented over the coming years and for as long as it takes until our strategic goals are achieved. To help us speed things along, we'd be most grateful if you would consider using the affiliate links we have set up on The Ireland Travel Guide website to buy your outdoor gear and book accommodation / transport online in the future. Using these links will not affect the price you pay at checkout. However, each purchase / booking you make could send a small commission our way at no extra cost to you. Make no mistake, this is certainly not a get-rich-quick effort, but rather a very slow drip-feed of pennies and cents to partially cover the time, effort and money we continue to invest in our range of independent projects. Thank you for your support.
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Disclaimer


If you are planning to visit any of the locations on the Irish High Point lists, please be aware that Highpointeering, rambling, hill-walking, hiking and mountaineering are risk activities. High Point Ireland and Donard Media (the website's publisher) accept no responsibility for any injury, loss or inconvenience sustained by anyone using this website. Personal safety is entirely the participant's own responsibility.
The inclusion of locations on the official list of Ireland's major geographical High Points is based entirely on each location's ability to meet the necessary criteria for at least one of the eight primary sub-lists contained on this website. It should not be assumed that access is permitted to any of the High Point locations on the list. High Point Ireland and Donard Media recommend that anyone planning to visit any of the High Point locations on the list should check for potential access restrictions and to request permission from the relevant landowner(s) in advance.

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Ireland's County High Points: A Walking Guide
  • 2025 Schedule
  • Locations
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    • Ireland's Major Geographical High Points
  • The Championships
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    • Hillwalking Clubs Championship
    • Hillwalking Counties Championship
    • Hillwalking Provinces Championship
    • Hill Running Championship
    • Specialist Awards
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    • Irish Sport Hillwalking Awards >
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      • Year-Long Challenges
      • Hillwalking Challenge Completion Form
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      • Point-score values
      • Using Peakhunter
      • General walking advice
      • Travel Guide
    • Our news
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