Kerry Mountain Rescue saves 80-year-old woman on Carrauntohill
By Sean Ryan
An 80-year-old woman is recovering today, having been assisted down from the country's highest mountain in the early hours of this morning by Kerry Mountain Rescue.
The alarm was raised at 12.30am this morning, when the female climber got into difficulties on Carrauntoohil mountain in County Kerry.
Gardaí tasked Kerry Mountain Rescue to go to her assistance, and she was brought to safety shortly after 1.15am this morning.
A spokesperson for Valentia Coastguard said the woman was fit and well and did not need medical assistance, despite her ordeal.
Alan Wallace, PRO of Kerry Mountain Rescue, said: "What appeared to have happened is that as the lady descended the Caher ridge that evening, she came off the ridge on to some soft, quite boggy, ground, and she got stuck in a bog hole.
"By the time she managed to get herself out of that situation, it had become dark."
The Kerry Mountain Rescue Team has issued a statement, giving more details of the rescue.
“Kerry Mountain Rescue Team was called out at 11.15pm last night to search for a missing walker after Gardai contacted the team to report that a female walker in her 70s had failed to return from a day’s walk on Carrauntoohil,” the statement reads.
“Another walker had reportedly seen the lady descending from high on Caher mountain before darkness fell. The Team was mobilised to search for the missing walker in the area around Caher and Carrauntoohil mountains. As the first of the Team’s landrovers arrived at the end of what is known locally as the ‘Hydro Road’ track in the Coomloughra valley, the walker was seen walking towards the Team’s lights.
“The lady had been benighted in boggy ground as she descended the final stretch of ground off the mountain - she was found to be cold but otherwise to be fit and well and the rescue concluded around 12.30am.
“Given the good weather, it was a very busy weekend for walkers on the mountains in Kerry. On Saturday, Kerry Mountain Rescue Team was called out after a French walker collapsed near the summit of Torc Mountain in Killarney National Park. An Irish Coast Guard helicopter also responded and airlifted the casualty to Kerry General Hospital.”
