Kerry Mountain Rescue: The best of people — often working in the worst of conditions

Kerry Mountain Rescue team has had its busiest two years since it was formed in 1966

Kerry Mountain Rescue: Setting up the final stretcher lowering system from Coimín Íochtar to Lough Gouragh

Easter 1966 saw a UCD student set off alone from Killarney to ascend Ireland’s highest mountain. Tragically, he died in a fall on Carrauntoohil's east face, which was then little known and almost entirely unmapped. Soon after, a member of an English school party also died while climbing in the same area. In the absence of a local mountain rescue team, the remains of both climbers were eventually recovered by experienced climbers who travelled from Dublin.

In light of these events and with increasing numbers having recourse to the Kerry Mountains, local man, Frank Lewis decided action was needed. In July 1966, he assembled a team of volunteers willing to provide rescue services to those in difficulty on the slopes of Ireland’s highest summits.