Warning after climber found dead

A WARNING about the dangers of winter climbing was given last night by the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team after the death of an Englishman on Carrantuohill, outside Killarney.

Team members yesterday found the body of the man, aged in his 20s, at the bottom of the east face of Ireland’s highest mountain.

He had not been seen since Tuesday morning and the alarm was raised when he had not returned to relatives in Co Waterford.

Rescue team spokesman Gerry Christie yesterday warned of the hazards of climbing mountains in winter, which included short daylight, slippery conditions and rapidly changing weather conditions, particularly on higher ground.

He said altitude also brought colder temperatures and people venturing out should be properly equipped with navigational skills and materials.

The team began its search on Carrantuohill shortly after first light yesterday. They found the body shortly after 10am and it appeared the man had fallen as much as 350 metres down a series of ledges.

He may have made a navigational error, it is believed.

“This was not a route we would have expected him to take, given the position of his car on the western side of the mountain,” Mr Christie said.

The man, who was climbing alone, was last seen alive by a local farmer shortly before 11am, on Tuesday.

The rescue services were called on Wednesday night when he failed to arrive as expected at the home of a relative in Co Waterford.

Meanwhile, a teenage cliff fall victim was yesterday described as a hero hours after he died.

Student Alan Gallagher died from severe injuries suffered as he tried to save his friend from a 90-foot drop, said family friend Fr Cathal O’Fearrai.

Alan, a 19-year-old first-year student at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, died early yesterday morning at Sligo General Hospital.

He was on a life-support system in the intensive care unit since the accident at Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal at 7am last Sunday. His best friend Niall Anderson died immediately when the pair tumbled 45 feet down a very steep slope and dropped another sheer 45 feet to the strand.

Fr O’Fearrai, parish priest of Kilbarron, Ballyshannon, said after Alan died: “It’s another dark day for the community. We have lost a second popular young man.”