Service recalls brave climber

ONE of the last entries in the internet diary of extreme rock climber Michael Reardon simply sums up his feelings for the country: “I may live in California, but my thoughts are always in the place I feel most at home — Ireland.”

But it all finished tragically last Friday for the daring, 33-year-old American. He was swept out to sea after being hit by a rogue wave, having twice climbed a cliff several hundred feet above the Atlantic, at Dohilla, Valentia Island, Co Kerry.

In bright sunshine yesterday, upwards of 150 friends, admirers, members of the emergency services and some Valentia people assembled on a spectacular cliff-top, close to where he was claimed by the sea, for a memorial service.