Rock climber feared dead after sea fall

A leading American rock climber was feared dead tonight after falling into the sea while climbing on the south west coast of Ireland.

Californian Michael Reardon, 33, a world renowned free solo climber plunged into the sea while climbing with friends north of Valentia Island in Co Kerry on Friday evening.

Despite searches by the local lifeboat, Shannon search and rescue helicopter, coastguards, cliff rescue teams and local people until dark and since first light today, there has been no sighting of him.

Gerry O’Brien of the Valentia Coastguard said the scene of the fall was a very unusual place for rock-climbing.

A team of divers was called in to search the sea bed for him after reports he had been hit by a freak wave and swept out to sea.

Reardon has been one of the leading exponents of free solo climbing – shunning the use of ropes or other safety equipment when climbing up sheer rock faces or buildings to great heights.

He had been in Ireland with two fellow Americans for the past month and had been due to fly home to his wife tomorrow.

One of the other climbers, who raised the alarm, confirmed his identity to the authorities.

Born in Rhode Island, New York, he was one of only a handful of professional free soloists, combining his passions for climbing with film-making and lecturing.

The last entry on his personal blog was made on June 15 recording that he was en route to Ireland where he was to spend a month.