Climber, 82, rescued from Carrantuohill

An 82-year-old woman who wanted to climb Ireland’s highest mountain one last time had to be rescued from the peak after midnight.

The hiker was located safe and well about halfway down 1,040-metre Carrantuohill by the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team at 12.45am today.

The sprightly octogenarian was in good spirits and even sang a song for her rescue team as they descended to safety.

The alarm had been raised earlier when she and a 16-year-old family friend went missing. They were earlier hiking with her son.

The party had climbed up the difficult Devil’s Ladder route but decided to descent a different side of the mountain.

“By the time we got to them, they had spent well over 12 hours on the mountain at that stage,” said KMRT spokesman Brendan Coffey.

“She was chatting away and was even able to gives us a blast of a song when we were walking down.

“It was her third time climbing Carrantuohill – the last time was 13 years ago. But she wanted to do it one more time.”

Mr Coffey said the elderly woman wasn’t quite sure of the terrain she was on but it turned out that she had completed the trickiest part of the descent.

“Anytime we can leave the stretcher unassembled, it is a good night.”

“If I can do that when I’m 82, I’ll be one happy man,” Mr Coffey told RTE Radio.

The Kerry Mountain Rescue Team is one of the busiest in the country and receives most of their annual callouts during the summer.

Many seasoned hikers and tourists are drawn to the McGillycuddy Reeks mountain range, where Carrantuohill is located.