09.03.2010
16:30 hrs

Lugnaquillia

At approx 16:30hrs Garda Command & Control conacted Wicklow's Mountain Rescue Services requesting their assistance, both the Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team and the Glen of Imaal Red Cross Mountain Rescue Team responded to help a group of mountaineers who had found themselves in difficulty on Lugnaquillia Mountain in Co. Wicklow. The climbers had begun their ascent of a difficult gully climb shortly after 7am , on Tuesday 9th March, but ran into trouble at approximately 10am when they are reported to have 'run out of rope'.

The group initially made a phone call to a fellow climber who brought additional equipment and rope in to the base of their climb in support of an attempt to 'self rescue'. Unfortunately this proved unsuccessful and the group realised they would need to put in a call for Mountain Rescue to attend the scene.

At the same time, four members of the Dublin Airport Authority Police & Fire Services who had been hill-walking in the area in preparation for a charity event and who had been observing events unfold made a call to the emergency services for help, in tandem with the climbers own phone call for Mountain Rescue.

The rescue teams assembled in the Barravore car park in the valley below and deployed a number of trained specialists onto the mountain, bringing with them the equipment needed to affect a rescue in this very difficult terrain. The climbers were finally able to make their way out of the gully and off the mountain with the rescue teams just as dusk fell.

Incident Stats