The Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team and Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue Team received a callout at 22:00hrs for a group of specialist 4 wheel drive vehicles with highly experienced drivers attempted to reach the four men stranded on the Sally Gap since Tuesday evening via a number of different routes. Unfortunately it was impossible to get any closer than c. 5km of the men, with drifts of snow up to 1.5m high in places and the road being indistinguishable from the open mountain.
The men, who remained in good spirits throughout their ordeal, kept their engines running to stay warm in the freezing conditions. They were advised to ensure that their exhausts were clear of snow at all times to prevent accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, a piece of advice worth noting.
Mountain rescue medics expressed concern for the men, who had not eaten since lunchtime on Tuesday and had no provisions with them. They had also spent some time attempting to dig their vehicles out of the snow and were sitting in damp clothing, running the risk of hypothermia. With this in mind, and with the possibility of having to walk the men off the mountains if weather conditions did not improve enough for the helicopter to assist, it was absolutely vital to get provisions to the men to keep them warm and strong enough for the trek to safety.
Two Mountain Rescue volunteers were tasked to ski into the men with food and blankets. Thankfully, the weather did clear long enough for the Coastguard helicopter to fly in and approximately 30 minutes after the Mountain Rescue volunteers arrived on scene, they were able to commence airlifting the men to safety. The operation was stood down shortly 9am on Wednesday morning, approximately 16 hours after they’d become stranded.
Incident Stats
Number: 07-2009
Tasking Agency: Gardai
Callout Officer: M. Flynn
Incident Date: 02-02-2009
Incident Time: 22:00hrs
Incident Type: Rescue
Incident Site Grid Ref: O 124 114
Mobile Phone Used to Alert Emergency Services: Yes
