The numbers of climbers on Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest peak, have reached “industrial levels”, the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team said on Monday.
The statement comes as the forum which manages the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks conservation project said the number of walkers is expected to break all records this year and is unsustainable.
A seventh difficult rescue in under two weeks took place on Monday afternoon after five climbers became stranded on Howling Ridge, the most difficult and steepest part of Carrauntoohil.
The three men and two women were rescued from a “quite precarious” position on the ridge after an operation which involved the Rescue 115 helicopter and members of the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team (KMRT), who set out at 6am. None of the party was injured, although they were reportedly cold after spending the night on the mountain. The party of climbers contacted the emergency services on Sunday night.
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This follows the rescue on Saturday of a man in his 40s who was on the less-popular eastern side of the reeks and who fell 45 metres into the Black Valley.
The man sustained serious injuries, including fractures, but is lucky to have survived the fall, Gerry Christie of the KMRT said.
There had been “industrial scale activity” on Saturday on the Reeks, Mr Christie said.
Last Saturday on the top of the Devil’s Ladder, a narrow, particularly steep section near the summit of Ireland’s highest mountain, there were “traffic jams with people coming up and down,” he said.
Patricia Deane, manager of the award-winning MacGillycuddy’s Reeks European Innovation Partnership Project to help conserve the mountains and a sustainable way of life on them, said the number of people climbing Carrauntoohil alone will exceed those of 2018, a record year when 238,000 people were counted on the peak.
“The mountains can’t sustain the numbers. These are fragile environments with slow-growing vegetation and flowing water,” Ms Deane said of the high volumes of rainfall.
The flowing water combined with so much footfall was unsustainable, she said.
“All the upland areas were designated areas for protection but the numbers using the mountains now in what was seen as a free activity was very damaging for future generations.”
She said if most people used the paths it would not be so bad, but she said it was clear people were not using the paths.