About 15,000 pilgrims from 26 countries, with every continent represented, climbed Croagh Patrick in this year's Reek Sunday pilgrimage, a survey of climbers has revealed.
The survey, conducted on the annual Reek Sunday climb on the last Sunday in July, also showed that climbers from every county trekked up the holy mountain in west Mayo.
The Civil Defence, which carried out the survey, has concluded that about 15,000 people took part in the traditional pilgrimage, which stretches back hundreds of years.
"We spoke with about 11,000 climbers, and we estimate another 4,000 continued through our information points without stopping to complete our survey.
"The figure is thought to be less than in other years, but there was a very bad downpour of rain at about 8.30am which may have frightened locals off," said Mayo Civil Defence officer John Maughan.
"The ratio was 60 per cent male to 40 per cent female, while about 175 people climbed it in their bare feet. We had climbers from all over the world, including Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Brazil, Italy, Holland, Latvia, India, Hungary, and Canada. Every continent was represented."
The figures will help to plan future traffic arrangements for the annual climb, which sees pilgrims converge on the village of Murrisk at the foot of the mountain.
"A lot of interesting figures came up, for example, of the 15,000 who climbed, about 3,500 were climbing for the first time," said Mr Maughan, who was joined by 50 Civil Defence colleagues from Kerry, Cavan, Donegal, Meath, Sligo and Mayo in conducting the survey.
"The busiest time for climbers was between 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock on the Sunday morning. It has always been said that a lot of people climb it during the night, but we found that only about 1,000 people climbed it then."
A park-and-ride facility may be considered in the future to avoid lengthy traffic delays at Westport and Murrisk.