Platform sandals, designer boots, wellingtons and even pink slippers were the chosen footwear for some of the pilgrims who climbed Croagh Patrick yesterday. Many negotiated the slippery pathway barefoot as a constant drizzle and low-lying cloud shrouded the mountain in thick fog.
Two people were taken down the mountain with injuries which were not believed to be serious.
According to Mr Martin McNally, ambulance controller for the Order of Malta, numbers were down on last year, when an estimated 30,000 climbed the 765m peak.
"Saturday, in fact, was one of the busiest days on the mountain this year," said Mr McNally. "I estimate this year's figure at 25,000 over the entire weekend".
In keeping with tradition, many pilgrims started their ascent after midnight, having fasted the previous evening. Nowadays climbing before dawn is discouraged because of the obvious dangers. It didn't, however, deter large groups of staggering revellers who arrived at the mountain straight after last orders in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Conditions were treacherous, and hypothermia and fatigue were the main problems encountered by the rescue services. "People are obviously being more careful because of the adverse conditions," Mr McNally said.
"I've done the pilgrimage for 20 years and this is the worst weather I've ever experienced," said Ms May Mahon, from Hollymount, Co Mayo.
She and a friend, Mr Phil Durkan from Castlebar, had reached the summit soon after 8 a.m. They attended Mass in the oratory before their descent.
"There was one elderly couple, they must have been in their eighties, and whenever she'd fall, he would pick her up and vice versa," said Mr Durkan. "That has to be true love".
Breakfasts were being served from 6 a.m. at Teach na Miasa, the information centre at the start of the pathway.
Evangelists, mainly from the North, were busy offering alternative perspectives on redemption and free cups of tea. "The way to salvation is not about climbing a mountain," said one pamphleteer, who declined to identify himself. "It is by accepting God's gift of Jesus Christ in Calvary."
Stalls selling burgers and chips, "I climbed Croagh Patrick" T-shirts, thick woollen socks and soft drinks lined the approach road.
"Well, St Patrick would turn in his grave to see the rubbish you're selling," shouted one irate pilgrim as she passed one of the many vendors.