SEMRA rescue cragfast walkers from foggy Galtymore
The South East Mountain Rescue Association (SEMRA) were called to assist in three separate instances in the Galtees across three days this week, to assist lost walkers in foggy, cold, and windy conditions.
The voluntary service were called to the mountain range on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to help hikers off the hills, on days where the peaks were covered in fog. A total of six people were helped across the three days.
On Sunday, the volunteers were called to an incident by An Garda Síochána, where by two walkers lost their way by the peak of Galtymore. The walkers had approached the mountain from a southerly direction from King’s Yard, and were by the westerly stone wall when SEMRA contacted them by phone.
According to SEMRA, the walkers were “reported to be tired but had food and water with them”. Team members were poised to head up to the Galtees, but as they were enroute from both side of the hill were stood down. The walkers were being assisted back to Kings Yard “by a passing group of helpful hill walkers”, and all were off the hill by 4.30pm
On Monday afternoon, SEMRA were called shortly after 1pm to a report of three lost walkers by the gardaí. Conditions were reported to be ‘poor’, with strong winds and poor visibility due to very dense fog. The walkers were cragfast between Galtymore and Galtybeg, on the side overlooking Lough Dineen. The were stuck in a position on a steep part of the hill where they could neither go up nor down it safely, thought to be because they may have got disorientated and tried to descend to safety.
The rescue took some hours, as a technical rope rescue takes at least 30 minutes per person. The helicopter Rescue 117 arrived on scene to assist at 4.30pm. The three hillwalkers were uninjured, and able to walk the distance to the SEMRA vehicles at top of the Black Road. Almost seven hours after they got the call, all members were off the hill by 7.45pm.
Tuesday saw a less intense rescue, when a walker was reported as lost at around midday. They were located, and escorted by SEMRA personnel back down the Black Road some time after 4pm.
Chris Pires of SEMRA told The Avondhu that the key to the walkers’ safety was, amongst other things, the fact they had a charged phone on them.
“At the moment there’s a lot of fog on the Galtees, and we would ask people to be aware of what it’s like at the top, even if it’s a lovely day down below. In both the rescues this week, the people had at least one charged phone between them. We use technology to find people by their phone as long as it’s on, so that’s very important.”
Chris gave the following advice to walkers who find themselves in a similar situation.
“If you do get lost, call us as soon as you can. If it’s safe, stay where you are. With fog like that, visibility can be down to one metre in front of you, so it’s possible to get lost even on a popular trail like the Black Road. Staying still also benefits us if we are using the phone finder technology.”
In 2021, Mountain Rescue Ireland reported being called to 408 incidents, with 12 cragfast incidents. 89 were attributed to being ‘lost’, and there were 21 fatalities in 2021 nationally.