"Girl is Saved on
Mountain"
Evening Press, 13/9/72.
A holiday nearly ended in disaster for a young Dublin girl when
she stumbled and fell on loose stones on the Devil's Ladder on
Carrauntoohil, Ireland's highest mountain. It took Kerry Mountain
Rescue Team five hours to bring 17-year-old Margaret Fitzwilliam
(names changed) of Ballyfermot to an ambulance. Margaret went
to Carrauntoohil yesterday with her 17-year-old friend Donna Maguire
of Rathfarnam. They were joined by Tom O'Connor of Terenure and
Gunther Wolfe, a German.
The two boys left the girls at the top of the Devil's Ladder
and continued on to the top of the mountain. The girls were told
to wait for their return before making the descent. However the
girls, who were inexperienced climbers, began the descent before
the boys returned. About 2.40pm Margaret slipped on loose stones
and rolled down the hill, coming to rest against a large boulder.
Donna went to her friend's aid as quickly as she could. "Margaret's
face was covered with blood" she said later, "I didn't
know what to do. I bawled." Earlier, an English cleric from
Manchester had passed the girls on his way down. He heard Donna's
cries for help. He went back up the Devil's Ladder and made Margaret
as comfortable as possible and then went off to call the Rescue
Team.
The Team assembled at about 5.15pm and returned with the girl
strapped to a stretcher at 11.30pm last night. Rita O'Connor,
a member of the Rescue Team, and a nurse by profession, went to
the mountain with the team, and gave first aid on the Devil's
Ladder and supervised the transfer of the girl to the ambulance.
She travelled in the ambulance to the County Hospital, Tralee,
with the injured girl, who was suffering from extensive facial
injuries.
