Hospitalised hiker repays debt to mountain rescuers

A 64-YEAR-OLD Tyrone man has expressed his gratitude to the Kerry Mountain Rescue team to the tune of €3,842.

Last year, Kevin Gormley, from Dromore, had to be airlifted to Tralee hospital after sustaining a serious head injury on one of the Kingdom’s many peaks.

The close shave occurred in July 2021 when Mr Gormley and his close friend and hiking partner, Peter McNulty, were beginning their descent of Stumpa Duloigh – the highest of the Dunkerron Mountains, part of Kerry’s Mountains of the Iveragh Peninsula, which lies southwest of MacGillycuddy’s Reeks.

Not far from the top of the 784-metre monolith, the Dromore man’s head was opened when he slipped and fell on a rock.

Luckily for him, Peter knew what to do.

“We walked for a bit but I was losing a lot of blood,” said Kevin, “but Peter told me to stop, helped stem the flow, and, being a great man with maps, began working out where exactly we were.”

challenge

The two men were on the mountain as part of a challenge they had set themselves to climb Ireland’s 40 highest peaks.

“Peter was fit to roughly locate where we were, and informed Kerry Mountain Rescue Team.”

Peter, a Drumquin native now living in Omagh, sat with Kevin until the rescue team found them.

They then carefully shepherded him down the mountain to a place where an emergency helicopter could safely land.

“They flew me to a hospital in Tralee where I was treated; I received 16 stitches on my head.”

To repay the debt to his rescuers, Kevin resolved to
walk 100 miles over the month of May.

Between the donations of friends and family, Kevin raised a valuable €3,842 for the charity who may have saved his life.

“I’m immensely grateful for their help that day and I’m happy I have been able to repay them somewhat,” he added.

Now, Kevin and Peter are back scaling the slopes and are well on their way to conquering the 40 highest heights in Ireland.