Numbers down for Reek Sunday but pilgrims remain resolute

Numbers down but pilgrims remain resolute


Rowan Gallagher

UP to 20,000 pilgrims climbed Croagh Patrick this Reek Sunday, a marked decline on previous years, with the numbers being attributed to poor weather conditions on the day of the annual climb.
Hundreds of pilgrims began the climb at 3am hoping to reach the summit for dawn but mist and light rain made the Mayo mountain more difficult to climb this year.
Visibility was reduced to twenty metres on the summit of the mountain with no view of Clew Bay for the thousands of pilgrims, who could be seen doing stations of the cross on the summit.
Mayo Mountain Rescue were forced to take at least 12 injured people from the cone area of the mountain by stretcher due to heavy fog rendering the rescue helicopter useless.
One woman was carried from the summit of the mountain to the bottom by a team of mountain rescuers, and in another incident a ten-year-old boy needed to be brought down the mountain after a female climber fell on top of him.
Immediately after the annual pilgrimage Mayo Mountain Rescue again stated that urgent works needed to be undertaken to avoid serious injury on the final stretch of the mountain.
A week prior to the climb, Colm Byrne of Mayo Mountain Rescue estimated that at least three-quarters of these injuries could be avoided if some safety maintenance was carried out.
“This can, of course, be done in an environmentally-friendly way. There is no shortage of examples of where this type of work has been carried out tastefully in the mountains of Scotland, Wales and England.
“Efforts to raise this issue in the past have been frustrated by confusion over who would be responsible for carrying out this work. People are being very seriously injured on this mountain and it is past time for the relevant parties to sort out this confusion.,” he concluded.
Hot drinks and food were available at all major resting points along the mountain. Local people traditionally climb the mountain on the last Friday in Julymarking Garland Friday, some climb from a different approach to the regular path.
Kevin Moloney, who sells sticks at the foot of the mountain usually climbs the mountain from the alternative route: “I’d go up once a year probably but I would go up from the other end, in fairness it is a lot easier, it’s a bit more like walking on a rough mountain.”
Pro-life campaigners were present at the foot of the mountain at lunch time as most pilgrims descended, while born-again Christians handed out flyers to the thousands of people.

---

Forty people treated for injuries on the Reek


Anton McNulty

FORTY people had to be treated for injuries sustained by pilgrims while climbing Croagh Patrick with the majority of accidents taking place on the cone of the mountain.
The heavy fog and mist made climbing conditions hazardous for the annual Croagh Patrick climb with two people kept in hospital overnight. The majority of the injuries were head and leg injuries along with suspected spinal injuries.
Dick Harnedy of Mayo Mountain Rescue told The Mayo News that the majority of accidents took place on the cone of the mountain and compared the conditions to ‘walking on wet concrete’. Twelve mountain rescue units from all over Ireland took part in rescues on the mountain and he added that because of the foggy conditions the coast guard helicopter could not assist them.
“We were involved in 18 incidents over two days on Saturday and Sunday but most of them were on Sunday. There was one serious incident when a woman in her fifties fell at the cone part and was semi-conscious when taken to hospital. Nearly all the injuries took place in the section which was very loose with pebbles rolling over other stones. The majority of the injuries were lower limb and head injuries but because of the fog the helicopter could do nothing and everyone had to be stretchered down,” he said.
Dick added that the erosion of the cone section of the mountain was getting very dangerous and feels some safety work needs to be done at that section.
“There is a lot of difficulty at that spot and something needs to be done on a 20/30 metre section which is very steep and is loose from erosion. There must be 100,000 people climbing Croagh Patrick every year and the constant erosion by traffic and the weather is making it unsafe,” he said.
Dick also acknowledged the assistance of the other emergency services such as the gardaí and the Order of Malta during the course of the day.

---

Homily of hope – Archbishop Neary


Áine Ryan

THE ROOTS of Christianity and its constant need for reflective solitude were etched deeply in mountains.
Such symbolism was clearly appropriate for the large congregation who listened to Archbishop of Tuam, Reverend Michael Neary’s homily at one of the many Masses celebrated on top of holy mountain Croagh Patrick last Sunday morning. 
Calling for people to embrace the balm of forgiveness rather than the finger of blame, the Archbishop of Tuam said that ‘Jesus had a reputation for taking to the mountains’.
“For many modern people this is not actually hard to understand.  He met every day with terrific and endless human need. He experienced endless demands from people in great distress looking for miracles. Day after day he would give health to the chronically ill, give sight to the blind, give life again to wasted limbs and give reassurance to those who felt broken with sin. Is it any wonder that he would go into the solitude of the mountain to put things in a proper perspective and to seek direction from the Father?”
Placing the ancient religious world of Jesus in a contemporary perspective, he said: “This morning, we come here with our own personal struggles – financial difficulties, the illnesses of our loved ones, and our own private pain. In the storm and stress of current controversies, and with the struggles of the Church to adjust, we come to this sacred mountain to get things in their proper perspective and seek the guidance of God.  The Ireland of today is not the nation of yesterday.  We are happy that the days of abject poverty have been replaced by days of sufficiency, even if dole queues have recently appeared again after our days of plenty.”
Alluding to recent Church and State controversies, he observed: “For all that, old certainties, in the sense of broad social agreements, have gone. Many have lost faith in the Church, in political promises, in the stable institutions of the past and we are not sure where our solid ground lies. Even the God of our past is a hide-and-seek God who is not the centre of our lives as in days gone by; yet with the Psalmist we say: ‘I lift up my eyes to the mountain, from where shall come my help?  My help shall come from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth … The Lord will guard your going and coming both now and forever’. We need that reassurance in these days of confusion, anxiety and doubt.”
In an evocative plea, that extolled this country’s ancient but simple spirituality, Dr Neary recalled the thousands of forebears who had, in faith, climbed to the same pyramidal peak.
“On this morning of pilgrimage, we remember the men and women who have climbed the generations before us and are with God.  We ask them to guide our feet in the difficult terrain of today’s world and to bring us to a place founded on forgiveness.  As you leave the mountain top today an old Irish blessing seems appropriate: ‘May Christ, the gathering of hope, the bringer of spring time, the brightness of the seasons be upon you as you set forth today’.

---

Thoughts from the Holy Mountain

Pilgrims speak from The Reek - Reek Sunday 2010 from The Mayo News on Vimeo.

“It was a tough climb, now, but coming down was even harder, we are glad we did it and it’s my third time doing it. It’s worth doing but you need to be fit, and really you don’t want to be bringing children under ten years of age, itÆs too much for them. It’s very dangerous up there. The rocks were very loose but you know once you could see the top it gave you that edge and you just kept going, but it is very dangerous.”
Mary Rice, Westport

“This is my eighth time to climb the Holy Mountain and it’s a test of endurance of my faith plus I am remembering a lot of my friends who are priests. I always remember the holy souls on this mountain, I think it’s very special, the first time I climbed the mountain I met a 92-year-old woman from Cork and she used to come here every year since she was 12 years old. I have to say the faith in Ireland is well and truly alive.”
Patricia Fermanagh

“This is my first time doing it, it was a bit tough for the first half hour, that’s the hardest part of it, after that it’s pretty alright, it’s handy enough. It’s a nice wet day up here, you don’t want sunny days all the time at least you can’t see anything at all then. We left the bottom at nine o’clock so we were up here in two hours and we had a twenty minute rest break on the way up so it wasn’t too bad, about an hour and a half. Take a break every couple of minutes and you will be alright.”
Ignatius Lynet Enniscrone

“I’m exhausted, I don’t think I could do it again. I enjoyed it, it was good, but if I had known how difficult it is I don’t think I would have done it.”
Mary Conroy Manchester

“I left at about ten past nine and it’s my first time doing it, it was fairly tough enough but I got there anyways. The weather was okay - we are used to Irish weather anyways.”
John Oregon Clare