In September 2023, a woman's mother fell from Carrauntoohil, Ireland's highest mountain, during a family hike. The fall occurred during the descent, after the family had reached the summit.
The woman reported hearing a scream and seeing her mother fall, describing her body picking up speed before crashing into a stone boulder. Her father believed her mother was dead, but she pushed herself to a sitting position, conscious, with intact teeth but a gash on her forehead and haemorrhaging blood.
The family waited hours for a helicopter to airlift the mother to hospital. Volunteers from the Kerry mountain rescue team guided the rest of the family down the mountain. The woman stated that the incident caused her to view her previous personal struggles, including a breakup and fertility issues, as less significant.