A coroner and a senior garda yesterday warned of the dangers climbers face in the Kerry mountains, even if they are experienced and well equipped.
The search for Swedish man Olof Osman Per Jannson was one of the biggest undertaken in the Kerry mountains, the inquest into his death heard in Killarney yesterday.
The 21-year-old student, who was living in Aberdeen, Scotland, was on his honeymoon with his wife, Mariam, at the home of his mother-in-law, Ellen Callaghan. A keen hiker and a former member of the Swedish army, he had brought his hiking gear with him and on December 28th, 2004, set off on a two-day hike alone.
He had with him a compass, a tent and other equipment and enough food for four days. He said he would send texts from his mobile phone and did so at 7pm that night, giving his co-ordinates. The family were due to hear from him the next day but did not and contacted Garda Denis O'Brien on December 30th.
Almost two years later, on November 1st, 2006, local sheep farmer Timmy Fleming was gathering sheep high in the Horses Glen on the Killarney side of Mangerton Mountain.
He was in an area known locally as Direen na Gáirdín when he spotted a dark rucksack and further into the gully saw human bones. He notified gardaí.
The skeletal remains were identified forensically with the help of dental records, the inquest heard.
In her postmortem report Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster noted multiple fractures of the bones, including ribs and skull, and concluded the man's death was in keeping with a fall from a height.
Coroner for south Kerry Terence Casey expressed his deepest sympathy to the relatives, particularly Mr Jannson's young wife.
He thanked the searchers who included gardaí, volunteer mountain rescue teams from Ireland and Wales, national park rangers, water rescue services, the marine rescue helicopter, Civil Defence, walkers and "the people of Kilgarvan" who came out in great numbers.
Noting the dead man was a capable and well-equipped climber, Mr Casey said: "In Kerry a mist comes down very fast." He believed that is possibly what happened in this case , affecting visibility, and the climber "fell off the edge". The jury of seven brought in a verdict in accordance with the medical report.