A nine-hour rescue operation under darkness saw two climbers brought down from the Macgillycuddy's Reeks early yesterday.
A rare mobile phone "window", along with local knowledge by sheep farmers, allowed rescuers to get to the climbers in a particularly remote area, according to a spokesman for Kerry Mountain Rescue, which led the 50-man rescue operation.
The men, in their 30s and originally from Dublin, had miscalculated their descent from Carrauntoohil, Ireland's highest mountain, and ended up in an inaccessible area of the Black Valley after falling down a steep incline.
Brendan Coffey said the pair had come down "a horrendous slope".
Shortly before 8pm, emergency services received a call from one of the men's mobile phones. However, they were unable to give their location.
Locals and auxiliary rescuers began an operation, and the men were brought down by stretcher to waiting ambulances at 5.30am.
Both had suffered head injuries and were brought to Kerry General Hospital.
Mr Coffey said for most of the night there was no mobile phone coverage as there are no masts in the area.