Four hillwalkers were rescued and brought to safety shortly before midnight on Sunday, after going astray on Ireland's highest mountain when they followed a sheep path.
The party of two women and two men, three of whom were from the UK, found themselves in a remote gully near the summit on the east face of Carrauntoohil in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks on Sunday afternoon. Rescuers said they had mistaken a sheep track for a walkers path.
One of the four managed to call the emergency services from a mobile phone and rescuers were alerted at around 4.30pm.
Some 24 members of Kerry Mountain Rescue found the walkers and led them down the "Devil's Ladder" on Sunday night.
The wind and rain made the descent "technically challenging", spokesman Gerry Christie said. The remoteness and inaccessibility of the gully and the high winds meant a helicopter rescue would not have been possible.
Navigational errors account for several emergency call-outs each year.