An 82-year-old pensioner serenaded rescuers who plucked her from Ireland’s highest mountain.

Kerry Mountain Rescue Team went to the aid of the woman on Carrauntoohil, after she was reported missing with a 16-year-old family friend. She told her rescuers she wanted to climb the peak one last time.

Ireland's highest peak, Carrauntoohil 

Brendan Coffey of the Kerry team said the woman told them she had climbed the mountain twice before, the last time being 13 years previously. He said she was in good spirits despite on the peak for more than 12 hours. She was found just before 1am on Wednesday.

The 1,039m mountain, the highest in the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, has a notoriously dangerous summit if the path is lost, with steep drops. The Kerry Mountain Rescue Team issued walkers with the following warning: “The summit is surrounded on three sides by very steep ground, and has always required careful navigation to locate the correct route in descent, particularly in poor weather.

“This situation has been exacerbated in recent times by the fact that a visible ‘false’ track has now developed leading from the summit directly towards dangerous ground.”

Rescuers found the woman about half way down the mountain.