Devout pilgrims and non believers make the climb up the holy mountain of Croagh Patrick in Mayo.
The climb up the 2,500 foot holy mountain traditionally attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims and an increasing number of secular climbers.
It's one of the Irish church's most enduring, exhausting and exhilarating penitential exercises.
The climb was traditionally made by devout pilgrims in their bare feet. Recent rain made it a muddy climb which resulted in numerous falls with four of the most seriously injured climbers taken to hospital.
Archbishop of Tuam Dr Josephy Cassidy described the climb as an annual statement about the importance of the spiritual in the pilgrims' lives.
People went up the reek, he said, not to get a better view of the scenery, but to get a better view of themselves especially in relation to God.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 25 July 1993. The reporter is Jim Fahy.
