Mike Keating first got involved in Mountain Rescue way back in 1995 when he joined the Galway Mountain Rescue Team.

He was inspired to join the Galway team after an unusual event when he was a young teenager.

As part of a group of scouts climbing Maumean in Connemara, the guide suffered a heart attack and fell, which then resulted in a head injury. With no mobile phones available at the time, one of the group (Mike’s mother as it happened) had to climb back down to Keane’s pub to alert the emergency services. As it happened the Galway team were there after a day of personal walking in the area, and despite the lack of equipment, together with the scouts fashioned a rope into a stretcher and evacuated the poor guide from the mountain.

Mike interrupted his mountain rescue career to travel and continued mountaineering with a special interest in winter mountaineering which he practised mainly in Fort William in Scotland.

In 2010, he was led back to Ireland by his Hungarian wife, and they set up camp in the wild and wonderful west of Mayo.  He joined the Mayo team in 2011 and since then his family has grown exponentially – 4 children at last count, a cat, a dog, six chickens and a pony…  He enjoys being on the team because it gives him the opportunity to put his mountaineering skills and experience to good use, and to make a contribution to the local community.