Sarah Slater
A Dublin man has become the first person from the Republic this year to summit the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest.
News of Ronan Murphy’s success, who is now living and working in London, only began to filter through on Sunday.
He made his successful summit at the end of May as part of a fundraising drive for the Himalayan Trust and raised almost €17,500. The Trust, founded by Edmund Hillary in 1960, sets out to bring quality education, health services and infrastructure to the people of the poorest regions of Nepal.
Mr Murphy's love for mountains began when he lost his job in 2008 due to the global recession. He headed off to South America for a year and that is when his mountaineering skills really progressed.
He climbed mountain peaks in Peru and Bolivia, also climbing Island Peak and Lobuche East in Nepal.
Altitude training
He began his altitude training in February this year in Ecuador with Madison Mountaineering, where he climbed the country’s highest peak of Chimbarozo.
Speaking about his climb, Mr Murphy said: “(It was) a lifelong dream to attempt to summit Everest with the faith she allowed our safe passage to the top. For those of you that know me well, know this has been something that I have been building towards for many years.
“The last year has been a difficult one for all of us, I hope this endeavour can bring positivity, perhaps some inspiration whilst also raising much needed funds for a charity that means a lot to me.”
Thousands of mountaineering enthusiasts on the Hiking Ireland Facebook page congratulated the Dubliner with one saying: “Great to see the Irish flag unfurled on the world’s highest point. Comhghairdeas.”
In April, one of the country’s most successful mountaineers Noel Hanna from Co Down successfully summited Mount Everest for the 10th time.
Everest has now been climbed 69 times by 55 different Irish mountaineers. In total there have been 130 Irish attempts to scale Everest by 91 various climbers. Dawson Stelfox, from Antrim, became the first Irish person to summit Everest in 1993.
The average Everest climb takes 60 days to scale the 8,849-metre high mountain.
