'A very different mountain now': Reflections from first Irish Mount Everest climber on anniversary
From 1993, Peak Irish Stelfox After Expedition World's The Top First Summit (picture: On Dawson Make Highest The 1993) He May To Everest Of Descended 27, Everest Irishman Of The The
"It's a very different mountain now," Dawson Stelfox says 30 years since he returned to a high-altitude base camp in Tibet, after making records for becoming the first Irish person to climb Mount Everest.
Mr Stelfox, an architect from Belfast, says he feels very fortunate that the first Irish attempt on the world’s highest mountain was made before it became so commercial - when experience rather than money was what counted.
“Everest calling Rongbuk. Come in please, over…Dermot, the altimeter is reading 8848m and I’m sitting on the summit of the world,” was how Mr Stelfox relayed his successful ascent on May 27 1993 at 5.07pm.
“You’re down in the cloud at the moment, I think, and I’m up above it, and I’ve got the most magnificent panorama,” he told fellow climber Dermot Somers, having thanked all his Irish, Nepalese, Chinese and Tibetan colleagues and “everybody back home”.
“Looking back over the span of 30 years Everest seems a very different mountain now,” Stelfox told
“In 1993, we had the north side of the mountain to ourselves as we climbed the upper slopes.
“So little was then known about the north ridge - we couldn't find any close up photographs of the difficult rock steps, and the climb took every ounce of our combined experience and skill built up over many years."
Mr Stelfox said that none of the climbers had previously done an ascent of more than 7,000m before, and did not want to put Sherpas at risk on the summit.
He said: “The team's success was all the more rewarding for the commitment we made and we count ourselves lucky to experience it before the commercial expedition era became established."
Mr Stelfox, who was leader of the all-Ireland team of eight, took several photos but had no battery for the video camera. His partner, deputy leader Frank Nugent, had spare batteries but had turned back due to oxygen difficulties.
It was a courageous decision by Mr Nugent which allowed for enough oxygen for Mr Stelfox to make his descent, in deteriorating weather conditions.
Stelfox’s successful summit was the first north side ascent of Mount Everest by a climber from Britain or Ireland.
The team of eight supporting him and Mr Nugent included Tony Burke, Robbie Fenlon, Dermot Somers, Mike Barry, Richard O’Neill-Dean and Mick Murphy.
Sligo man Ryan O’Sullivan (27) and Johnny Ward (39) from Galway completed Everest ascents over the past week, among over 600 people summiting so far this season from Nepal.
There are no mountaineers this year on the route the Irish team took in 1993, as China closed access to the mountain during the pandemic. It is expected to issue permits again next year.
Mountaineer Paul Devaney, who keeps Irish statistics on his Seven Summits website, says that O’Sullivan’s ascent brings the total number of successful Irish ascents since 1993 to 76.
59 of them include nine women. There have been a further 147 attempts by 101 Irish people, with four fatalities, according to Mr Devaney.
International mountain guide Noel Hanna (56), who died recently after summiting Annapurna in the Himalaya, had recorded ten of those Irish ascents, including two with his wife Lynne. Tyrone mountain guide Robert Smith has completed seven Everest summits.
Everest’s worst climbing seasons were in 2015 when there were 18 deaths, and 2014 when there were 17. Devaney says this is the fourth worst season ever, at 12 deaths to date.