Meath man becomes Ireland's oldest person to summit highest peaks on seven continents
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Hacking ice blocks from the frozen ground while battling the terrifying creep of frostbite in a raging snow storm on the only continent on earth so inhabitable no life can thrive inland, Derek Mahon faced down another exceptional challenge.
Days later, the Meath man, who previously survived cancer, became the oldest Irish person to summit the highest peaks on seven continents on December 14 when he reached the peak of Mount Vinson in Antarctica.
He completed this inhospitable climb just before his 63rd birthday.
Mr Mahon also set the record to become the 15th Irish person to summit the seven highest peaks on the seven continents.
In 2012, he summited 5,642m Mount Elbrus; in 2014 he climbed the 8,848m Mount Everest; in 2017 it was Kilimanjaro at 5,895m; followed by Aconcagua at 6,961m in 2019.
He climbed Denali at 6,192m in 2022 and Mount Kosciuszko at 2,228m this year and Mount Vinson at 4,892m.
He is the 29th Irish person ever to summit Mount Vinson.
Antarctica is spectacularly beautiful and its vastness can trick the human brain into interpreting the seemingly endless white mountain ranges that kiss the horizon as clouds, he said.
The sky and landscape meld and melt together in dazzling gradients of blues and whites and greys.
Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent and is approximately 40% larger than Europe.
Its colloquial name as the ‘cold desert’ is apt, he said.
Flying the four hours from southern Chile on a plane specially modified to be able to land on glaciers in Antarctica, all he could see was seemingly endless sea and ice.
“It was exceptionally beautiful.
“We flew December 7. The plane takes maybe 150 or 180 people but there was only 30 people on it, they were mostly mountaineers."
They landed on Union Glacier. When weather allowed, they took a twin prop Otter plane across the mountain range to Mount Vinson base camp.
On arrival they had to set up camp. The last climbers had buried food and equipment in January. The frozen ground kept the tents and equipment safe and the food — chocolate, nuts, meat, pasta and some vegetables — fresh.
“You're digging down to about four feet from the surface. And it's just natural refrigeration. So everything stays frozen and fresh.
“We got all our tents up. The mess tent was up. All the cooking utensils and gas were taken up.
“We had some dinner and stayed there for two days just to rest and recover and get used to the cold temperatures and the most beautiful surroundings that you've ever seen.
Daytime temperatures ranged from -10C to -15C but it dropped to -20C in the evening, even though there was 24 hour daylight.
Higher in the mountains it fell to -25C.
But when they got trapped in a snowstorm, it dropped below -30C with windchill.
“On December 9 we moved from Vincent Base Camp up to Low Camp. It's a long drag rather than very arduous. It took us about six hours to get to Low Camp.
“And again, when we arrived we had to set up full camp again.”
But a treacherous snowstorm began to swirl around the mountaineers and they had to slice large ice blocks from the ground to make ice walls around all the tents to prevent them being blown away or destroyed in the storm.
Tiny ice particles carried by winds at 35 or 40 miles per hour can damage your eyes so wearing goggles all the time outside is necessary.
“You're working in –30C with the windchill and you're working at altitude also so you get tired quite quickly," Mr Mahon said.
“And because it's so cold, you have to be so conscious that you weren't going to get frostbite. At a couple of stages, I had to stop because my fingers were locking with the cold and that's nearly the onset of frostbite.
When they got a break in the weather they left for High Camp.
They had to attach themselves to fixed safety lines for the 30 degree to 40 degree angle incline.
With a short window of clement weather, they decided to go for the summit the next day.
“When you reach summit it's an incredible feeling.
“You try to stay in the moment and enjoy it and get the pictures and have a look around. But you don’t really celebrate a summit until you’re safely back at base camp.
“Once we got to Vinson Base Camp I felt an air of relief knowing now that I was as safe as I could be. And I was off the mountain.”
A plane brought them back to Union Glacier on December 15 and they returned to Chile on December 17.
He returned home on December 22 and spent Christmas with family.
He has promised his wife Michelle that he will not take on any more extreme climbing challenges.
But he plans to keep up his fitness levels and compete in multiple triathlons and possibly an Iron Man.
Age should not be a barrier to people pushing themselves and pursuing their dreams, he said.
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