CONQUERING MT EVEREST

 Conquering Mt Everest

2013 has been a very momentous year for Kilmacud Crokes and Mayo man Kieran Lally. He reached the summit of Mt Everest at 4am Irish time on Thursday May 23rd. 

He vividly describes his final ascent in this article. Well done Kieran.  You can read more about this adventure in Kieran's book which has just been published  "Beyond the Summit"  details can be found at http://www.ballpointpress.ie/category/books/

Conquering Everest

 In the vastness of the space around me it was difficult to judge distance, one hundred and fifty meters or so to the top I calculated. That transferred into an hour and a half, maybe two, another calculation, so difficult to tell, so difficult to breath, oxygen set at two, can't go more, can't risk running out. But I knew I was going to make it, not like the poor guy on the rope spanning the ridge, he had been there for days, in his blue snowsuit, on route to summit the worlds highest mountain he met his end. He seemed disfigured, his legs and arms at unnatural angles, he lay like a rag doll, face covered for the cold he no longer felt, ski goggles protecting eyes that no longer see. I was glad I couldn't see his face; a rag doll was a better disconnect.

Staying clipped to the rope that held him brought me closer. I undid my safety clip and reconnected it above his head and did likewise with my second. I slid my hand up the rope and pulled, already there were people behind me. The rule, 'never be unclipped,' screamed in my mind. A Sherpa five weeks earlier fell to his death while fixing ropes.

The night was perfect, no cloud, no wind; the world's highest mountains bar one were below me. I was looking down at the Tibetan sunrise; a deep orange line over a thousand snow capped mountains spanning a hundred kilometres threw Mount Everest's shadow in the shape of a pyramid deep into Nepal. The lowest stars were at eye level and I had a hundred and fifty meters to go. I thought of the Mayo flag in the pocket of my rucksack, it gave me a cause; a cause can keep a person going.

'Put the Mayo flag on top.' Aidan O Shea called after me as we parted - he, Danny Geraghty, Richard Feeney and Ger Cafferky helped in the Westport to Achill green way Everest for Cancer fund raiser cycle.

I thought of the St Bridget's cross I brought from Ballintubber Abbey. My dad died on St Bridget's day and is at rest there now.

'Should I turn back Dad,' I asked, when I feared frostbite would claim my toes.

He was never a man for a quick answer, I pushed on while waiting.

'If I can't feel them I'll turn back,' I decided. 'Thanks Dad,' I said, stopping and gasping for air. I wriggled my toes and pushed them hard against the soles of my boots. I looked up and in the vastness of space around me I could see what had to be the top, it was difficult to tell, a hundred and fifty meters or so. The Mayo flag – St Bridget's cross.

 

  Click HERE to read more about Kieran's expedition.