A Derry man who travelled to base camp at Mount Everest with a 73-year-old companion for Foyle Search and Rescue has described the adventure as an “incredible” experience.
Ciaran O’Hara, a factory worker from the Culmore area of the city, made the self-funded trip to Everest after being invited by friend Ronan McCauley and his 73-year-old father Tony.
The charity, Mr O’Hara said, is one that is “very close to our hearts”.
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“They pretty much knew I was mad enough to say yes and that’s just how it came about,” he said.
“It was Tony McCauley and his son, Ronan, they have a local business in the town and one day I called in and they just said ‘hi, we’re going to Everest next year do you fancy coming.”
To take on the journey, the 33-year-old had to improve his fitness so he and his companions began walking from Derry to Buncrana to prepare.
On his 73-year-old travelling companion’s fitness, he said: “He is in great nick to be honest with you, he would put me to shame. I’m not even joking.”
Once fit and ready, they flew into Lukla Airport in Nepal.
“They say it’s one of the most dangerous airports in the world,” he said. “It was an incredible experience. Everything went 100% and we landed safely. And so from there you’re kind of walking along a beautiful, forested area with settlements the whole way, crossing rope bridges.
“The weather was amazing as well, I wasn’t expecting it to be so good at the start of the trek. We were getting sunburnt. A couple of hours into the trek on the first day - I brought a set of swimming togs with me – so I decided to go in the river for a dip.
“We entered the national park as well and there’s tea houses along the way to stop for lunch and bed down for the night, and further on up there’s actually Irish bars along the way.
“In a place called Namche Bazaar, the last big settlement before you’re really in the wilderness, and they have the highest Irish bar in the world.”
He continued: “Your first three days are trekking through this wonderful, valley environment with forest everywhere and then you slowly exit to what looks like a barren land. You know, all the trees disappear and turn to shrubs, there’s a lot more rockery and that sort of desert like environment.”
As they neared the world’s highest mountain, the weather took a turn for the worse.
“We were about 30 minutes from our accommodation when the heavens opened with the snow and the thunder and the lightning,” Ciaran said. “I felt like a proper explorer, and then you know trudging through the snow.”
“It was scary. We were all huddled around the fire that night and only the one fire, and it’s only on for a certain amount of time so you have to get your heat where you can.
“From there on it was blizzard snow pretty much the whole way. It was a blizzard overnight every night. I think the temperatures when we were staying near base camp were minus eight during the day and minus 15 at night – brass monkey stuff.”
As they arrived at base camp, Mr O’Hara said it was like a “sea of tents” akin to a music festival.
He continued: “There’s a big rock with Everest base camp written on it in large letters. We got our photos there and had a wee toast to ourselves. It is such a mad environment, we didn’t even really get to scratch the surface of the place.”
The journey has raised over £1,400 in donations to Foyle Search and Rescue through an online appeal at GoFundMe.
Ciaran said 100% of the money will be going to the charity: “I paid everything out of my own pocket so everything that is on the GoFundMe is going straight to Foyle Search and Rescue. It’s a charity close to our hearts.”
The fundraising campaign can be found here.
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