Height of achievement: The story of Ger McDonnell

INCIDENTS on high mountains are like “battles in war” where “the first casualty is always the truth”, Irish adventurer Mike Barry said last night.

Mr Barry, the first Irishman to walk to the South Pole, was marking the publication of a new book on Limerick climber Ger McDonnell, who died in August 2008 after making the first Irish ascent of the world’s second highest mountain, K2.

Paying tribute to the climber’s “generosity of spirit” at a function in Mr McDonnell’s home community of Kilcornan, Co Limerick, Mr Barry said that it was “always important to record events before the passing of too much time distorts memory”.

The book by Mr McDonnell’s brother-in-law Damien O’Brien addresses the hurt that the climber’s family felt over an Italian team-mate’s initial version of events.

The Italian had said he believed that Mr McDonnell was swept away shortly after he went back up towards the summit, perhaps confused by lack of oxygen.

In fact, further testimonies confirmed that Mr McDonnell had died after he stayed back to help two Koreans and a Nepali sherpa who had become entangled in gear.

Mr McDonnell, who had also climbed Everest in 2003, was a mountaineer who would “go into the abyss, give you his shirt and help you to get out”, Mr Barry said.

The Limerick climber has received a number of posthumous awards, including the Best of ExplorersWeb 2008 Award conferred by the mountaineers’ website, ExplorersWeb.

The new book, The Time Has Come: Ger McDonnell, His Life and His Death on K2 by Damien O’Brien, is published by The Collins Press.