Are Cork women special or what? They know how to get things done. It would be doing them an injustice to say anything less. It seems that no task is too daunting. Untried, not tested, no experience? What about it? Go and do it is their motto.
A stroll up Patrick's Hill is one thing: tackling the Himalayas is another. But eight Cork women feel moved to test themselves against formidable odds. They are going to pit themselves against one of the great mountain ranges in the world.
Why should this make news? Well, how many other groups of eight women from the same town do you know are planning such a jaunt? I thought so.
These women are going to give it their best in a gruelling encounter with Mount Everest, all in the cause of charity. Sir Edmund Hillary blazed the trail many years ago when he climbed Sagar-Matha, the Nepalese term for the mountain, which means "head of the Earth".
It's only a doddle, really. The world's highest mountain, standing at 29,118 ft on the China-Nepal border, brought fame and international recognition to Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing, his faithful guide, without whom the 1953 expedition would never have been possible.
Hillary became a legend in his own lifetime and will for ever be remembered as one of the greatest climbers. So it was only natural that the Cork women should say: "Why not?"
All single "and available", as the intrepid Clare Meade puts it, the eight intend to climb to the Everest base camp in Nepal, taking the same route as Hillary. Their average age is 25. This, they think, may be the challenge of a lifetime. And most likely it will.
Naturally, there are lots of things to be considered. And just as naturally, in the age of high technology, what else would they do but establish a site on the Web? If you wish to contact it, the address is www.zartis.com/ climbforcancer
The site will offer updates and photographs of the climb.
The climbers will have to raise £1,100 each before they go, and the hope is that when they are finished they will have raised a total of at least £30,000 for the Irish Cancer Society.
Of course, it's not that simple. The training is one thing and a very important part of it all, but there are other quite difficult parts of the equation, such as, "Boss, would you mind if I ambled up Everest for two weeks or so? It means I will not be available for office duty." It would take a heart of stone to refuse.
The climb for charity was the brainchild of Siobhan O'Riordan, from Ballyvolane Road, Cork. She approached the Cancer Society last July and it in turn endorsed the project.
It was a question then of assembling the posse. She placed an advertisement in a newspaper, and as it happened all the women who replied were from Cork. Maybe it was the exotic nature of the journey: Cork, Dublin, London, Kathmandu, Everest. Jane Meade, Marilyn ni Chaoimh, Laura Scanlan, Eithne O'Sullivan and Jo Morrissey responded and the team was assembled.
The whole thing will happen next November, and right now a lot of training is going on. The women are working hard to ensure that they will be well up to the task ahead.
In and around Cork and Munster, they have taken to climbing hills and tougher slopes; all less daunting, though, than the 18,000 feet they will have to face when Everest looms. They do not intend to do the whole thing, but what they are doing would make most male couch potatoes pale.
Siobhan says the team came together because of good networking. All good friends by now, they will make it through, she adds. Lots of people are casting about wondering what to do for the millennium. There's talk of parties, taxis charging an arm and a leg for a short spin and babysitters who may forget that there are other Saturday nights when the whole thing is over. The climbers from Cork will recall the year 2000 for their own reasons.
And when the hangovers have lifted elsewhere, their millennium photographs will be the ones to watch. On November 11th the great outdoor sortie will begin and then it will be onwards and upwards for 10 days. They have been warned about altitude sickness. Their attitude is there is nothing to fear. Let them have a fair wind to their backs.