Everest Statistics

Collating Everest stats for Irish climbers is tricky because it spans climbers born in Ireland and Northern Ireland and residents of Ireland and Northern Ireland at the time of their climb, and climbers declaring their citizenship as Irish when registering to climb Everest. Picking those groups out of a citizenship-based data set is something of a pain, but to tell the full story of Ireland & Everest you really need to dive down that rabbit hole. Hence for the purpose of this analysis I list successful Irish attempts to include all of the groups mentioned above. This is not a political statement, merely a method of identifying those who I believe should be included in this assessment. Thank you to the team who maintain and manage the Himalayan Database for enabling access to the raw data used (along with personal research and other printed Irish publications) for this assessment.

Download the above ‘Everest – The Irish Story’ report in PDF format here.

Everest had been climbed 67 times by 53 different climbers from or based in Ireland and Northern Ireland. In total, there has been 129 Irish attempts to climb Everest by 90 different Irish climbers. The headline stats are as follows…

– Everest has been climbed 67 times by 53 Irish climbers (9 women, 44 men) since the first Irish success in 1993.
– Irish success rate on Everest is 52%, while there have been 4 Irish fatalities (2005, 2011 & 2x in 2019).
– The first Irish climber to reach the summit of Everest was Dawson Stelfox from Antrim in 1993.
– Dawson Stelfox (Antrim) was the first Irish or British climber to climb Everest via North side.
– Noel Hanna (Co. Down, living in S. Africa) has 9 summits – Noel is an accomplished guide.
– Robert Smith (Co. Tyrone, living in Fort William) has 5 summits – Robert is an accomplished guide.
– Pat Falvey & Lynne Hanna have 2 summits each – once from each side of Everest.
– Linda Blakely (Armagh) in 2018 & Robert Smith (Tyrone) in 2019 summitted Everest & Lhotse within 24 hours.
– Linda also became the first UK woman to summit both Everest and Lhotse in the same season.
– The youngest Irish born person to reach the summit was Rob Mortell from Limerick (aged 26) in 2016.
– The oldest Irish born person to reach the summit of Everest was Martin Byrne from Offaly (aged 58) in 2012.
– The average age of successful Irish climbers on Everest is 41 years.
– The earliest summit date by an Irish climber is 7th May 2010 by Domhnall O’Dochertaigh.
– The latest summit date by an Irish climber is 5th June 2005 by Grania Willis.
– The earliest summit time by an Irish climber is 01:10am on 21st May 2011 by Noel Hanna.
– The latest summit time by an Irish climber is 11:36am on 22nd May 2007 by Bill Hanlon.
– Four Irish born climbers died on Everest – Sean Egan (2005), John Delaney (2011), Seamus Lawless (2019) & Kevin Hynes (2019).
– Noel & Lynne Hanna hold the world record for the 1st married couple to summit together from both sides (2009 & 2016).
– Charles Howard-Bury from Westmeath lead the 1st Reconnaissance Expedition to Everest in 1921 which included George Mallory.
– Edmund Hillary’s grandmother came from Clondra in Longford. His other grandparents were from Yorkshire in England.
– R.W.G. Hingston from Passage West in Cork was medical officer & naturalist to the 1924 Everest expedition.
– The biggest disasters on Everest took place in 2015 (Earthquake/Avalanche), 2014 (Avalanche) & 2006 (Weather/Decisions).

An Everest expedition typically lasts 60 days, with the first 20 days spent hiking and intensely climbing 6000m peaks along the way to adapt to the altitude, and slowly move towards Base Camp. The following two weeks are spent making progressive advances up the mountain itself and back to base camp to adapt to the higher altitudes (these are called ‘rotations’). Summit windows typically appear from 2nd week of May onward and can be as short as 48 hours or as long as a week. This window requires the jet stream to move away from the summit of the mountain just long enough to enable climbing to the top. Normally the summit window opens around 15th May and closes around 25th of May – but it varies each year.

The cost of an Everest expedition can range from €30k on the budget end to €80k+ on the higher end. The average cost of joining a well-equipped, experienced and well supported team is approximately €40-45k. Those paying at or under €30k should do their homework carefully to ensure they are sufficiently experienced and that the support provided is adequate. Everest is dangerous, so shortcuts should not be taken on any part of the planning.

The first Irish success in 1993 took the North Ridge (1960 Chinese route) and included: Dawson Stelfox (Leader); Frank Nugent (Deputy Leader); Dermot Somers; Robbie Fenlon; Mike Barry; Richard O’Neill-Dean; Mick Murphy and Tony Burke. The full list of all successful Irish summits is further below.

The list below captures the 67 summits of Everest by Irish climbers (combination of climbers originally from Ireland or Northern Ireland or overseas climbers resident in Ireland at time of climb) from 1993 to 2019 to date. This list has been researched using data from the Himalayan Database along with independent research to produce the first fully complete record of the Irish on Everest. The map above is restricted to just those from Irish counties so it does not capture others with strong Irish connections or Irish citizenship who are not easily aligned to a specific county. Hence the listing below is a more complete source. Please contact Paul with any corrections/updates and cite this website when using the stats or info shown here.

* Anselm Murphy climbs on his Irish passport, was born and lives in England. His father is originally from Co. Wexford.
** Domhnall O’Dochartaigh climbs on his Irish passport, was born in Scotland and lives in Canada. His father is Irish.
*** James Haydock is from Blackburn UK, but Dublin has been his and his family’s home for many years.
**** Gavin Bate is originally from Kent UK, but has lived in Northern Ireland for over 25 years.

By the end of 2019 season there had been 129 Irish attempts on Everest. While 67 of those 129 attempts proved successful (52%), it is fascinating to see how close many others came to the summit. In particular it is fascinating to see how many climbers had to turn around above 8000m. This must have been a very difficult decision for each to make, and anyone who has been to extreme altitude will acknowledge the incredible strength and effort it takes to get that far. It is also remarkable to note how many people did not make it on the first attempt. Gavin Bate reached the summit on his 5th attempt. Pat Falvey had two successes, but also turned around on two attempts, once with just 50 meters from the summit. Martin Byrne finally made it on his 4th expedition. Others were not so lucky but their persistence is incredibly noteworthy, including Patricia McGuirk who made three attempts, getting to 8650m on the third time, but not reaching the summit. It is also interesting to see how high each of the 1993 team managed to reach on that first expedition. Dawson rightly gets the plaudits for reaching the summit, but many of his teammates almost made it too. Interestingly only one of that team went back to try again – Mick Murphy would succeed on the second attempt 10 years later in 2003.