Everest Statistics

Everest has been climbed 92 times by 72 Irish climbers (10 women, 62 men), with a total of 168 Irish attempts to date by 116 different climbers. According to the Himalayan Database, by the start of the 2026 Spring season, Everest has been successfully climbed 13,737 times since the first ascent by Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953. The route split for summits is 9887 South (69% via Nepal) and 3850 North (31% via Tibet). The average summit age is 35 years while the average Irish summit age is 42 years. Of the summits to date, 232 (1.7%) were achieved without use of supplementary oxygen. There have been 339 deaths recorded on Everest up to the start of the 2026 Spring season, including 4 Irish fatalities over the years. 

Collating Everest stats for Irish climbers is complex because it spans climbers from two different geopolitical jurisdictions on the island of Ireland (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and also includes overseas climbers with Irish citizenship who climb on an Irish passport and claim their summits as an Irish success. For the purposes of this assessment, we assume the following to be defined as Irish summits of Everest:

• From Republic of Ireland
• From Northern Ireland
• Long term resident in RoI at time of climb
• Long term resident of NI at time of climb
• Born or Resident overseas but climbs on Irish passport

For the purpose of this analysis we list successful Irish summits from all groups mentioned above. This is not a political statement, merely a method of identifying those who we believe should be included in this assessment. Mountaineering has always been an all-island enterprise and we look to continue that proud heritage. This data is researched from a range of different published sources and first hand accounts. Thank you to the team who maintain and manage the Himalayan Database for enabling access to some of the data used for this assessment.

Note: Not all Irish climbers per the description above are listed as Irish in the Himalayan Database. Hence a significant package of work was undertaken to surface the true list of Irish climbers as shown on this website

Everest had been climbed 92 times by 72 different Irish climbers:

– Everest has been climbed 92 times by 72 Irish climbers (10 women, 62 men) since the first Irish success in 1993.
– There have been 168 separate Irish attempts to climb Everest over the years by 116 different Irish climbers.
– The geographic split of successful summits is 50 Republic of Ireland, 37 Northern Ireland and 4 Others.
– The route split for successful Irish summits is South route via Nepal (67) vs North route via Tibet (25).
– Irish success rate on Everest is 55%, while there have been four Irish fatalities in 2005, 2011, 2019 x2.
– 53 of 72 Irish climbers who summit Everest for 1st time had not attempted another 8000m peak before. 
– The first Irish climber to reach the summit of Everest was Dawson Stelfox from Antrim in 1993.
– The 1993 summit by Dawson Stelfox was the first North side ascent by a climber from Britain or Ireland.
– The first Irish woman to reach the summit of Everest was Clare O’Leary from Cork in 2004.
– Noel Hanna (Co. Down) has 10 Everest summits – Noel died on Annapurna in 2023.
– Robert Smith (Co. Tyrone) has 10 Everest summits – Robert is an accomplished mountain guide.
– Pat Falvey & Lynne Hanna have 2 Everest summits each – once from each side (Nepal & Tibet).
– Linda Blakely (Armagh), Robert Smith x2 (Tyrone) & Darragh Ó hAodha (Cork) climbed Everest & Lhotse in 24 hours.
– Linda Blakely’s Everest-Lhotse in 2018 was the first ‘same season double’ by a climber from Britain or Ireland.
– Michéal and Éoin Brogan from Tyrone are the only Irish Father-Son combination to reach the summit (2024).
– The youngest Irish to summit Everest is Adam Sweeney (22) who reached the summit on 20th May 2026.
– The oldest Irish citizen to summit is Anthony Day (59). Oldest Irish born to summit is Dave Keating (58 + 131 days).
– The average age of successful Irish summits of Everest is 41 years old as of 20th May 2026.
– 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 13:30pm on 20th May 2026 by Sarah Armstrong.
– Four Irish climbers died on Everest: Seán 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 natural disasters on Everest took place in 2015 (Earthquake/Avalanche), 2014 (Avalanche) & 2006 (Weather).

An Everest expedition typically lasts 50-60 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 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 92 summits of Everest by Irish climbers (combination of climbers from Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland or overseas climbers who are long-term residents of ROI or NI at time of climb or overseas climbers who climb on Irish passport). This list has been researched using data from the Himalayan Database along with our own independent research to produce the 1st complete record of all Irish on Everest. The map above is restricted to just those who can be linked to Irish counties, hence it does not capture those with Irish connections or Irish citizenship who are not easily aligned to a specific county. Hence the table below is a more complete data set. Please contact Paul with any correction and cite this website when using stats or info shown here.

1. Anselm Murphy climbs on his Irish passport. He was born in London and lives in England. His father is from Co. Wexford.
2. Domhnall O’Dochartaigh climbs on his Irish passport. He was born in Scotland and lives in Canada. His father is Irish.
3. James Haydock is from Blackburn UK, but Dublin has been his home for many years now.
4. Gavin Bate is originally from Kent UK, but has lived in Co. Down for over 25 years.
5. Sean Mooney climbs on his Irish & Canadian passports and was born in Canada. His father is Irish.
6. Anthony Day is an Irish citizen born in UK. He climbed Everest on his Irish passport and lived in Co. Down since 2016.
7. Tom Walsh was born in London to Galway parents. Family moved back to Galway in his teens, and was raised in Inverin.

There has been 168 Irish attempts on Everest since the first in 1993. While 92 of those 168 attempts proved successful, 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. There has only been one recorded Irish attempt without bottled oxygen, by James McManus from Tipperary in Spring 2022. James reached 7,850m on this third and final rotation, but was unable to proceed further.