Everest Statistics

From an Irish climber perspective (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), Everest has been climbed 82 times by 64 Irish climbers (9 women, 55 men), with a total of 154 Irish attempts to date by 105 different climbers. According to the Himalayan Database, by the start of the 2024 Spring season Everest has been successfully climbed 11,997 times since the first ascent by Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953. The route split was 8351 South (70% via Nepal) and 3646 North (30% via Tibet). The gender split was 11,112 Male (93%) and 885 Female (7%). The average age of summiteers by the start of 2024 Spring season was 35.4 years while the average age of Irish summiteers is 41.7 years. Of the 11,997 summits to date, 225 (1.9%) were achieved without supplementary oxygen, 11,772 (98.1%) were achieved with bottled oxygen. There are 340 deaths recorded on Everest up to the end of the 2024 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:

• Born in Republic of Ireland
• Born in Northern Ireland
• Resident in Republic of Ireland at time of climb
• Resident in Northern Ireland at time of climb
• Born or Resident overseas but climb as Irish citizen

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. 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.

Everest had been climbed 82 times by 64 different Irish climbers (ROI & NI). In total, there have been 154 Irish attempts to climb Everest by 105 different Irish climbers. The headline stats are as follows…

– Everest has been climbed 82 times by 64 Irish climbers (9 women, 55 men) since the first Irish success in 1993.
– The geographic split of successful summits is 34 Northern Ireland, 44 Republic of Ireland and 4 Irish Diaspora.
– The preferred route for successful Irish summits is 70% via Nepal (South) versus 30% via Tibet (North).
– Irish success rate on Everest is 53%, while there have been four Irish fatalities in 2005, 2011 & two in 2019.
– 44 of 64 (69%) Irish climbers who summited Everest had not attempted another 8000m peak previously. 
– 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.
– Noel Hanna (Co. Down) has 10 Everest summits – Noel died on Annapurna in 2023.
– Robert Smith (Co. Tyrone) has 8 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 (Tyrone) & Darragh Ó hAodha (Cork) summitted 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 citizen to summit is Anselm Murphy (24). Youngest Irish born to summit is Rob Mortell (26).
– The oldest Irish citizen to reach the summit of Everest was David Keating from Limerick (58 + 131 days) in 2024.
– The average age of successful Irish climbers on Everest is 41.7 years old as of end of May 2024.
– 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 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 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 82 summits of Everest by Irish climbers (combination of climbers originally from Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland or overseas climbers resident in ROI or NI at time of climb or overseas climbers with Irish citizenship at time of climb). 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.

* Anselm Murphy climbs on his Irish passport. He was born in London and lives in England. His father is from Co. Wexford.
** Domhnall O’Dochartaigh climbs on his Irish passport. He 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 now.
**** Gavin Bate is originally from Kent UK, but has lived in Northern Ireland for over 25 years.
***** Sean Mooney climbs on his Irish & Canadian passport and was born in Canada. His father is Irish.

There has been 154 Irish attempts on Everest since the first in 1993. While 82 of those 154 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. He returned in 2024 to attempt Everest via the North side, but abandoned that climb following delays to the issuing of permits by the Chinese authorities.