Two Irish climbers reach summit of Everest

Two Irish climbers have reached the summit of Mount Everest in Tibet.

The six-person Irish team, led by Corkman Mr Pat Falvey and accompanied by five Sherpas, made it to within 1,500 feet of the 29,035-feet (8,848 metre) summit last night before winds of up to 60 knots forced them to halt.

They launched a final push this morning, and Mr Mick Murphy from Co Cork and Mr Gerard McDonnell from Limerick managed to reach the summit today.

However, Derry dentist Ms Hannah Shields (37) failed in her bid to become the first Irishwoman to climb Everest by the southern route from Nepal. She was overcome with exhaustion and returned to base camp along with Mr Falvey.

But the success of Mr Murphy and Mr McDonnell means the team is the first Irish group to achieve the ascent from Nepal. Mr Falvey summited Everest from the north side in 1995.

A large number of expeditions have been launched in the past weeks to mark the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of the Tibetan giant by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29th, 1953.

As many as 41 people reached the summit today, including climbers from China, South Korea, the United States, Spain and Nepal.

On Tuesday, a 70-year-old Japanese man, Mr Yuichiro Miura, became the oldest person ever to reach the summit.