Taylor scales new heights

After a 10 week journey Ian Taylor has become the youngest Irishman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Aged 29, Kildareman Taylor completed the 8850m ascent just after midnight on Friday last. His colleague Graham Kinch, also 29, was forced to turn around just above The Balcony at 8600m, finally giving in to a torn chest muscle that had plagued him for weeks.

'We've been thinking and planning for this trip for over two years  I'm disappointed I didn't get to the top but we always said if we got one of us to the top that would be a success,' said Kinch.

He went on: 'On summit night I knew I was running low on energy and whilst I might have had enough to get to the top I wouldn't have had enough to get back down.

'I think it's better to know your limits than to be shown them, and unfortunatley in this year alone Everest has shown several people their limits.'

The two braved the dark, high winds, and temperatures of -35 C on their summit push and the journey was not without incident.

Taylor explained: 'As I rounded the South Summit (8820m), just before the Hillary Step, I saw Martin, a climbing buddy of ours in trouble. I heard him shout 'It's Martin I'm blind'. His oxygen mask had frozen, leading to hypoxia and blindness.

'I grabbed his foot, preventing him from stepping off the knife-edge ridge, down the 8,000 ft South West Face to certain death. This left me pretty shook up.'

Kinch added: 'It became very evident to us that this is not a place where man is meant to be or where you mess around. When you pass bodies, see people with snow blindness and avoid frost bite you realise that someone is looking out for you.'

The two set themeselves the target of climbing four mountains on four continents in one year in aid of the Irish charity Fields of Life. They plan to raise €85,000, or €1 for every foot they climbed during the year.  People can donate to the charity online at www.everest2008.ie.

They began their year by climbing Mt Blanc last June, followed by Kilimanjaro in September with a visit to the Kitandwe school project in Uganda that they are hoping to raise the funds for in partnership with Fields of Life.

They then went on to climb Aconcagua in January and now Mt Everest.