{"id":492300,"date":"2026-05-19T11:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/492300\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T11:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:58:10","slug":"padraig-ohora-makes-it-to-within-400m-of-the-top-of-everest-before-weather-forces-his-team-to-turn-around-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/492300\/","title":{"rendered":"P\u00e1draig O\u2019Hora makes it to within 400m of the top of Everest before weather forces his team to turn around \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An all-Irish climbing team including former Mayo footballer P\u00e1draig O\u2019Hora<\/a> were forced to turn back within 400 metres of the summit of Everest<\/a> in the early hours of this morning. Hostile weather conditions meant that snow had frozen over the climbing ropes, making it too dangerous to continue. All going well, O\u2019Hora and teammates Adam Sweeney and \u00c9anna McGowan will attempt another summit push tonight. <\/p>\n

Team leader Jason Black posted an update on social media early this morning. \u201c[The team] are safely back at Camp 4 after making the difficult but absolutely correct decision to turn around at 8,450 metres, just below the Balcony. Overnight conditions were extremely challenging. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe fixed ropes were heavily buried under deep snow, and breaking trail at that altitude was exhausting. Progress became painfully slow, and despite being only 400 metres in altitude below the summit, the team began to get dangerously cold and the decision was made to turn back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can confirm that all members of Team Ireland are safe, exhausted, and now resting in Camp 4. We are currently sending additional oxygen and food to support their recovery while we carefully assess the possibility of another summit attempt tonight, should conditions allow. Communications overnight were extremely difficult, but the most important news is that every member of the team is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crew are attempting to become the first all-Irish team to reach the summit of Everest since 2003. O\u2019Hora, Black, Sweeney and McGowan have been on the mountain for 48 days and have been delayed several times because of weather difficulties. Team leader Black has had to abandon the summit push after picking up an ankle injury and is coordinating efforts from a camp further down the mountain.<\/p>\n

There has already been one Irish man to make a successful summit of Everest this week. On Monday morning, around 7am Irish time, Limerick climber Philip Collins became the 85th Irish person to reach the top of the world\u2019s highest mountain. <\/p>\n

It has been, by common consensus, one of the most frustrating climbing seasons on Everest for years. As detailed throughout O\u2019Hora\u2019s diaries in The Irish Times<\/a>, the group have encountered an icefall that was impassable for weeks, as well as temperatures way below freezing and winds so strong they made climbing all but impossible.<\/p>\n

There is a time issue as well. The climbing season on Everest typically doesn\u2019t extend far beyond the coming week \u2013 historically, it is extremely rare for the window to extend beyond May 25th. If O\u2019Hora and his compatriots are to make it to the top of the world, it will most likely be in the next 48 hours or not at all. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe conditions are cold and unforgiving,\u201d Black said on Sunday, \u201cwith temperatures approaching -30\u00b0C and strong winds sweeping across the mountain. Every step from here demands total focus, discipline, and determination.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbove them lies the Balcony, the South Summit, the Hillary Step, and finally the highest point on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An all-Irish climbing team including former Mayo footballer P\u00e1draig O\u2019Hora were forced to turn back within 400 metres…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,198396,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,8396,5,187269,7,8],"class_list":["post-492300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-everest-expedition","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-nepal","tag-news","tag-padraig-o-hora","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116601127397180720","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}