04/08/2008

Climber's Family Meet Expedition Leader

The brother and girlfriend of Limerick man, Gerard McDonnell, who has died during his desent from the K2 mountain last week - and whose remains are to be left on the peak - are already on the scene, having travelled to meet the leader of the original expedition when Mr McDonnell first went missing.

After celebrations to mark the success by Gerard McDonnell, 37, from Kilcornan, Co Limerick, who became the first Irish person to reach the summit of the 8,611-metre summit last Friday, dubbed 'the savage mountain' on the Pakistani-Chinese border, his death on the way down will be all the harder to take.

Mr McDonnell was among 11 people from several teams killed on Saturday while descending the world's second-highest mountain.

Early reports suggested a large piece of ice took out the fixed ropes on part of the route.

Mr McDonnell's brother JJ and girlfriend Annie Starky flew to Pakistan to meet the expedition's leader who was rescued suffering from frost bite.

Rescue helicopters were flown in to K2 on Monday afternoon in a rescue bid for Italian climber Marco Confortola, who is suffering from serious frostbite, and also to evacuate four others who returned to a base camp.

Climbers regard K2 as the most difficult and treacherous climb in the world due to its notoriously bad weather conditions and its consistently steep pyramid shape, dropping quickly in almost all directions.

(DW)

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