Mountaineer Derek Mahon recently became the 15th and oldest Irish person to summit the highest peaks on seven continents.
In early December, before Mr Mahon (63) attempted to reach the peak of his seventh and final mountain of this exploration, he spoke to Pat Kenny about his experiences up to that point and his aims to get back to Ireland before Christmas.
Now that he has returned from the final hurdle, he spoke to Pat again in an emotional recollection of his achievement.
On December 22nd, Mr Mahon flew back to Ireland after summiting Mount Vinson in the Antarctic – a 4,892-metre-high mountain.
"Blue ice runway"
“It was a four-and-a-half-hour flight [to the Antarctic] on a big Boeing 757, which carried more stock and materials and food stuffs for the camps,” he told The Pat Kenny Show.
“There were only 30 people on the plane, the rest was gear - you got your seat number, but you could have sat on any seat throughout the whole plane, which was a marvellous experience.
“We landed on Antarctica, on the blue ice runway there, which was frightening in a way, because I didn't really know what to expect.
“When the plane landed, I was just behind the wing, and it just was a huge snowstorm behind us.”
"A long slog"
Arriving in Antarctica is a “shock to the system” Mr Mahon said, with the brightness of the snow and the minus 10 to minus 15 temperature being taken into account before you land.
Only about 60 to 70 people would try and climb Mount Vinson in a season – with the mountaineer calling the climb a “long slog”.
The morning that Mr Mahon and his team attempted to summit was “beautiful” with “flat, calm weather”, despite it being between minus 20 and minus 25 degrees.
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Getting up to the summit of the final mountain on his seven-summit project was incredibly emotional for Mr Mahon.
“Oh my God, it was unbelievably scenic - if you think blue ice and snow and rock and it just kind of it joins the skyline," he said.
“You think that you're above the clouds, but actually, all you're looking out on is Antarctica, and it's just all ice with no clouds, merging into blue landscape.
"I remember when I got there after completing the seven summits - and it took 12 years to do this between, you know, life swerves and COVID, etc. - I just sat on my bag, and I just went, ‘Oh my God’.
“You kind of get a bit emotional.”
"I'll continue on"
Mr Mahon has committed to his wife and to himself that “that’s it” for the big mountains after the Mount Vinson peak.
“It gets to the stage where you're getting tired of the sub-zero temperatures, having to keep such a fitness level and to still maintain your knees and your joints and your hips and that sort of stuff,” he said.
“I'll continue on, I’ll remain fit, I'll continue on doing triathlons and all being well, towards the end of the year, I'd like to maybe do an Ironman.”
Timeline
In 2012, Mr Mahon summited the 5,642 metre Mount Elbrus in Russia, in 2014 he climbed the 8,848 metre Mount Everest on the China–Nepal border and in 2017 he summited Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania at 5,895 metres
He followed Kilimanjaro with the Argentinian Aconcagua at 6,961 metres in 2019 and in 2022, Mr Mahon climbed Alaska’s Mount Denali at 6,192 metres.
In 2024, Mr Mahon summited the 2,228 metre Mount Kosciuszko in Australia and finally, the 4,892 metre Mount Vinson in the Antarctic.
Derek Mahon on his Mount Vinson climb. Image: Instagram
