Life Without Toast - Sibling Rivalry

By now pretty much everybody who reads this will know of the ten climbers that were tragically killed after reaching the summit of K2 last weekend, in the worst accident that has ever happened on that most dangerous of the worlds' highest peaks. Most of the media attention in Ireland is focussing on Ger McDonnell, a Limerick native, who had been living in Alaska with his partner Annie prior to his K2 attempt.

I had the good fortune to meet Ger and Annie in July of last year, in McCarthy, Alaska. He was a worker on the oil fields in Prudhoe Bay, working one week on and one week off, and was visiting McCarthy for a bit of craic, being that it was open mic night in the New Golden Saloon (aka "The Golden") and he wanted to share his considerable bodhran-playing skills with the locals and tourists in McCarthy.

Myself and Nikki were inside the Golden when we heard that someone outside had heard that someone inside was Irish, and that they were Irish too (an Irishman is definitely a novelty most places in Alaska, and for two of them to randomly meet is an occasion for boisterous drinking and merriment). We went outside and chatted to Ger for a while, told him what we were doing during our time in AK and he talked about what he was doing and how he came to be in Alaska and general small-talk. He played a bit of bodhran while we chatted, he had an amazing talent with the goatskin. We told him that we would be in Anchorage for a day at the end of our trip, and he insisted that we come over to his place for dinner, even though he was going back up to Prudhoe Bay, and he wouldn't even be there at the time! The real pity is that we actually missed him playing inside the bar for the open mic, because we had spent the entire day trekking on a glacier and were falling asleep standing up.

You hear of people being killed in climbing accidents and other "extreme" activities all the time, and although it often makes headline news, it's rarely talked about for longer than a few days. I know I will think about Ger's tragic death for longer than it's in the news.

Indeed, any time when I think back to myself and Nikki's amazing holiday in Alaska last year, where I proposed to her and we had the most amazing time we've ever had, I will think about Ger McDonnell. My heart goes out to anyone who was close to him, especially his family and friends, and his partner Annie Starkey.

More here, here, and here.

Book of condolences here.