JOHN Burke is the first Clare man ever to conquer Everest.
The Spanish Point hotelier reached the roof of the world this morning.
In a facebook post his wife Aoibhín Garrihy wrote, “At 9:45am local time John Burke became the first Clare man to successfully summit Mt Everest. Now hoping for a safe descent ”
This afternoon she added, “John has arrived safely back at Camp 4, exhausted but sounding great from the sat phone! More wonderful news in…fellow Irish climber and friend of John, Cian O’Brolchain, also summited Mt Lhotse (8516m) this morning. It’s a great day for Irish climbing”
A prayer service for John and his fellow climbers was held in the Armada hotel last night and on the hotel’s facebook page today it posted, “Our MD John Burke has just made it to the top of the world and is the 1st Clareman ever to summit Mount Everest this morning! We are so proud of his achievement and his determination to reach the top”.
John is raising money for a project entitled Raising the Banner for Youth Wellness, a project developed by Elevate, a not for profit organisation that he has established.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.