Everest conqueror at event honouring local explorer
It is 100 years this year since the Tullamore explorer Charles Howard-Bury led the historic Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition of 1921 – and this month, two legends of Irish mountaineering are to give an online zoom talk on the mission.
Dawson Stelfox, the first Irish person to summit Mount Everest, and Frank Nugent, an Irish mountaineering historian are the speakers on the Mountaineering Ireland event taking place on Tuesday, May 18.
The talk starts at 7.30pm (19.30 GMT + 1) and while it is free of charge, those attending need to register in advance.
Mr Stelfox, MBE, is a Belfast architect, an accomplished mountaineer, a qualified international mountain guide and a member of The Alpine Club who has climbed worldwide. He is a past chair and board member of Mountaineering Ireland - the all-Ireland governing body for mountaineering and hill walking.
Over many years Mr Stelfox has worked with the Irish Nepalese Education Trust, an Irish charity helping develop educational opportunities for children in Phuleli and surrounding villages high up in the lap of Mount Everest. He has provided architectural and technical support to the work of building and repairing schools in this earthquake zone.
Mr Stelfox is currently Chair of Outdoor Recreation Northern Ireland and member of the MountainTraining Board of Ireland.
Frank Nugent is a retired occupational training expert and mountaineer who has climbed worldwide. He was the deputy leader of the first and successful Irish Everest Expedition (Stelfox 1993); joint leader of South Arís - Irish Antarctic Expedition in 1997 which followed in the wake of Shackleton’s open boat journey from Elephant Island and crossing of South Georgia; and he was a member of the crew of Northabout who made the first Irish navigation of the Northwest Passage in 2001.
Frank has researched and written two books regarding Irish mountain and polar explorers: Seek the Frozen Lands - Irish Polar Explorers 1740 –1922 - Collins Press (2001) and ‘In Search of Peaks, Passes & Glaciers – Irish Alpine Pioneers’ Collins Press (2011).
He is a former Chairman of MCI, now (Mountaineering Ireland) from 1997 to 2000 and is a member of The Alpine Club. He is currently chairman of the Irish Uplands Forum - an NGO with concern for the sustainable management of Irish upland areas.
Charles Howard-Bury (1883-1963), whose childhood was spent at Charleville Castle, is also associated with Mullingar as he inherited Belvedere House in 1912 and it became his home.
Howard-Bury’s 1921 Everest Reconnaissance Expedition mapped the base of Everest and determined that a likely route to the peak of the mountain could be found via what is known as the North Col. It was through the request of the Alpine Club and the British Geographic Society that Howard-Bury came to lead The Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, Mr Nugent told The Westmeath Examiner last year, adding that because there was so much happening on the political front here in Ireland at the time of the expedition, the Offaly man probably didn’t get the recognition here at home that his achievements merited.
"Charles Howard-Bury deserves to be remembered for his contribution – and he is highly regarded internationally, but he doesn’t get much of a look-in in Ireland," Mr Nugent said.
To book your attendance at the talk "From Mullingar to Rongbuk", go to the website mountaineering.ie and check out the events section.