Two Irish Friend's Adventure to Everest Base Camp and Back

Two friends from Ireland, Eddie and Jim, achieved their lifelong dream of reaching the base camp of Mount Everest here in the Himalayas of Nepal. Their incredible journey began in Lukla, where they arrived by helicopter.

Eddie's partner Anna back in Ireland could not be more proud of their accomplishment. She shared how excited she was when she briefly spoke to them on the phone right after they completed their descent from Everest Base Camp at 5,364 meters.

Originally, they had planned to go even higher. But once they reached base camp below the towering 8,848-meter Mount Everest, they were too exhausted to continue and decided to stop there. Impressively, they completed the challenging four-day descent in just three days, which made them very happy. They were part of a group of eleven climbers and luckily had clear blue skies throughout.

Anna said that when she last spoke to them, they were celebrating back here in Lukla with some local sherpa guides who often drink rum to mark successful climbs. Eddie jokingly told her that after this, he doesn't care if he never goes on another mountain hike again!

While Jim is an avid mountain climber, Eddie only takes on these challenges occasionally. His last was Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania way back in 2013. As Anna explained, "People say 'from couch to marathon,' but Eddie truly went from couch to climbing Kilimanjaro and then Everest ten years later. He's not a regular mountaineer - there's a whole decade between his Kilimanjaro and Everest climbs. At 62 years old, I am so thrilled for him."

Now they face another adventure getting back to Kathmandu since there are no internal flights from Tenzing-Hillary Airport here in Lukla. It requires a full day of travel over dangerous mountain roads. The airport was named after Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay - the first-ever conquerors of Everest in 1953. Due to the high elevation and risky mountain valley location, Lukla is considered one of the most perilous and scenic airports in the world. Flights are often grounded for weeks due to bad weather.

So the triumphant duo will take two 4x4 vehicles on the roughly day-long journey over treacherous mountain terrain before they can finally fly back home from Kathmandu. They surely have an incredible sense of accomplishment after achieving their dream of reaching Everest Base Camp. Nepal always welcomes adventurers like them.