Gerard had tears in his eyes, recalls climber who survived K2 ice fall

DUTCH mountaineer Wilco van Rooijen was lucky to come home alive from a expedition to reach the summit of the world’s second highest mountain during which 11 people died, among them Limerick climber Gerard McDonnell.

But despite the huge loss of life, van Rooijen, who began climbing in the Alps at 16, intends to go back climbing 8,000 metre mountains if and when his feet, which are badly frostbitten, recover.

“People do think we [mountain climbers] are crazy, but we also think a lot of people around us are spoiling their lives by doing nothing,” he said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper.