Andy Nolan, formerly from Charleville, is at present on a quest to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents in the world, and having completed four peaks – completely self-funded – on the 7-Summit Challenge, is actively looking for corporate sponsorship to complete the last three. Less than 700 people in the world have completed the 7-summit challenge, while less than 60 Irish people have climbed Everest. Andy has completed four of the 7 summits thus far – Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Aconcagua, and Denali – and used these endeavours to raise between €70,000-€80,000 for The Irish Cancer Society and LauraLynn Childrens hospice.
Andy works as a Senior Manufacturing Engineer for Analog Devices in Raheen, Limerick, which has been a key employer in the Mid-West region for the last 50 years.
The 7-summit mountaineering challenge is to climb the highest peaks of the seven continents. These are:
Kilimanjaro, October, 2018: climbing Kilimanjaro is normally the first of the seven summits which people complete. It’s the largest free-standing mountain in the world. This trip consisted of nine days up and down, culminating in a 10-hour summit day. The terrain is majestic, temperatures ranging from high 20 deg C to negative 10 at night and summit.
Elbrus, July, 2019: Elbrus is much harder than Kilimanjaro, with 50mph winds on the summit and temperatures of lower than negative 20 deg Celcius which can rattle your bones. This trip took 10 days on the mountain. The route Andy took is considered the hardest. For the north route, (western summit) you need to carry all your gear from base camp. It’s steep and difficult; the terrain depends on weather conditions, which also makes it tricky. It includes the steep ascent from camp 1 to the summit – typically a long, drawn-out summit night, very much weather-dependent, crossing glacier fields, deep snow in places (3/4 feet), fixed-line trekking, and crevasses. You go from 8,000 feet at base camp to 18,500 feet, with a 6,000 feet push on summit night. The summit night took 18 hours.
Aconcagua, January 2022: Aconcagua is the highest mountain in both the northern and southern hemispheres outside of the Himalayas. It is also the second highest of the seven summits, outside of Everest. The mountain typically has a 30% summit success rate. There are five camps on the way to the summit of Aconcagua Confluencia/Plaza De Mulas/Camp 1/Camp 2/ Camp 3). There are multiple gear hikes (drop gear/food/water and come back to previous camp) from camp to camp. These are quite heavy gear carries with 30kg approx. being the heaviest.
Due to the intense heat and altitude, you felt like wearing shorts and a t-shirt in the daytime, but you can’t. Full-sleeve top and trousers with a mask and buff are necessary to avoid sunburn and protect your airways. Sunburn does not heal the same way at altitude and can cause complications further into the trip. Summit day took 14 hours. It was a bit surreal that there were people asleep on the way to the summit and at the top due to less oxygen.
Denali, May 2023: Denali is the highest peak in North America, and it is, quite simply, a beast of a mountain. It’s also the third most prominent peak in the world, outside of Everest and Aconcagua. Weather, extreme cold, very heavy carry loads, lots of rope work and technical skills are needed, not to mention casually jumping over crevasses meant the team had to bring their A-game. This year’s Denali season was acknowledged by most to have been more difficult than usual. A mix of uneven weather across the various camps and poor weather windows from the 17,000 feet camp upwards meant just under a 30% average summit success rate. In total, Andy spent 23 days and 22 nights on the glacier, with summit night taking 15 hours, starting out a minus 35 degrees Celcius. At the heaviest during the trip, Andy had 40kg on his back and another 40-50kg continuous pull on a sled uphill.
In order to complete the 7-Summit Challenge, Andy must travel to Australia to climb Kosciuszko (2,228m), Antarctica (Vinson, 4,892m), and Asia (Everest 8,848m).
He says, “I love mountaineering. A journey like this starts with a local walk or hike. You need to explore what’s outside of normal day-to-day life to find out what’s inside of you. If you asked me at age 36, would I be climbing mountains abroad, then I’d have said “definitely not”. Take the leap and push your internal boundaries; limitations should never exist personally or professionally. If you succeed, then you succeed. If you fail, then you fail. But you will learn from the positive or the negative, and this is real progress.”
