Monday, April 11th to Saturday, April 16th A positive taste of suspense and anticipation. We were fully aware by now that a summit push was viable, unless anything drastic happened.Monday morning we were informed it was time for our Puja ceremony. This is a deeply important Buddhist blessing practice. The ceremony is led by a Lama (Buddhist monk) and is held to ask the mountain spirits for protection, safe passage, and good fortune on the climb. Everest, known locally as Mount Everest or Chomolungma (“Goddess mother of the world”), is considered sacred in Himalayan Buddhist culture. Watching our own Tricolour fly side by side with the Nepali flag as we sat and prayed is something I will never forget. Usually it’s an hour or so and everyone heads away; we sat it out until the sun gave up on us. “Those mad Irish.” If nothing else, we have really done it our way this expedition. As it has wobbled us and shifted, we have flowed with it. Tuesday and Wednesday played out without much to sing about. Filling days with conversation, Uno, writing and reading as we all watch the weather forecasts intently. The talk for me is head melting. It’s just weather, weather and weather. When are you going? When can we go? What’s the best window? How many people will go at that time? How do we avoid queues? The answers are simple, really. We will go when we go. And the weather will be what it is. By Thursday morning we were still on course to start working our way up the mountain. We had planned a summit attempt for the 17th. But once the meteorologist’s reports came in, that was off the table. Another sucker blow. Another delay. Jeez, this never ends. Nonetheless it’s going to be the 19th or 20th now. We are set and prepared to leave EBC for the final time on the 16th. The plan is to leave at 1am and start into the icefall. Destination Camp 2. Saturday, May 16th – EBC TO Camp 2 I didn’t sleep. Sure how could you? The day has finally arrived. The teary-eyed conversations home are done now and it’s time to lock in. We gathered our gear, tightened on the boots and rechecked harnesses before walking our final lap around the puja and then departing for the icefall. Dark and cold are your friend when you’re on the move. It brings stability, especially when it comes to the icefall and the seracs, some of which are still waiting to tumble. We moved well without incident through the icefall and out to the near safety of the ladder section at the top.Plenty of people had decided tonight was the night to move and it caused a delay of around 90 minutes on the ladders. At the time it wasn’t a major issue but four hours or so later as we dragged ourselves into Camp 2, we were all aware of how damaging it had been. The delay gave the sun time to catch up – once she rose, everything in her path felt her fury.0008: (left to right) Adam Sweeney, Jason Black, Pádraig O'Hora at Camp 2 (6,700m) The rush was on to get out of the heat before we drank all our water and reserves. We fell into camp. One sherpa had completely tanked and that was the end of his journey with us. In our team, Adam Sweeney was getting sick. Our team leader Jason Black, Éanna McGowan and I were in and out of sleep. We essentially passed out with tiredness on the chairs and floor for a couple of hours. That evening, Jason delivered the news that he would not be physically going any further due to a significant ankle injury. I knew he had wrestled with this idea for weeks and to be fair he has covered massive ground considering the state of his ankle. Most would have been long gone at this stage. Honestly I didn’t have the heart to speak to him and shied away from the conversation. I was angry actually. Frustrated. Nothing good would come of this conversation, so it was left there. Sunday, May 17th – Camp 2 to Camp 3In the morning we loaded up and got ready to move. Again, I avoided the conversation with Jason but we shared a hug before departing that said everything it needed to. I trust him, I believe in him and, in the end, his decision not to go any further played out to be so important later on. [ Pádraig O’Hora and Irish team reach the summit of EverestOpens in new window ]As we started our ascent, catastrophe struck for Adam. One of his crampons disconnected and slid down the face, falling into a huge crevasse below. Here we saw one of the many heroics of our lead sherpa Milan Rai. He descended off the fixed lines, used an ice axe to set an anchor so he could set up his own rope to go in and out of the crevasse. He retrieved the crampon and pottered back up to us as if he’d just been to the shop for a bag of Tayto. We were back on track and after another couple hours we arrived in Camp 3, about a quarter of the way up this Lhotse face of vertical work. The rest was waiting for us on Monday. Mountaineers on their ascent from the Hillary Step to summit Mount Everest on May 20th. Photograph: Furte Sherpa/AFP/Getty Monday, May 18th – Camp 3 to Camp 4The body and mind were now well aware we were really getting into it. It’s so hard to eat up here. I forced freeze-dried meals down and anything else that will hold. Adam couldn’t, nor could Éanna. Their stomachs just wouldn’t allow it. Our digestion systems were all over the shop. Every man was on Imodium. We left early and went hard from the start. There is a yellow ring of stone that runs across this mountain face known as the yellow band. It serves as a marker but to me it was an optical illusion – no matter if I kept my head down for 15 minutes or an hour, when I looked up it always seemed to get further away. Once over the yellow band, it was on towards the south col where Camp 4 is situated. I’ve waited and waited for this. My sherpa partner Sona and I were well ahead of the group at this stage and when we came over that ridge, I got my first real view of the upper section of Everest and its magnitude. It’s the first but not the last time I can truly say my breath was taken away. My God, is she magnificent. Grand on a scale I cannot comprehend. She envelopes the sky and all it holds. Nothing else exists in your field of view but this giant. I had to sit for a while in awe. Once settled we marched to Camp 4 and started getting food and water sorted. This is it. Next stop the summit. We got into camp and got all our gear together. Everything was stripped back. Only the bare necessities from this point. We go tonight.May 18th, 8.30pmAs soon as we started into the first vertical push, it was clear this was going to have to be earned. The wind was howling, uncomfortably rolling down the mountain into our face. On a number of occasions I could tell my sherpa was not overly happy with our situation but we pressed on. Adam was well ahead, one of the many headlamps somewhere above me. But then, out of nowhere, he reappeared facing the other way, along with his sherpa who was declaring we were turning around. I couldn’t believe it.“No way, not a hope in hell are we turning,” was my position. And so began a relatively polite but very clear argument, for a good hour and a half. Up or down? I knew what way I wanted. My point was that we knew the wind was to die off in the next couple of hours. We just needed to ride out the bit of a storm. Others were still going up. One guy went up without the oxygen support we had and he had a set of skis for the way down. “If he’s going, I’m still going,” I said. Turning back now meant giving up the gig. You only get one shot. Eventually I had to concede. At the end of the day, the Sherpa are your lifeline. And they are carrying additional oxygen. Without them, we don’t have the capacity to get up there so we turned around six hours into the ascent. Just at the butt of The Balcony. I wish I could fully describe how devastating a feeling it was an hour or so later, sitting looking down on Camp 4. Heartbroken it was over. And to add salt to the wound, the winds had settled and the sun was starting to rise. Never again would this opportunity come. I knew this in my heart and soul. I could feel it. I’m not going to be here again. May 19th: Mountaineers leave from Camp 3 to continue their ascent to summit Mount Everest. Photograph: Furte Sherpa/AFP/Getty Morning, May 19th We worked our way back in to Camp 4 and started the big conversation. Is there any way in hell we can go again? Our lead man Milan was willing to go. The others, not so much. By the grace of God, Irish stubbornness and Jason’s support from base camp, we pulled a plan together. Jason organised for more oxygen to be carried from 3 to 4, which would take a number of hours. Milan and Jason worked on getting one of our original sherpas to go again and another one to join us from another group had turned around and called it a day. We decided to rest, try to eat and go again in a few hours.Afternoon May 19thAdam, Éanna and I were all willing to go again. We generally understood that even if we didn’t have it physically, we were willing to go as far as our bodies would carry us. The plan was simple. Leave early before everyone else even thinks about it. Milan would set a pace and we would do everything we could to maintain it. We set off at 4pm. Words will never do justice to the next 11 hours that took us to the summit. So many moments, points in time where reality and fiction danced and interwove to create memories and fabrications of my mind, indistinguishable from each other. I went to some beautiful places and some that are yet to be unpacked. [ Pádraig O’Hora on climbing Everest: ‘I’m over the moon to have achieved what I set out to do’Opens in new window ]An overwhelming sense of gratitude filled me many times for all of it. As in all of life, particularly the painful parts. The setbacks and the wrongdoings if you can call them that. Every one a lesson, whether taken or not. My mind needed all of them now to have the skills for this task. At 3am, after battling the lack of sleep, fatigue and mental attrition, we stood at the summit of Everest. O'Hora on top of Everest It was hard to believe. It didn’t make a lot of sense at the time. The focus on getting back down superseded everything. No emotion poured out, no excitement, no happiness. I found myself fully locked in to getting down and nothing else really mattered. No cool summit photo, no video or fancy message that I had half planned. I filled my empty bottle with snow to bring home. We got a few bad photos with the lads and big hug. Then we started down the mountain. Wednesday, May 20th – After The SummitThe queues. Oh, the queues. Hundreds like us had decided today was the day. Going early meant we had no issue on the way up. Unfortunately, it also meant we ran into them on the way down. The danger is always on the down, with body and mind fatigued. If ever there was a time you were aware that you can die up here it was now. Each and every step needed attention. Once down off the steps, the sun rising in the east as far as the eyes could see was immense. At this height you can see the curvature of the Earth. Sunlight to your left starting to heat your cheek and meanwhile the whole world still in darkness on your right. After getting past all the other climbers, the emotion decided now was the time to hammer me. I sat looking down to the end of The Balcony, over what felt like the whole world. You could watch the clouds form below your feet, thunderstorms built and crashed way out in the distance. We did it. For a moment in time we stood and took a breath at the top of the world. I let out tears, shouts, maybe even some form of a scream. A dream achieved. I will be forever honoured to be part of this team with Éanna, Adam and Jason leading the line. What incredible human beings. Padraig O'Hora reunites with his family HomeTwo helicopters and two planes allowed a man to go from Everest Base Camp to a communion in Mayo in just over 24 hours. Being home, seeing the kids, that first hug. That’s when it all ended. That was the moment. Stand on whatever mountain you wish, achieve everything there is to be achieved. But to hold your family close will always mean more. To my close friends and family, I love ye all. This would never have happened without you. Everest summit success belongs to all of us.