Twelve year old Oisin McDevitt is no regular school boy given the number of records he has broken for conquering some of the world’s monstrous mountains. Oisin McDevitt broke another record on 24th October, 2014 – this time for the speed he got to the top of one in the Himalayas. McDevitt climbed 6,200 metres to the top of Island Peak on the flanks of Everest in just four and a half days, something very few adults have managed to achieve. Himalayan Glacier organized the overall trip which was spearheaded by Mr. Chhewang Sherpa, one of the finest climbing leaders from Himalayan Glacier. McDevitt was accompanied by his father and an acquaintance during the expedition.
The Himalayan hike was the highest he’d ever attempted and the conditions were a lot tougher for Oisin and his climbing buddy and dad Fergus. They had trained on the Island’s cliffpaths weighed down with heavy bags but nothing could prepare them for the 20 hour non-stop climb they had to do to avoid some cyclonic winds heading their way or the near vertical ice face they had to tackle to reach the summit.
Last year he became the youngest Brit to climb Kilimanjaro via the most treacherous trekking route and then scaled Mt Elbrus – making him the youngest European to stand on the top of two continents.
Oisin said this trip was a good head start for the more technical mountaineering he plans to do in the future. In the next couple of years he wants to tackle another of the Seven Summits – Argentina’s Aconcagua and that will be no mean feat. At 6980 metres high – it’s the highest mountain in South America. He also hopes to scale Ama Dablam in the Himalaya range of eastern Nepal with a main peak that is almost as high and only for competent climbers.
