The Irish man who broke the world record for climbing the world's highest mountains on seven continents said today there were times he feared for his life during his adventure.
Broadcaster Ian McKeever (37), from Co Dublin, reached the summit of Alaska's Mount McKinley last weekend, shaving 31 days of the old time of 187 days and raising €140,000 for charity.
He arrived in Ireland this morning after flying from the United States.
At a ceremony in the Mansion House, Lord Mayor of Dublin Paddy Bourke praised the climber's achievement and said the city was proud to honour him.
Mr McKeever said he was thrilled to have conquered the challenge but admitted there were occasions when he thought he might not survive.
"I got robbed in Russia, got frostbite on Mount Elberus; it's been an extraordinary journey and that's just the lows," Mr McKeever said. "There were two very scary moments. The first was stepping over a dead body on Mount Everest. A Czech physician tragically had just lost his life.
"He was probably dead for no more than two hours and what happened was I was at high camp beginning my descent, but I was totally snow blind so I was being guided down by a Sherpa, and within a matter of 20 minutes I knew I had stepped over something and it tragically happened to be a human body.
"That was my first sense, as you always hear of people dying on the mountain," he said.
Further down the peak his safety rope snapped, plunging him head first into the snow.
"A Canadian climber passed me by, surmised the situation and said you're not going to make it down," he added. "I don't know whether that acted as a catalyst or if that drove me on, but something made me realise I've got to get down this mountain, I just have to. That was a scary moment."
The climber said McKinley in Alaska was the most difficult of all the mountains to scale, which included Mount Vinson, Antarctica, Aconcagua in Argentina, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Carstenz Pyramid in Indonesia, Everest in Nepal and Elberus in Russia. It took almost a week for him to conquer the Alaskan peak.
Facing sub-zero temperatures and severe weather, he twice fell into a crevice sparking fears he could be stranded on the mountain. On the second of three attempts to reach the peak, he was forced back when one of his team suffered swelling of the brain.
Mr McKeever, who is receiving treatment for corneal damage to his right eye as a result of snow blindness, will leave this weekend to scale Snowy Mountain in Australia to become the first man in the world to climb all the highest mountains in all true continents.
Sponsored by Ulster Bank, the Seven Summits Challenge raised funds for the Irish Osteoporosis Society and Sophia Housing.