The wife of a Co Wicklow businessman who was dramatically rescued after his party became stranded on one of the world's highest summits, Mount Vinson in Antarctica, over the weekend has described how at one stage he believed he was going to die.
Kevin Dempsey (51), who runs a home furnishing distribution company in Enniskerry, had been attempting to reach the summit of the mountain, which is over 4,800 metres high, when he and his fellow three climbers encountered severe storms in the early hours of Sunday morning.
They were forced to turn back from the summit ridge and set up a temporary camp. Later, one of their party fell down a crevasse and was left dangling upside down from his ropes.
The men, who were tied together by ropes, managed to rescue their colleague, who was suffering from significant frostbite and hypothermia. Shortly afterwards, they realised they could not continue down the slope due to the worsening weather.
They dug themselves into a snow hole at an altitude of approximately 4,000 metres and called for rescuers from base camp. Conditions were extremely harsh, and all of the men were showing signs of exhaustion and hypothermia by this time.
Eventually, a group of four men, including two Swedish mountaineers who were in the area, risked their lives to save the stranded mountaineers, battling through icy wind and snow to reach them on Sunday evening.
The rescued men are now at base camp waiting for the weather to improve before they can leave the mountain but have a good level of supplies.
"Kevin said he was sitting in the ice hole and he heard the wind rising and he thought 'that's it - no one is going to make it up here, we're not going to survive the night,'" his wife Joyce told The Irish Timesyesterday. "Then he heard two voices calling them. He said he will never forget it."
Her husband is an experienced climber who took the hobby up in his 30s. Ms Dempsey eventually spoke to him via satellite phone last Monday afternoon. He had suffered hypothermia and minor frostbite.
Depending on weather conditions, Mr Dempsey is expected to return home next week.
"Kevin is always pushing the boundaries and going that little bit further," his wife said. "I would think he might go back again but not any time soon."