McDonnell's selfless effort on K2 honored

He was a finalist for the Limerick Person of the Year Award in the Irish county where he grew up. A plaque honoring him now rests atop Ireland's tallest peak, 3,406-foot Carrauntoohil in County Kerry. Later this week in Dublin, a rock climbing competition will raise money to endow a scholarship in his memory at Dublin City University, where McDonnell earned a degree in electronic engineering in the 1990s.

Here in Alaska, the Irish band "Last Night's Fun" will play St. Patrick's Day gigs today without their popular percussionist, who played the bodhran and sang.

"He hasn't been forgotten," band member John Walsh said. "We think about him a lot."

The plaque, the scholarship and the deluge of kind words that have come since that disastrous day in the Himalayas when 11 climbers were swept to their deaths provide some comfort to McDonnell's family and friends.

But their biggest moment of gratification came when a Web site that caters to adventurers -- explorersweb.com -- bestowed its top honor on McDonnell for his decision to delay his own descent in order to help some stranded Korean climbers before falling to his own death.

It took months for explorersweb. com and others -- including McDonnell's family and some friends -- to piece together what happened just below the summit of K2 on Aug. 1, when things went horribly wrong on the rocks and ice of the world's second-tallest mountain.

What the Web site learned persuaded it to give McDonnell its Best of Explorers award for 2008.

"The most selfless efforts was made by Irish Gerard MacDonnell, who after two nights on K2's upper slopes including one in an open bivouac, resolved to alone stay and help two Korean climbers and a Nepali Sherpa, climbers he didn't know. Gerard knew well that his effort seriously put his own life at risk. His action is almost unmatched ..." the Web site wrote.

"Gerard's incredible courage and compassion were rendered fruitless when the survivors were killed in a final avalanche. Tragically, their rescuer lost his life as well. This probably would not have been the case had Gerard simply followed his mates down, both alive today."

Most accounts agree that McDonnell, after spending several hours trying to help the Koreans, headed back up the mountain. At least one article speculated he did so out of confusion, because of oxygen deprivation.

But one of McDonnell's partners who also tried to help the Koreans later said McDonnell climbed back up the mountain to reach an anchor for fixed-line ropes. He wanted to give the line more slack and possibly release one of the Koreans from his rope.

Pemba Gyalke, a member of McDonnell's team who was hailed by National Georgraphic Adventure as the hero of the K2 disaster, told explorersweb.com he believes that story.

"We know about Gerard's good manners," he said. "He always wanted to help."

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.