Anchorage Daily News

From the president of Ireland to musicians in Alaska to climbers around the world, Ger McDonnell was remembered Sunday as a man full of life and eager for adventure.

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Ger McDonnell

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McDonnell, a 37-year-old computer engineer from Anchorage, is presumed dead on K2, the world's second tallest mountain and perhaps its most dangerous.

Witnesses reported seeing McDonnell, an Irish citizen who came to Alaska about 10 years ago to hone his mountaineering skills, swept off the mountain Friday when a giant piece of ice fell from above and sliced through fixed ropes on a particularly perilous part of the climb.

At least nine people were confirmed killed, and at least five more are missing, according to news reports of the Himalayan disaster.

"You certainly want to hold out hope as long as you possibly can," friend and fellow climber Trish Meissner of Anchorage said Sunday. "But it's probably a one in a million chance. We got reports that people saw him fall."

McDonnell was not among those confirmed dead by climbers and authorities in Pakistan, but his family in Kilcornan, Ireland, issued a statement affirming that he is presumed dead.

Mary McAleese, the president of Ireland, called the news of McDonnell's presumed death "heartbreaking."

On Friday, McDonnell became the first Irishman to reach the summit of K2, a 28,250-foot peak that is considered one of the most technical and dangerous in the world.

McDonnell telephoned Annie Starkey, his girlfriend in Anchorage, on his satellite phone while atop the peak, Meissner said.

Disaster struck on the way down.

"Coming down, they got to the Bottleneck, where all these fixed ropes are in place," Meissner said. "A huge piece of ice broke off from on or near the summit, and it took out the fixed ropes and took out anyone on them."

At the annual Galway Days celebration in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, members of McDonnell's band -- Last Night's Fun -- performed with heavy hearts.

"We decided when we were doing our set not to mention it," said John Walsh, a banjo player and vocalist in the band. "We felt everyone who knew him would know what was going on at that stage."

McDonnell played the Bodhran, a type of Irish drum, and sang. He was funny, friendly and fun-loving, friends said.

"He loved to have the crack, as we'd say in Ireland," Walsh said, using Irish slang that means fun.

Richard Gelardin, a backup fiddler for Last Night's Fun, said McDonnell was well known among Anchorage's Irish community.

"He was a gem," he said. "Very funny. He was a philosopher, a great storyteller, and just a wonderful, warm, kind, loving person."

Mostly, he was a mountain climber.

McDonnell reached the summits of McKinley, Foraker and a number of other Alaska peaks, and in 1999 he was nominated for the Denali Pin, an award given to mountaineers who perform acts of heroism on Mount McKinley. He and fellow climber Mike Mays guided five fatigued climbers, including one with snow blindness, down from the summit ridge in rapidly deteriorating weather, according to the National Park Service.

In 2003, McDonnell reached the top of Mount Everest, the world's tallest peak at 29,035 feet, and in 2006, he almost reached the top of K2. He had to turn back near the summit when he was hit on the head by a falling rock.

"He was eager to go back," Meissner said.

McDonnell was one of 22 people who summited K2 on Friday, an unusually large number for a mountain seldom successfully scaled. He was a member of the Norit K2 Expedition, which provided updates on the search for McDonnell throughout the weekend.

The expedition's Web site listed a number of climbers who safely made it back to K2's Camp 4, some of them injured, some of them suffering from severe frostbite.

Next to McDonnell's name, it offered only grim news:

"Status unknown. Unfortunately no new information."

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

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