Man from Minto flies New Brunswick flag from atop Mount Everest
CBC
The New Brunswick flag has been raised to new heights.
At the top of the world, under a cold blue sky, Rick Irvine waved the provincial flag 8,849 metres high atop the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth.
"Surprisingly, when you do reach the summit ... you are just so tired, you know, that you're not jumping up and down — you're just happy to have gotten there," said Irvine, who's from Minto, about 50 kilometres northeast of Fredericton, but has spent much of his life in South America.
He reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 24, following years of preparation and one previous attempt in 2021.
Irvine spoke to Information Morning Fredericton about his weeks-long journey to reach the top of the world, in a year that's already seen 17 other climbers die or go missing trying to do the same thing.
"You're surviving basically, right? Once you get to 8,000 metres, which is called the death zone, basically, your body can't live there very long.
"Even with supplemental oxygen, you're fighting, you're fighting through it. You're trying to focus, you're trying to put one foot in front of the other. It's a struggle."
Unlike many other die-hard mountaineers, reaching the top of Mount Everest wasn't a lifelong goal for Irvine.
In fact, the 60-year-old only started mountain climbing about 10 years ago while living in Bolivia.
He said his early climbs were mostly two-week trips he'd take with friends in the South American Andes mountain range.
"And I was totally happy with that. I had no desire to go to Everest or the [highest] seven summits, [of] which I've done five of the seven now."
By the time he turned 55, Irvine said, he realized if he were to ever scale Everest, he was running out of time, and so he began training for his first attempt in 2021.
Irvine said to prepare himself for the first climb, he went as far as sleeping in a tent with 10 per cent oxygen for two months as a way to acclimatize his body to the conditions he'd meet on Everest.
He said he "got very close to the top and then failed," prompting him to take a year before going back for a second attempt.
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