Now, we’ve all known for a while that Irish men are a unique type of species – sure it’s one the reasons we love them! Not only are they great craic to be around, they’re also capable of surviving in the absolute extremes. Take Kerryman Danny Murphy for example…
This amazing Irishman spent more than 36 hours trapped on an ice-covered mountain ledge that was 5,500 feet off the ground. Scary much?
Danny and his friend Thierry had been climbing Mt Crosscut in the Darran mountains on New Zealand’s South Island when they become trapped on the icy ledge and yesterday Danny revealed how the two men very nearly lost their lives on the mountain.
The carpenter, who has been living in New Zealand for the past few years, described how himself and his friend (who are both seasoned climbers) had been coming to the end of their climb when they “got up into an area where the conditions with the snow and the ice made it to dangerous to continue.”
Realising that the conditions were too dangerous for them to attempt to climb down the mountain, Danny and Thierry decided to stay put and dug a ‘cave’ into the snow on the mountain where they spent the night.
“We dug a snow cave and went into that overnight, but it was pretty cold,” said Danny.
“Then we were kind of stuck – nowhere to go up and nowhere to go down,” he added.
Danny and his friend had to spend the night on an icy mountain ledge
Harrowing stuff, right? At one point during their ordeal a helicopter flew over to check on them but when the pair waved an emergency shelter bag, the helicopter pilot mistakenly thought that this signal meant the pair were okay and he flew off.
“They thought we were okay but we actually needed to be rescued so there was a miscommunication,” said Danny.
Yesterday, friends of the men began to grow concerned when Danny and Thierry didn’t return home. They promptly raised the alarm. When Danny and Thierry saw their friend’s vehicle parked near the mountain they began waving their red emergency shelter in the hopes that they would be seen.
“We were waving like mad but we would have only looked like a dot, really tiny, like a rock – but with their binoculars they could see us… we’re lucky, very lucky,” said Danny.
Sergeant Tod Hollebon who was on duty when the alarm was raised said that the men made the “right decision” to remain where they were on the mountain.
Neither men needed medical treatment when they were rescued, instead they were just relieved.
“They were in pretty good spirits – they were just cold and fairly relieved, I’d say… they wouldn’t have spent a comfortable night up there,” said Sergeant Hollebon.
We’re glad that both Danny and Thierry are okay. See girls? Irish men are not only strong and brave, they also know how to remain sensible during a life and death situation. So the next time you think your man couldn’t step up, give him the benefit of the doubt – nobody really knows how we’d all react in a similar situation.
