Last September West Cork woman Ann Collins Mac Seoin made a long-awaited trip to Everest with two of her daughters, for a very special reason. She wanted to scatter her late husband Seán Mac Seoin’s ashes on the iconic mountain he had hoped to visit.
TAKING an adventure with Pat Falvey to Everest Base Camp last September was certainly the biggest challenge I have taken in my mountaineering days, which started in 1978 with the Cork Mountaineering Club.
My reason for going on this adventure was to bring along some of the ashes of my late husband Seán Mac Seoin, who passed away on August 23rd 2017 and sprinkle them at Everest Base Camp (5463m).
Seán had walked with the Dublin Boot Leggers in his earlier days when he lived and worked in Dublin.
Sean, who had planned to one day visit the mountain too, but sadly passed away from cancer before he had a chance to fulfil his dream.
We both had a great love for the mountains and outdoor living and we met on the Maam Turks back in 1990 when we both were with our own clubs.
I was then walking with the Cork Back Packers and Cork Mountaineering Club.
I originally decided to try the Everest walk when I was staying at Falvey’s Mountain Lodge in Co Kerry in February 2024.
I was lucky enough to meet mountaineer and motivational speaker Pat Falvey that weekend and I was staying in the bedroom called ‘Everest’. After dinner Pat asked how we were getting on, and I said, ‘Well I finally got to Everest’ – I meant the bedroom, of course!
I was always meant to go to Everest with Seán, but unfortunately he was diagnosed with cancer in January 2013 and we had a five-year battle trying to save him.
When I came home after my great weekend at the Mountain Lodge, I told my daughters I was going to Everest Base Camp. Within a week, two of my three daughters had decided to come with me – Mary and Aisling. Áine had other commitments.
I decided to do it in aid of Breakthrough Cancer and Arc House and set up a GoFundMe to get started.
Training began immediately. I focussed on the Cork and Kerry mountains as I felt they had the best to offer me as I was living in West Cork.
Our friends gave us high-tech sleeping bags and other equipment and, having purchased some more essentials, we were set to go. It was hard to pack, as we had to keep the bags down to 15kg for the Sherpas to carry.
The family in Tragumna with Seán, just two weeks before he passed away.
Finally, we took off from Dublin Airport. Pat Falvey there to greet us all and we had the Irish flag draped over us all for our ‘photo session’.
When we all arrived in Kathmandu we were greeted by Pat’s team and presented with white silk scarves. The taxi to the hotel was packed, with 12 duffle bags, 12 rucksacks and we took off through the city’s chaotic traffic. It was a million miles away from what we were used to.
We had two days of sightseeing and getting organised for our trip to Lukla to start the trek. But when we arrived at the airport for Lukla, we were told it was closed due to cloud.
Mother nature was now in charge. After several hours in the packed airport, we flew instead to Ramechapp, where we spent four more days in a glamping park.
We had to go to the airport each morning at 6am and wait all day in the hope that we would get a window of good weather.
But we came into our own, by entertaining each other with exercises, card games, mindfulness tips and trips to local restaurants for breakfast, lunch and more, to get us through each day. This was very difficult as we were not used to the conditions, which were really draining to all of the team.
I even prayed by saying the rosary to pass some time and hope that the powers above would blow the cloud away!
Finally, we had good news. We were now all like an extended family. When the first plane took off the cheering and excitement was just surreal. Our turn had finally come and the ‘Tara’ plane was packed with our bags, and we boarded. Landing at Lukla Airport, the cheering and excitement was a major high for us all. Now the adventure was really going to start.
Our route was to be Lukla, Phakding, Jorsale, Namche Bazar for two nights, then Tengboche, Pangboche, Pheriche for two nights, Lobuckie and then Gorakshep – the last ‘tea house’ before arriving at Everest Base Camp. Also some of the team climbed Kalapattar early in the morning to see the sun rise.
On October 4th we were off. We stopped after several hours at a lovely tea house with warm showers and then we were off again – walking on for eight days. But the conditions deteriorated and the tea houses became colder and with no warm water. Altitude sickness hit everyone in different ways but everyone encouraged one another.
The scenery every day was stunning – and we had Yaks, Mules and people passing us every day on these tracks, with the jingling of bells and tapping of poles to be heard echoing around the mountains every day.
We had to walk over the ‘milky river’ many times and the most famous of the bridges was the Hilary Bridge. There was even a ‘bungy jump’ bridge for anyone who felt the need to add another notch to their belt. We began walking at a very slow pace up the undulating terrain but had lots of hard sweets, jellies and energy bars and we drank over two litres of water along the way each day to keep us hydrated.
On October 11th at 13.57 we finally made the Everest Base Camp Rock. We were exhausted but overjoyed. We took photos and Pat suggested we conduct our family ceremony beyond the rock.
I read a lovely poem called ‘The Gentle One’ by Bernadette Gallagher. My daughter Aisling played the tin whistle and we spread Sean’s ashes. We hugged each other. It was a very emotional day for us because it also happened to be Seán’s birthday.
We then started to slowly descend down the mountain and return to our lodgings at Gorakshep.
That night we all went to bed early because some of the group wanted to get up at 3am to climb Kala Patthar (5545m) at sunrise but I declined, because I had developed a chest infection. I believe it was very beautiful for the group who climbed it. They were all served tea at the top and took wonderful photos.
We all met again that morning and had breakfast together. We then started the three-day journey back to Lukla, crossing many bridges but on a different route back, which was lovely.
On our last night we partied and thanked the porters and Sherpas who made it all possible with gifts for each one. We played party games and had a good singsong.
The next day Mother Nature was up to her old tricks, so we decided we would walk the two hours down the river valley to a waiting helicopter – but it was our only guaranteed way out of Lukla.
Each trip took five passengers and the pilot. This was our first time on a helicopter, so the icing on the cake of an incredible bitter sweet adventure, flying below the cloud, and back to Kathmandu by the river valley.
Thanks to everyone who supported my two charities through the GoFundMe page.
