Prominent Irish mountaineer Richard O’Neill-Dean dies after fall in New Zealand’s Southern Alps – The Irish Times

The Irish mountaineer, who participated in the first and successful Everest expedition in 1993, died in a mountaineering accident in New Zealand.

Richard O’Neill-Dean (70), originally from Stackallen, Co Meath, fell during a solo descent from the 2,875m summit of Mount D’Archiac in New Zealand’s Southern Alps. After the alert was raised last Sunday, his body was located and sent to Christchurch for autopsy. He is survived by his wife Frida, his daughters Esmé and Julie, and his young grandchildren.

The mountaineer and psychotherapist had many accomplishments to his credit, including playing a key role in supporting Dawson Stelfox’s ascent of Mount Everest from Tibet on May 27. 1993. Hon. Stelfox, the Belfast architect and Ireland’s first Everest summiteer, described himself as a pioneering climber who recorded the first mountain ascents in Patagonia and the Himalayas and new rock ascents in Ireland.

“In recent years he has logged adventurous ski mountaineering expeditions across the rugged New Zealand Alps, his home since 1987,” Mr Stelfox said.

“On the first Irish Everest expedition in 1993, Richard was the first of the team above 8,000 metres, carrying the heavy load of vital food and equipment in challenging conditions,” he recalled.

“While (deputy leader) Frank Nugent and I were making our summit attempt, Richard was recovering from that effort at base camp,” Mr. Stelfox said.

“While talking to Richard on the radio in the middle of the morning (May 27, 1993), I realized that he was watching our every move through a telescope, and his calm, thoughtful and confident words gave great reassurance; a watchful eye was watching us,” he said.

“He understood both the mountains and the people and the interaction between them,” Mr. Stelfox said.

“He was always calm, thoughtful and wise, with a deep reserve of strength and experience that could be called upon when it was needed most,” he said.

Fellow climber and close friend Dermot Somers, who was also on the 1993 Everest expedition, said Mr O’ Neill-Dean’s many achievements included rock climbing first ascents in Ireland and mountain routes in Europe and New Zealand.

“As a ski mountaineer, he took on important new challenges in remote areas of the New Zealand Alps,” Mr Somers said.

Mr O’Neill-Dean initially worked as a mountain sheep breeder and outdoor adventure instructor before training in psychotherapy.

He said he started climbing as a teenager, following what he called “the usual apprenticeship in the European Alps.”

In his biographical note, he said he was “very lucky” to have climbed several previously unrecorded peaks in the Indian Himalayas and Patagonia.

The Patagonia climb he completed with Richard Shackleton from Lucan, Co Dublin has since become the most popular route of the Parque Nacional del Paine in Patagonia.

After emigrating to New Zealand with his wife Frida in 1987, he developed a new form of winter ski mountaineering, crossing the Southern Alps from east to west.

A memorial service for his life will be held in New Zealand next week.