Byline: Laura Lynott
THE wife of the first Irishman to die on Everest has revealed she supported his dangerous climb because she 'fell in love with a man and a mountaineer'.
Orla Delaney, 39, paid tribute to her husband John, 42, after his death on Saturday just 50metres from the summit of the world's highest mountain.
He died just three days after she gave birth to their third child, a girl named Hope, but his wife never got the chance to tell him he had become a father again.
Mrs Delaney has told friends that she and her businessman husband were fully aware of the dangers, but she supported him in his dream to scale Everest.
She told adventurer and close family friend Pat Falvey that her husband's passion for climbing was one of the reasons she fell in love with him.
'I loved John as a man and mountaineer,' she said.
'I understood he had a passion and I was in full support of him. He knew and told me the risks involved but I fell in love with a man and a mountaineer.' His wife is said to be gaining strength from her nine-day-old daughter and the couple's two other children, three-year-old Caspar and Alexander, two.
Mrs Delaney had planned to keep Hope's birth as a surprise for her husband once he had finished the gruelling ascent.
She had tried to get in touch with him via text in the hours before his death, but there was no phone signal.
Friends said she was now wracked with guilt that she never got the chance to tell him the news of the birth.
Despite being heavily pregnant with their third child, she gave her full blessing to her husband's second attempt to conquer Everest. He had previously tried and failed five years ago.
'He was following his passion. One of the reasons I fell in love with him was because of who he was. Mountaineering was a part of the man I loved,' she said.
A memorial Mass will be held on Friday at St Brigid's Church in the climber's home town of Ballinakill, Co. Laois.
The internet entrepreneur's body will have to remain in the mountain's 'death zone', above 8,000metres, because it is too dangerous to reach. Mr Falvey, who has himself conquered Everest twice, said Mr Delaney knew death was a risk when tackling the mountain.
'John wanted to stand on top of the world's highest mountain. The top of Everest is the closest anyone can get to heaven,' Mr Falvey said.
'John talked to his family about the risks, he was aware of the risks.' 'They were aware of the fact that in the event of anything happening on the mountain, that John didn't want anyone else to put themselves at risk to help him.' Mr Falvey said Mr Delaney had trained to ensure he was in good physical condition.
'He was involved in marathons and he always classed himself to be fit,' he said. 'But high altitude on the mountain and walking into the death zone is nothing to do with fitness.
It all depends on how the body acclimatises.' He said the death zone was known to mountaineers as a place where you could not recover if anything went wrong.
'John calculated the risks but sadly he didn't make it,' he said.
'It is tragic that he lost his life at such a young age, and to have left such a young family. But we will all be there to support Orla, Caspar, Alexander and Hope. John loved mountains, he loved the challenge and he was a very competent climber.
'John is in the arms of the mountain.
This was his climb to heaven.' Mr Delaney, who was managing director of online market prediction company Intrade, first gained a taste for the adrenaline-pumping sport in 2005 when he climbed Aconcagua, South America's highest mountain at 6,962metres.
The climb fuelled his ambition to conquer the world's highest mountain.
He was hoping to become the 19th Irishman to reach the peak of Everest.
Mr Delaney had undergone a 'procedural' hospital operation before the Everest attempt, but this was not a concern that would have affected the climber's health, friends said yesterday.
They said he had been in the 'peak of his fitness' before the expedition set off on April 9. He had been training for months.
Mr Delaney's death was only confirmed on Tuesday as his team had been out of contact.
He had been travelling on a Russian-led expedition with a mountaineering group known as the Seven Summit Club.
The team of 18 climbers included one American and six Russian climbers, as well as eight sherpas. They left their north side Everest base camp at 8,300metres last Friday evening in a bid to reach the mountain's 8,848metre peak.
Mr Delaney got into difficulty after they reached 8,800metres and sherpas helped him down a short distance. But then he collapsed close to the summit with breathing difficulties. The oxygen level in the death zone is one third of what it is at sea level.
Guides spent two to three hours trying to resuscitate him with the help of doctors, who were in contact with them from Everest's control centre via radio.
But he was pronounced dead at 4.30pm local time on Saturday.
The cause of his death is not yet known but it is thought he may have developed complications from acute altitude sickness, which occurs when there is life-threatening buildup of fluid in the lungs or brain.
laura.lynott@dailymail.ie
CAPTION(S):
Adventurer: Mr Delaney, circled, on Mt Aconcagua in the Argentine Andes during an expedition in 2005
Passionate: Climber John Delaney during a TV appearance on CNBC
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