Everest-climber Clare O'Leary outlines her grand plan for 2005 and the Seven Summits to Grania Willis
Dr Clare O'Leary has every reason to view 2004 as the best year of her life, having achieved a long-held ambition by becoming the first Irish woman to climb Mount Everest.
But she has big plans for 2005 as well.
"Everest was something I'd really focused on," the 33-year-old says. "It was a huge challenge and it felt like a huge achievement."
It was made all the more special because O'Leary had been forced off the mountain some 12 months earlier by a stomach bug - an ironic end to the gastro-enterologist's 2003 expedition.
"It was very different to last year. I was more confident and relaxed and able to enjoy it more. Having been there once I knew what was ahead," she says.
"And there were things that we thought we could improve on, such as food and nutrition, that we did improve on."
Petite O'Leary, who tips the scales at fractionally over 50 kilos, had consulted a dietician to calculate precisely how many calories she would burn, with the altitude and a heavy pack adding to the difficulty of the equation.
Her requirements were around 3,000 calories a day, but team leader Pat Falvey, who became the first Irishman to summit Everest from both sides, needed a massive 6,000.
Carbohydrate gels and multivitamins supplemented an otherwise fairly normal diet, but the pair both eschewed the chocolates and snacks they had indulged in last year, sticking to plain, healthy meals.
Amazingly, O'Leary didn't lose any weight, although Falvey shed around 10 kilos.
O'Leary's fitness regime entails cycling around 15 miles a day to and from work, plus a five-mile run four nights a week.
At the weekends she's out on the hills in Cork or Kerry, carrying a 15-kilo pack to improve her cardiovascular fitness.
It may not sound extreme enough to tackle the world's highest peak, but O'Leary and Falvey were stronger and faster at every stage this year.
The pair reached the summit of Everest at 6.45 a.m. on May 18th and O'Leary admits that she was overtaken by the moment.
"When we got up there I was really emotional. I couldn't believe I was going to make it, then all of a sudden I thought, this is it, and I was overcome with emotion. I had a real lump in my throat."
O'Leary's success was plastered over the front page of every newspaper in Ireland, and she and Pat Falvey had just one night to celebrate in Kathmandu before flying home to Ireland to appear on the Late Late Show.
O'Leary had time for a hasty shower and a change of clothes borrowed from her sister before rushing out to RTÉ.
A press conference at Cork airport was followed by a parade through her home town of Bandon and then a meeting with the President at Áras an Uachtaráin.
"I'm someone who'd usually hate that sort of stuff, but I was still running on adrenaline and people seemed to be genuinely delighted for us," she says.
Reality set in fairly rapidly, however, and O'Leary was back at work a week after her return from Nepal. "I would have loved to just go climbing again after Everest, but you have to be practical."
But O'Leary certainly has no intention of hanging up her climbing boots just yet and now has her sights set on the Seven Summits - the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.
There is still some debate as to whether Carstensz Pyramid or Kosciuszko is the highest peak in Australia/Oceania.
Only nine women belong to the elite club of summiteers that include Carstensz Pyramid in their seven.
Ten women have done the summits that include Kosciuszko and O'Leary is determined to add her name to the latter group.
As well as Everest, O'Leary also has Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro already under her belt and plans to get the remaining four climbed in the next 12 months.
"They all have their own seasons," she says, and plans to spread the trips out over the year.
She will be part of Irish teams, each led by Pat Falvey, on the four mountains and already has Mount McKinley earmarked for May or June. Then it's on to Elbrus in July and Kosciuszko in October, finishing off with Mount Vinson in either November or December.
O'Leary was concerned that there might be a problem asking for a three-month break for the Everest trip as she had only moved to Beaumont Hospital the previous July.
But she got huge support from the medical profession, including a valuable sponsorship deal from pharmaceutical company Wyeth.
Her continuing research work means that the two or three-week expeditions for the remaining four peaks should not be a problem.
But the Seven Summits are not the height of O'Leary's ambition.
"I'd like to climb some more aesthetic mountains and climb in more remote regions. I hope to go back to Nepal and do Ama Dablam in the next year or two."
But the world's second highest mountain, K2, is not on the agenda. "It doesn't appeal to me hugely. It just isn't one of the ones that stand out in my mind."
However, Clare O'Leary certainly stands out in the minds of the Irish public.
And her determination to add the Seven Summits to her list of achievements could see the Cork doctor declaring 2005 as the best year of her life - so far.