PRESIDENT MARY McAleese has extended her sympathies to the family of the Irish and international mountaineer Joss Lynam, who has died after a short illness.
Mountaineering Ireland has also paid tribute to the mountaineer, walker and orienteer who was regarded as the father figure of Irish climbing. Mr Lynam, who was in his late eighties, died in a Dublin hospital on Sunday evening.
A spokeswoman for President McAleese said she was sending a message of sympathy to Mr Lynam’s wife, Nora, daughters Ruth and Clodagh and family.
Mountaineering Ireland chief officer Karl Boyle yesterday described Mr Lynam as a “remarkable man”.
He said that he was a “shining light within climbing since his foundation of the Irish Mountaineering Club in 1948”, who had played a key role in development of hill-walking, orienteering and adventure sports in general.
“He was known around the globe, serving as expeditions committee president of the Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme, and he played a key role in initiation of the Association for Adventure Sports and development of the national adventure centre at Tiglin, Co Wicklow,” Mr Boyle said.
The Dublin-based engineer participated in his first international climbing expedition in the 1940s, and led his sixth expedition in 1987 to the 7,500m Himalayan peak, Zhangzi, when he was 67 years old and was recovering from a coronary bypass.
He was one of the first to be contacted when Irish Everest expedition leader Dawson Stelfox reached the 8,848m summit of the world’s highest peak on May 27th,1993.
He was author of many guidebooks to climbing and hill-walking, and edited Irish Mountain Logfor a number of years.
Mr Lynam’s funeral takes place in Mount Merrion Church, Dublin, at 10am on Thursday.
