Pat Falvey is one seriously brave Cork man, his feats in the realms of exploring are both intimidating and awe-inspiring. The man has climbed Everest four times, summited twice and he is the only person in the world to have conquered the world’s seven summits twice. Then he traversed Greenland (first Irish team) in 2006, the South Pole (first Irish team) in 2007, the North Pole 2009 and sometimes just for the craic he does so without the aid of oxygen, or as he puts it, “just to prove to myself that I can do it”. He has redefined the term, ‘pushing the limits.’ In his spare time, he obviously does not sleep; he is an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, team trainer, environmentalist, author, photographer and film producer.
“Why do I do it? I have a passion to discover what’s beyond the horizon. At times it gets tough, but I treat adventures like life, there are low points and high points.” says Falvey. He has seen 13 of his friends die at high altitude, so naturally the fear factor is respected. The next exploration on the cards is the North Pole, if completed, it will be his teams equivalent of winning the Grand Slam.

“Everyone has their own Everest. The majority of people do not do what I do, because of the fear of failure. People make excuses, but they can achieve anything, it is simply a question of will.”

Falvey lives on the doorstep of the Macgillyicuddy’s Reeks which he has climbed roughly 2,500 times. It is his mountain. “The light and beauty seen from its summit still catches me,” he insists. Kerry is the mecca of Ireland’s climbing scene and Falvey’s personal training spot. Ireland is a playground for hillwalkers of all levels, with Carrantuohil hosting the highest peak and comes highly recommended by Falvey.

Pat Falvey is an Irish hero, anyone that sleeps for only 4hrs a night and can still climb for three hours the next day, do yoga for one, go to the gym and still have a day job deserves a medal. One of the negative’s is you have to make sacrifices, he is away exploring for seven months of the year.

At the moment he is training for the North Pole trek while working on a flood of documentaries, including one on Ger Mc Donnell the first Irish person to reach the summit of K2. Pat will be speaking on Sunday the 22nd of May at The Adventure Weekend Expo in the RDS.