Banjo Cheats Death In Himalayas

Dundalk based youth worker, and serious mountaineer, Terence " Banjo" Bannon, who hails from Newry, has vowed he won't return to K2, the world's second highest peak.

Speaking from a base camp on the side of the Himalayas, after four of his team died, he said he wouldn't be quiting climbing, but seriously doubted he would return to the region.

His nine strong international climbing group had been swept down the treacherous mountain, by an avalanche which had claimed the lives of four of the team. They had been completely buried by the avalanche, and only discovered the loss of four of the party after he, and four others, managed to dig themselves out.

The four who died were Russians, and had been higher up on the climbing line. Their rope snapped in the fall, and the four were carried further down by the snow. The climbing party had already passed, what's generally considered, the most critical section of the climb, when they were swept away by the avalanche, and were only 250 from the summit of the 8,611 metre high mountain range, which lies between Pakistan and China.

It was Banjo's third attempt on K2, having already conquered Everest.