He was formerly an ultra-distance marathon runner and rower, having competed in the US and internationally with MIT Rowing Club. In finding the time and discipline for this, on top of academic work, it obviously helps that his partner, Grace O’Flanagan, is a former professional hockey player - she was on the Irish team that won the Silver medal at the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup finals - as well as a surgeon. Clearly, when he planned for Everest, he knew he could count on his fitness. But that’s not the only reason why, as he puts it ‘my relationship to the risks is unlikely to be the same as a non-climber.’ It’s because he applies to mountaineering the same incremental and methodical approach that he inculcates in students: he breaks it down into its ‘constituent parts’. He specifically identifies and focuses on ‘the most important variables that you have some control over as a mountaineer. These include: your physical strength and stamina, how depleted your body gets on the mountain over the course of the expedition, how you cope with altitude, how proficient you are with your equipment, what your oxygen reserves are, how well you climb with your Sherpa. I want headroom on all these.’ His focus is on ‘making sure I don’t hit my limit on any of those factors. What I do, to mitigate the chances of a high- consequence negative outcome, is to add redundancy to every part of the expedition. Then, if something goes wrong, the level of redundancy across other elements will mean a negative spiral is prevented. That helps to avoid a chain reaction, which is the big danger.’ Explained in this way, it becomes easy to see how the approach would not only help prepare you, but also provide much-needed mental calm. But it cannot, of course, entirely eliminate all risk, as Jonathan is only too aware. In 2019, his Trinity colleague, Professor Séamus (Shay) Lawless died tragically on Everest. In a poignant twist of fate, Jonathan reached the summit three years later on the When I was on the top, it meant the first and last people to summit the amazing Eiger were Irish. That was a lovely thought
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