Kerry’s own Volvo Ocean Race winner Damian Foxall has made the news for a very different achievement — descending Ireland’s highest mountain on skis.
The veteran round-the-world sailor made an early start on Saturday morning (2 February) for the ski climb to the peak of Carrauntoohil before the 400-metre descent to the Devil’s Ladder, making the most of the recent heavy snowfall.
As RTÉ News reports, the weekend’s feat marked Foxall’s first attempt to ski the slope known locally as the Shoulder of Corrán.
“The feeling was unreal, exhilarating, a once-in-a-decade experience,” he said.
But the weekend didn’t end there for Foxall as he joined his friend and fellow sustainability manager Lucy Hunt, from the Sea Synergy Marine Awareness and Activity Centre in Waterville, for an adventurous Sunday on skis in the mountains.
The pair went from Curve Gully to Carrauntoohil, then followed the ridge line to four more peaks of the McGillycuddy Reeks “in Alpine conditions”, according to Foxall’s Facebook page.
