Ger McDonnell Online Tribute and Memorial Website

Ger McDonnell

Male
Limerick, Ireland

This is a site in Memory of Ger McDonnell from the EE classes of '92 and '93. We all have very fond memories of Ger, and some of those are shared here.

See All memories »

I first met Gerard at The Motorcycle Shop in Anchorage He came in with his KTM Motorcycle, I instantly liked him as did everyone that met him I think. He had a presence about him ,he was quick with a smile and a greeting and you could tell right away it was genuine. He was the kind of guy that when he walked into a room people would gravitate towards him. I rode Motorcycles with him a few times and ran into him a couple of times in the mountains hiking and once in a while around Anchorage. Mostly I saw him and talked with him when he came into the motorcycle shop where i worked from1995 to 2007 I think it was around 2002 when i first met him there. . My wife and I moved from Alaska in 2007 just before we left we went to the new Irish bar in anch. Gerard and Annie came in I said hello and Gerard briefly introduced my wife and I to Annie. That was St. Patricks day 2007. I doubt Annie would remember the meeting was brief he told me he was picked for the K2 expedition that night . My wife and I moved 4000 miles away the following month. Fast forward to last week 05/25/2013. A friend placed a link to the book one mountain a thousand peaks . My wife and I was floored. this is very late five years late my deepest sympathy and condolences to Annie and Gerards Family. Gerard was truely one of the best individuals I have ever met a true salt of the earth kinda guy. I still remember his fantastic smile and friendly manor these five years later as if it were yesterday .so much so that i feel compelled to leave this comment 5 years late.

Greatest Respect

Steve Walsh Oct 21, 2008

Ger was a man who caught fear by the horns..a genuine hero of a man, rest in peace and tranquility fella.

My Memory

Deirdre Ecock Aug 30, 2008

Living abroad I don't read the Irish newspapers that often but when a colleague brought back an Evening Herald, i was reading the story re this Ger McDonnell who died on K2 and bit by bit, it dawned on me that I knew this guy from my DCU days. So I googled the story hoping not to get confirmation of what I thought. Unfortunately I found this site and saw the pictures and the tributes from people like Tom and memories came back to me.

One memory I have is of Ger sitting in a shopping trolley whilst it was being pushed down a Hill at the Cork Jazz fest back in 1989. :-)

Ger was obviously a hero. I always had a soft spot for him in college and I felt I had to write a tribute from someone who knew him a little from the drunken slipper and DCU bar days. I wish to send my condolences to his family, partner and friends.

May he rest in peace
Deirdre Ecock - AF91
x

My Memory

Marko Aug 20, 2008

Goodbye my friend.

I hope you got the words I whispered to you in the crowds of the Kilcornan community hall.

I’m sure I am not alone in trying to understand the pull the mountain had on you. But how can I deny you what you understood and loved - just to be able to see you one more time.

Your death opened an old door -even that is wrong , for the door was never closed. Instead I rediscovered it again, and in it I met voices and faces from the past. They too looked like they had captured snowflakes in their hair on some remote landscape.

For this I thank you.

I also thank you for making me question what was important in life whenever your grinning, goggled face appeared upon yet another conquered pinnacle.

I’ll miss the random e-mails with sentences like “F@#$ it!! Jeesuz, I've been wanting to make it to that thing for years.”, “Bloody thing must weigh 5lbs but it's black so my head shouldn't look so fat.” Or “So embrace the nappy changings.” And always the few lines of Irish so I had to go look up a dictionary.

I also spoke to my kids of daddy’s friend this weekend. Of the bearded man and his effortless grin. Of his conquests snowy white and softly red. Of his death by glacial ice. I will remind them again and again as time goes on of the doves released outside the parish hall.

Marko