Dermot Somers facts for kids

Dermot Somers was born in 1947 in Tremane, County Roscommon, Ireland. He is a well-known Irish mountaineer, explorer, writer, and TV/radio presenter. He went to an Irish-speaking school called Coláiste Mhuire in Dublin. Later, he studied at University College Dublin. For a while, he worked as a teacher. But soon, he decided to focus completely on writing, broadcasting, and traveling the world. Today, he lives in Drogheda.

Climbing Amazing Mountains

Dermot Somers started climbing mountains in 1974 when he was 27 years old. He quickly became one of the best rock climbers in Ireland during the 1970s. He found and climbed many new and challenging paths on cliffs in places like Ailladie, Fair Head, Muckross Head, and Tormore in County Sligo.

In 1983, Dermot achieved something incredible. He became the first Irishman to climb the six toughest north faces of the Alps mountains. These are some of the most difficult and famous climbs in the world!

He also joined Irish teams on big trips to the Himalayan mountains. He went to Changtse in 1987, Manaslu in 1991, and even Everest in 1993. He has also climbed in the Andes and other huge mountain ranges around the globe.

Writing Exciting Books and Shows

Dermot Somers has written many books in both Irish and English. His books often tell stories about his travels and adventures. He has also written collections of made-up short stories.

Some of his popular books include:

• Nightfall: A short story about climbing the Eiger Nordwand.
• Mountains and Other Ghosts: A collection of short stories.
• At the Rising of the Moon: Another collection of short stories. This book won two big awards in 1994: the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and the Culture and Environment Award at the Banff Mountain Book Festival.
• Rince ar na Ballaí: This book shares stories about Dermot's mountaineering and exploration adventures. It won the Oireachtas Award for Literature.
• Collected Short Stories: This book combines Mountains and Other Ghosts and At the Rising of the Moon.
• Endurance: Heroic Journeys in Ireland: This book tells about epic journeys from Irish history and old stories.
• Buaic: A novel about mountaineering.
• Ar Muir is ar Sliabh: Another novel he wrote.

Dermot has also written and presented many shows for radio and television. These shows often explore themes of mountaineering, exploration, and the beautiful Irish landscape and its old stories. Most of his TV shows were made for Irish channels like RTÉ and TG4.

Some of his TV and radio shows include:

• Cuairt na Cruinne (Above the Clouds): In this TV series, Dermot climbed with different guests in places like the Eiger, Mount Kenya, Nepal, Yosemite, Scotland, and Peru. One episode about the Eiger won an award in 1998!
• An Bealach Ó Dheas (Wild Ireland): This TV series showed Dermot walking all the way across Ireland. He walked from Malin Head in the north to Mizen Head in the south, exploring interesting places along his journey.
• Turas Feasa: A TV series where Dermot followed seven famous Irish walking trails.
• Turas Tréadacha (Great Nomadic Journeys): This TV series showed Dermot joining local people who travel with their animals (nomads) on some of the world's biggest journeys. He traveled in places like Siberia (2001), the Sahara desert (2002), Iran (2004), and Nepal (2008).
• Friends in High Places: A radio series where Dermot climbed and walked with famous guests.
• On the Trail of the Táin: A radio series about the famous Irish story called Táin Bó Cuailnge.