Oisin scales Kilimanjaro
TEN-YEAR-OLD Oisin McDevitt had boiled bananas for his Christmas dinner as he scaled Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain.
A native of Wicklow Oisin and his family moved to Jersey in the Channel Islands when he was 6 years old.
From Greenane, Rathdrum Oisin started his mammoth climb on December 23 reaching the summit at 6 a.m. on December 27, just days before another Wicklow man, Ian McKeever, was killed by lightning on the mountain.
Ten year old Oisin reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro via the Western Route.
The son of Fergie and Sara Oisin has two siblings, Fiach (7) and Turlogh (4).
His love of climbing comes as no surprise as his dad Fergie is a former member of the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue Team when he lived in Wicklow.
In Jersey his occupation involves climbing.
‘In completing this summit Oisin has been recognised by the Kilimanjaro National Park as the fastest ascent by a 10 year old and one of the youngest ever to complete that route’, said Fergie.
He said that the weather on the Western Route of Kilimanjaro, which is one of the more difficult routes to the summit, was terrible.
‘ The rain and lightning was ter- rible. There was lightning at one stage every 20 to 30 seconds.
‘Luckily Oisin didn’t suffer from altitude sickness and was up and down in four days. ‘It was an amazing feat.’ On the final day we walked from the summit to the base to get off the mountain because of the bad weather.’
The climb started on Sunday, December 23, meaning Oisin and Fergie were on Kilimanjaro eating boiled bananas while the rest of us were tucking into turkey and ham.
Oisin has a keen sense of adventure according to Fergie and is a member of the Under 11 Jersey rugby team.