Aoibhín Garrihy’s husband becomes first Clare man to summit Everest

John Burke, husband of actress Aoibhín Garrihy, has become the first Clare man to summit Mount Everest.

The actress broke the news on Twitter this morning.

At 9:45am local time @johnjohnb became the first Clare man to successfully summit Mt Everest ?

— Aoibhín Garrihy (@AoibhinGarrihy) May 16, 2017

She also shared this photo on Instagram:

At 9:45am local time @johnjohnburke became the first Clare man to successfully summit Mt Everest…so so proud of him and now hoping for a safe descent ??

A post shared by Aoibhín Garrihy (@aoibhingarrihy) on May 15, 2017 at 9:42pm PDT

John, a hotelier from Miltow Malbay in County Clare, left for Nepal with Aoibhín at the beginning of April.

She returned home three weeks ago while John stayed on in an attempt to reach the summit of the mountain.

Said a very hard goodbye to my best friend today as he follows his dream and faces some of the toughest few weeks of his life…could not be prouder of you @johnjohnburke no matter what happens ❤️#everest2017

A post shared by Aoibhín Garrihy (@aoibhingarrihy) on Apr 16, 2017 at 10:50pm PDT

John had previously spent time mountaineering in Ireland and Europe, as well as on Kilimanjaro and Ama Dablam in the Himalayas.

His Everest expedition is part of a fundraising drive for Elevate, a new organisation to help make wellness programmes available for schools and youth organisations in County Clare.