Colostomy bag climber makes first ascent of Kerry sea stack

Mick Fowler said the structure resembled a magnificent Jenga tower

A mountaineer who wears a colostomy bag has made the first ascent of a landmark sea stack with a friend.

Mick Fowler, 67, and Chris Harle, 65, both from Derbyshire, scaled the 120ft (36m) Devil's Castle in the Atlantic Ocean off County Kerry, Ireland.

Mr Fowler, who underwent cancer treatment in 2017, described the sea stack as "resembling a magnificent Jenga tower".

He said he planned to do more sea cliff climbing in the future.

Mr Fowler made the climb with his friends' support

Mr Fowler, from Matlock, who began climbing with his dad at the age of six and has been scaling mountains in the Himalayas since 1987, had an ostomy, a procedure to redirect the bowel to an exit through an opening in the abdomen wall, after his cancer diagnosis.

After regaining his fitness, he returned to climbing and started seeking out new challenges in the UK and abroad.

He is known for completing first ascents of routes on technically challenging peaks between 6,000m and 7,000m (19,685-23,000ft) and said the colostomy bag did not make a difference on climbs like the sea stack.

He and Mr Harle travelled to the Devil's Castle to begin their challenge on 8 May.

He described the stack's summit as spectacular

They travelled out to the stack, off the Bromore Cliffs, near Ballybunion, on an inflatable boat, supported by two friends.

Mr Fowler said he had spent time climbing sea cliffs in Ireland more than 30 years ago, but did not get to the Devil's Castle and it had weighed on his mind ever since.

"Close up, the stack showed itself to be vertical all round and of a blocky structure, resembling a magnificent Jenga tower," he said.

"It did not look easy and success was not guaranteed."

The whole challenge took six hours, of which two-and-a-half were spent climbing up the stack before abseiling down.

"The climbing involved carefully judging which of the little blocks was the most secure and always pulling or pushing straight down," he said.

"It's a careful, judgemental style which I find most rewarding.

"The summit was as a summit should be, small but perfectly formed. It was spectacular."

Mr Fowler is preparing for his next major expedition, scaling an unclimbed face of a 6,000m (19,685ft) peak in Tajikistan. in July.