Much more to Donegal Person of the Year Jason Black than climbing mountains

Jason Black, recently announced as the Donegal Person of the Year 2018, describes himself as a global endurance athlete.
In a citation sent to media announcing his selection, much was made of his remarkable achievements, in particular his wonderful mountaineering exploits.
However, for many, many people the Jason Black they know is a man who offers deep and telling insights into life and living.
In 2016 he opened up about his early years to our reporter, Matt Britton, and that interview is often referenced by people when they talk (in glowing terms) about Jason.
While his success on Everest and subsequently his conquering of the incredibly treacherous K2, are the bookends holding together an incredibly varied and interesting life and lifestyle, it is Jason the man, rather than Jason the mountaineer, that inspires thousands who have listened in awe to his presentations or his many interviews on national and local platforms.
In August 2016 he told the Donegal Democrat: “I came from an ordinary home with working parents and went to the local national school. There were no silver spoons.
“Like all the other local kids I went to the local secondary school.
“For a young las this was a daunting experience, walking past the imposing St Eunan's Cathedral and through the gates of St Eunan's College.”
What many people did not know until he opened up about it in 2016, was the difficulties Jason experienced at the hands of a bully while he was at secondary school:
“This was a walk through the gates of hell, I was facing years at the hands of a thug, and I could do very little about it.
“I was bullied incessantly for six years and I couldn't speak to anyone about it, my parents had enough to deal with and I just kept it to myself. I must stress that this was not a member of the staff, but a fellow student.
“You cannot see the scars, but it tore my life to shreds and left me that I just couldn't study or focus on any academic work with the result that I ended up with no qualifications.
“I put all my focus on sport, that was my escape and I honestly believed that it saved my life,” he said.
After school there were difficult times too, the loss of his mother, who died aged 42 from cancer and the death of his best friend, Billy, in an accident in America.
But Jason found refuge from the travails of the world in sport and in the great outdoors, a place where, as he put it, “the silence was deafening”.
His decision to attempt to summit Everest was prompted by a chance talk on Everest which he attended.
From that moment on he said he was captivated: “It made me realise that you must always follow your dreams. I asked myself could I really realise this dream instead of just dreaming about it.
“Could I really take myself to the top of the world?
“It was all about self-belief and visualising the challenge.”

Everest and K2
Jason went on to conquer Everest and more recently K2 and as awareness of his achievements became more widespread, those who met him were taken by the eloquent way he could relate to others and motivate them to conquer ‘their own Everest’.
His final words sum up his philosophy: “My advice to young people it to take pride in themselves and not to feel threatened, not to try and fit in a box that is not you. Be yourself and be proud of yourself.”