One of Northern Ireland’s best-known mountaineers last night paid tribute to the Irish climber feared dead on K2, the world’s second highest peak.

Hannah Shields, the first woman from the province to climb Mount Everest, said she feared Gerard McDonnell (37) from Co Limerick would not make it back after becoming the first Irishman to conquer the mountain.

Mr McDonnell is thought to be among 11 people from several teams killed on Saturday while descending the mountain.

The group were hit by an avalanche at about 8,000m as they made their descent.

“It’s always sad when something like this happens, but when you go out to make these climbs it’s always in the back of your head,” said Ms Shields.

“But once you do start climbing and going towards the goal it becomes all-encompassing and that’s what you think about.

“It’s a tragedy for the family and I feel for them because Gerard was a lovely fella and a brilliant climber. He was a very loyal friend and somebody that taught me a lot about climbing as well.

“He loved life, adored life. I’ll always remember his zest for life and joy of climbing.”

Ms Shields said it was still unclear what had happened to the climbers on Saturday.

“There’s a bit of a bottleneck when you come off the summit,” she said.

“There had been a number of climbers congregated together, there was a big slab at the side of the mountain (that) collapsed and swept them all away.”

Ms Shields said Gerard would have been aware of the hazards he faced when tackling the 8,611-metre mountain.

“When he was up a couple of years ago, unfortunately he got hit by a rock about 600 metres from the summit and had a fractured skull and was airlifted out,” she said.

“He was prepared for that and worked really hard. He wouldn’t have undertaken it knowing it wasn’t a possibility, because he was a superb climber.”