In One Step from Heaven, Dubliner Derek Mahon provides a riveting account of his successful summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. An experienced mountaineer who has since completed the Seven Summits – climbing the highest peak on each of the seven continents, the oldest Irishman to do so – Derek was well aware of the extreme challenge he was facing when he decided to join the Mount Everest expedition.

Like all experienced climbers, Derek knew the mindset required was 80% mental and 20% physical. One needed to be ultra fit with great endurance, but also well organised and psychologically prepared for the unforeseen. From grappling with temperatures well below freezing, the perils of acute mountain sickness and the realisation that one slip on the mountain could be fatal, the Mount Everest climb is not for the faint-hearted. One in five climbers perish, a sobering statistic.

Derek describes in detail the preparations he made before he departed, including the difficult conversation he had with his wife Michelle negotiating his absence from the family for eight weeks on a dangerous quest. She eventually acquiesced, but with one solemn condition: ‘Promise me, you will come home alive’.

Thankfully he did, but there were many close calls along the way, near death experiences that would send the less resilient back home. Fortunately, his training, determination, focus and pure grit enabled him to survive the uninhabitable Death Zone and reach the summit at 8,848 metres. There was little time to celebrate though as he then had to face the equally treacherous descent back to the Advanced Base Camp.

With over 150 colour photos of Derek’s journey, highlighting the dramatic landscape and the majestic Goddess of the Himalayas, One Step from Heaven is an unforgettable story about one man’s resolve to fulfill his dreams.