Joss Lynam Medal

The first ‘Joss Lynam Memorial Lecture’ was delivered by Harish Kapadia, in Dublin on 24th November 2011. The auditorium at the historic Trinity College was full of senior and young members of “Mountaineering Ireland” who took keen interest in the subject of mountains in the Siachen glacier and its military and political aspects. The speaker recalled his interactions with Joss Lynam over the past few decades and Joss Lynam’s contribution at various mountaineering forums. He started his lecture with reading a couplet by the poet Declan O’keefe (present in the audience).

Joss Lynam, a Life Member of the HimalayanClub Club since 1946, who passed away in 2010, was one of the most well known Irish Mountaineer for the last 70 years. He arrived first in India in 1942 as a young army recruit and his last visit was to climb Jaonli in 1991. In such a long span of climbing in the higher ranges he made several trips which were exploratory and pioneering. He was responsible for exploration of the Gyundi, Bara Shigri and Lahaul-Kullu divide in 1955-1958 and climbed Shigri Parvat, 6526 m in 1961. His team also climbed many peaks in the Bara Shigri glacier- all first ascents. In 1964 he went to Rakaposhi in the Karakoram and to Changtse (Nepal) in 1987. His books on the hills and mountains of Ireland are a bible for adventurers and he edited ‘the Mountain Irish Log’. In the last years of his life he served on many committees of the UIAA and contributed constantly to the sport. It is during these meetings that Harish interacted with Joss and they became good friends.