For as long as he can remember, former Aurora resident Brian O’Malley has aimed high.
A star athlete at Marmion Academy who went on to play two sports at the U.S. Naval Academy, he truly enjoys the view at the top. So it’s no surprise he turned a childhood love of flying – he got hooked at age 5 when a family friend took him up in his small Cessna – into a successful career. O’Malley served a decade in the Navy flying F-14s, then went to work for Delta Airlines as a flight instructor.
But he retired just a couple weeks ago with a loftier goal on the horizon: On Tuesday, 61-year-old O’Malley will leave for Nepal, where he will attempt to be one of the oldest climbers to reach the top of Mount Everest.
This remarkable mission, he told me in a phone interview from his home in Norfolk, Virginia, can be traced to a bad back, the result of many years in track as a high, long and triple jumper, not to mention all that G-force he was exposed to as a Navy pilot.
Beginning 18 months ago, O’Malley had multiple surgeries to repair herniated discs, and it was during rehab that he became immersed in the many documentaries about those compelling – and often fatal – attempts to climb the world’s highest mountain peak 29,000 feet above sea level.
“I told myself if I can get my back to 100% I will at least trek the Himalayas and get to Everest Base Camp,” he recalled.
In early March, O’Malley did just that, deliberately undertaking the grueling climb with his brother-in-law in winter to experience the harsher conditions. And it was during this “incredible journey” that he decided to attempt the Everest summit.
But first, O’Malley had two hurdles to overcome: Wife Shelley, mother to their three children and a Delta pilot herself, was not keen on the idea. Then there was the financing of such a dream. It can cost up to $100,000 to attempt Everest these days, which was out of the family’s price range.
While still nervous, his wife eventually came around to accepting the idea, more so after O’Malley’s former business partner offered to sponsor his expedition. But O’Malley also had to promise his wife of 35 years he would take every precaution available, which included prepping for the challenging climb by sleeping in an “altitude tent” that is designed to simulate higher altitudes with reduced oxygen.
“I would get to the point of panic many times,” he said of those moments when he’d wake up and have difficulty breathing. “But I would force myself to keep the mask on and think happy thoughts to get my heart rate down to manageable levels.”
While some climbers dramatically increase physical training in preparation for Mount Everest, O’Malley says he’s mostly relying on the physical and mental training he’s done all his life. And he’s reducing his risk factor by signing on with an expedition led by highly-respected guide and philanthropist Daniel Mazur, who has summited Everest seven times, has been part of numerous rescues on the mountain and in 2018 was awarded the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal for his “remarkable service in the conservation of culture and nature in mountainous regions.”
“Being 60,” said O’Malley, “you do all you can to stay healthy,” which includes not only relying on the best equipment and experts in the field but also “staying out of the many bars” that, in this peak climbing season, have cropped up at the base camp.
“Mom is concerned,” he said when I asked about his parents, who still live in O’Malley’s childhood home on Donna Street in Aurora. “But she also knows who I am and how I grew up … looking for the next thing … always wanting to do stuff outside the norm.”
His mother Eddie O’Malley is, indeed, worried, to the point she wakes up at night thinking about this expedition. While she and husband Jim both “shared our thoughts” with their son, neither attempted to change his mind because “you don’t talk Brian out of anything,” she insisted.
“He’s always been so generous … always wanting to do so much for other people,” Eddie O’Malley said. “But I told him there are other things you can be doing” for charity than climbing Mount Everest.
Which brings us to another important reason her son is attempting this feat. Coming from a long line of first responders and military – including his father who was an Aurora firefighter – O’Malley is taking on this challenge to raise money and awareness for his family’s favorite nonprofit: Tunnels to Towers Foundation (T2T), created by the brother of a 9/11 firefighter killed in the World Trade Center, provides mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children, and builds specially-adapted smart homes for veterans and first responders with catastrophic injuries.
“Very little of this is an ego thing,” insisted O’Malley of the Everest attempt. “God gave me back my back,” and in return “I want to do what I can do to help serve other people.”
Age is not on his side, he said, noting that the majority who reach the top – from 60% to 70% of those who attempt – are “adrenaline junkies” in their 20s and 30s. If successful, O’Malley told me he will be the ninth oldest to to have done so. Number one is an 80-year-old Japanese man.
The Aurora native plans to chronicle this high-altitude adventure on social media. He has a YouTube channel, as well as a Facebook page (Boomer Veterans and First Responders Mt. Everest Summit Expedition 2025) and Instagram page (slimdad994) where donations to T2T can be made via a QR code.
The plan is to leave Base Camp on or near Easter Sunday.
“And I would love it,” he said, “if we summit on Memorial Day.”
Of course the mountain and Mother Nature have their own plans, some of which prove fatal every year. Altitude sickness and hypothermia can be deadly, as can dramatic changes in weather or unexpected avalanches and rock slides. O’Malley also expressed concern about traversing the treacherous Khumba Icefall between Base Camp and Camp 1, not once but four times as his expedition will make incremental training treks up the mountain.
It’s not just this dangerous maze of icy cliffs and crevasses that is so intimidating – six people have fallen to their deaths in this icefall since 2016 – but also the long line of climbers that can create bottlenecks on the mountain during this busy season.
Then, for those lucky enough to get their 15 minutes or so on top of the world, there’s the descent, which has its own set of challenges because energy is depleted and attitudes can become lax, he noted.
“I’ve looked at all those stats,” O’Malley said of the many deaths on Everest, including 17 in 2023 and eight in 2024.
Still, those numbers do little to deter adventurers like O’Malley.
“Any time you go out of your comfort zone, you get a new perspective on life,” he said. “My fear is mitigated by training hard and being smart at what I am doing. I don’t let fear make my decision to not do something I’m interested in.”
Deeply religious, O’Malley also believes that life here on Earth is measured in “nanoseconds” compared to eternity, where “I know we will eventually be together with God.”
When we spoke on Tuesday, O’Malley was starting to pack for the trip, describing himself as “nervous, anxious to get going.” He plans to post as many photos and videos as he can on social media, and even purchased a satellite phone to keep in touch with loved ones back home, which brings his mother some comfort.
As does her own faith. Indeed, when Eddie O’Malley wakes up in the night thinking about her son on Mount Everest, she tries to remember the advice of a good friend.
“It is just an angel,” she said, “telling me it is time to pray.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
