A Laois student has climbed the highest freestanding mountain in the world, in aid of the Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF).

Tadhg Culliton, a University of Limerick student from Mountmellick, is known locally for his involvement in the GAA.

Along with his sporting endeavours, the 22 year old has a love for hiking and mountaineering.

Pictured: Sunrise near Kilimanjaro's summit, with Tadhg Culliton and classmates five hours into their final push to the peak

The UL student recently completed a challenge where he climbed the highest points in each county across Ireland. Mr Culliton was joined by 15 of his fellow University of Limerick students in climbing Kilimanjaro.

The Laois student told the Leinster Express / Laois Live that the climb was challenging at times, but he was delighted to have done it.

“I was grand the whole way up, a lot of people were suffering with altitude sickness on day two and day three,” he said.

“Every day was 9-10 hours of walking, it was tough. Some parts were really steep, on day three we climbed the Barranco Wall, a vertical wall we had to be really careful climbing,” he explained.

Pictured: The group atop the Barranco Wall, known as 'the fake summit'. Once reaching this point, climbers can see Kilimanjaro beyond.

“We did it at 6am and it was icy out; it was a bit terrifying. It was tough with the long days, the night before we summited, we had hiked for 12 hours.

“When we reached base camp, we had a briefing and a bite to eat. We only slept for two hours when we had to get up at midnight to push for the summit,” he said.

The Mountmellick man explained that reaching the mountain peak was a surreal and emotional experience.

“I was pretty emotional on the top, a lot of people were,” he admitted.

“Over the days going up, it felt like you were just hiking, it was surreal when we got up there, we had actually made it.

“Everyone was so tired from the lack of sleep, we were all delirious. It didn’t hit us until we got down that we had just climbed Kilimanjaro.

“Going down was harder mentally, we just wanted to get off the mountain at that stage,” he said.

Pictured: Tadhg Culliton with his friend and classmate Shane as they climb Kilimanjaro

“I summited at twenty past nine in the morning, I had hiked eight and a half hours straight uphill, it felt sickening.”

As tired as Mr Culliton was, the Mountmellick man was so eager to descend the mountain, that he sprinted down the mountainside to return to basecamp.

“Myself and the porter sprinted downhill to basecamp, we got there within an hour and twenty minutes. I was so out of it, the whole way back down I was just moving on instinct,” he laughed.

“I slept for two hours while everyone else went down safely, and was woken up and told we had to travel another 2000 metres to the Mweka campsite. It was sickening,” he said.

“When we made it down, only six or seven people had dinner, the rest just went to bed.”

As challenging as the climb was, Tadhg said he would love to do it again.

Pictured: Tadhg Culliton at Kilimanjaro's summit, having reached it at 9:20am following a three-day uphill climb. The Mountmellick man dons a Portlaoise Panthers jersey over his hiking gear, and proudly waves a Laois flag

“I’m so glad I did it, it’s nice that the fundraiser was successful, I had the added push on the mountain that it was for them too. I’d like to go back, there are different routes on the mountain, try a shorter and more difficult one.”

The fundraiser was highly successful, having achieved €6,146 of the €5,820 target at the time this article was written. The surplus donations will go towards a climb Mr Culliton will lead in Morocco next year.

“I’m relieved its done now, such a long build up to it, to have it done now is weird.

“I'm in Laois at the moment, we’re making up a papier maché model here of the Atlas Mountains, we’re straight back into recruiting in UL for next year's climb!” Mr Culliton finished.

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