Damian Bourke’s interest in scaling the world’s highest mountain was sparked almost by accident.

Around a decade ago, he was at a sportsmen’s function with former Wallabies star Tim Horan when the conversation turned to finding motivation after finishing up an elite sporting career.

Bourke, who played 102 games for Geelong between 1983 and ’92 and 22 games for the Brisbane Bears between 1993 and ’95, had been searching for goals that could challenge his mind and body.

So the hairs stood up on the back of his neck when at one stage Horan said, “You need to know what your next Everest is.”

Horan’s line was not meant to be taken literally. But Bourke ended up going home that night and thinking, “I wonder what it takes to climb Mount Everest?”

Bourke, who lives in Brisbane, pondered the idea for a number of years.

Then, in April 2015, he flew to Nepal and began a training program to get himself in the right mental and physical shape to add his name to the list of almost 4500 people who have reached the summit.

“It was about taking on a life challenge and pushing myself to the extreme,” Bourke said in an interview with Cats Media.

After demonstrating that he had the capacity to tackle the climb, Bourke set off with a group of fellow mountaineers and Sherpas.

On April 25 they made it to what is known as Camp 1, a stopping-off point 6100 metres up the 8850-metre mountain. But just half an hour after their arrival a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the region.

The quake, whose epicentre was near the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, ended up killing 9000 people and destroying more than 600,000 structures. It also ended up killing 19 climbers on Mount Everest.

However, Bourke and the rest of the people at Camp 1 miraculously survived.

“We got smashed by a double avalanche,” Bourke recalled. “We all got into a huddle and held on as the ice and snow came down, and there were so many lucky things that happened that enabled us to survive.

“We got stuck up there for a few nights and ended up being helicoptered out.”

Yet someone who had been in Bourke’s climbing party did lose his life.

“He was very unlucky. We were trying to talking him into coming up the mountain with us, but he promised his wife he’d stay at base camp because he thought it would be safer.

“But while we had ice and snow crash down on us at Camp 1, at Base Camp they had a lot of rocks. That’s why a number of people died there.”

Despite the ordeal, Bourke refused to give up on his dream of climbing to the summit. Earlier this year, when he discovered that extra permits were being made available to climbers wanting to tackle the mountain, the 52-year-old headed back to Nepal for a second tilt at achieving his goal.

“I arrived there in mid-April, five or six weeks before we were due to start our climb. I did all the acclimatising and training and then we set off.”

Bourke, who was carrying a Cats flag in his pocket, was delighted when he and his party of fellow climbers and Sherpas made it to Camp 1. Then he found himself in new territory as they progressed to Camp 2 (6400m above sea level) and Camp 3 (6800m).

“I felt really good up in terms of adjusting to the altitude, but the weather was terrible. The conditions were very tough.”

Nevertheless, the party pushed on. They ticked off another milestone when they reached Camp 4 (8000m), which is 850m from the summit.

“I was really pleased with my body,” Bourke said. “You can’t predict how your body will react to the altitude and the physical workload, so it was good. I didn’t have headaches or anything like that, although I dropped 10kgs over the course of the whole thing.”

An experienced American climber, 50-year-old Dr Roland Yearwood, who had reached Camp 4 a day before Bourke, was itching to tackle the push to the summit. He asked Bourke to complete the climb with him.

But Bourke didn’t feel quite ready to tackle the stretch that is known as the ‘death zone’ because the air is so thin.

“I said, ‘No, I just want that extra day so that I’m totally rested and ready.’ He agreed with me that it was better play it safe.”

Yearwood departed that evening (climbers aim to complete the last part of the ascent at night so they can reach the summit at first light when the weather is usually at its calmest).

The following night, Bourke and a couple of others followed in Yearwood’s footsteps.

“I got to about 8200 metres,” Bourke remembered. “The weather was harsh. It was really windy and bitterly cold. Out of nowhere I got smashed in the chest by a rock that had rolled off the mountain.

“I was very lucky. It hit me on the right side of my chest. If it had been a fraction higher and hit me in the face it would have wiped me out for sure.”

Bourke was in pain but he didn’t want to give up. When his Sherpa asked him if he was okay to continue, he gritted his teeth and muttered, “I’ll keep going.”

However, as he pulled on the ropes they were using to haul themselves up the mountain, he realised he was not going to make it.

He turned and said to the Sherpa, “I can’t do this.”

Bourke turned around and headed back to Camp 4. He huddled in his tent, expecting Yearwood to return any minute and start telling him what it was like at the summit.

But after a couple of hours, a Sherpa came to him with some tragic news. Yearwood had died during his descent.

“Apparently he just sat down and died,” Bourke said. “He was an experienced climber, and he was a doctor.

“It’s hard to explain what can happen to you up there. But a lot of people will tell you that you can get this very odd sort of fatigue, and it can make you just lay down and die.

“So although I am disappointed I didn’t make it to the summit, I count my blessings that I’m still alive.”

During a brief period of rest and reflection at Camp 4, Bourke noticed that the weather had cleared momentarily. He retrieved the Cats flag from his pocket and asked another member of the party to take a photo of him and the flag with the summit in the background.

Damian Bourke and his Cats flag with the summit of Mount Everest in the background

Bourke then struggled back down the mountain, doing his best to shut out the pain emanating from his chest.

“I abseiled down left-handed most of the way. I did it pretty tough. Then I got a helicopter down to base camp and saw the doctors there. They sent me to the Kathmandu hospital.

“I was checked out there, and everything camp up okay, so I was cleared to fly home.”

Once Bourke had arrived back in Brisbane, the whole experience began to feel like a dream.

“I was sitting at home thinking, ‘Five days ago I was at 8000 metres on Everest. It was surreal.”

Given his chest remains sore and other parts of his body are still recovering from the ordeal, Bourke is not in a position to contemplate another go at reaching the top of the world.

“The mountain has tried to kill me twice. I don’t think I’ll give it a third go.”

But he can’t rule it out completely.

“In the back of my mind, I’d love to have another crack at Everest. But being realistic about it, I’ve had a good crack at it.

“And, you know, in that kind of extreme mountain climbing there are a lot of deaths. So it’s probably best that I stay down at the lower levels for a while.”