Born in Roscommon, Ireland, Dermot Somers studied languages and literature (Irish, English and French). He has over 25 years of climbing and mountaineering experience in Ireland, Scotland, the European Alps, North and South America and the Himalayas. He was a member of the successful 1993 Irish Everest Expedition (North Ridge). He continues to make numerous trekking and climbing trips, in particular to Nepal.

Somers has published two works of fiction, Mountains and Other Ghosts (1990) and At the Rising of the Moon (1994), which won the Boardman Tasker Award in Britain, and the award for Best Book – Environment and Culture at the inaugural Banff Mountain Book Festival. With Crossing the Line Films, he has produced three television series of more than 20 programs on landscape, culture, travel and adventure. All programs were made and presented in Irish and have won numerous awards. Somers is currently writing full-time in English and in Irish.