A doctor who grew up in Dubbo has climbed Mt Everest, joining the likes of Sir Edmund Hillary in conquering the highest mountain in the world.
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Robert North, 34, a rural GP in Seymour in Victoria, reached the summit on Tuesday afternoon after almost a month of climbing.
His father and mother, Bob and Jane North of Dubbo, saw their eldest son off from base camp in Tibet in late April feeling “confident” he would go the distance after previous experience on the mountain that has claimed hundreds of lives.
In 2007 Robert North, better known as “Rob”, got within 400 metres of the summit before turning back.
After Tuesday’s feat he can lay claim to having climbed the highest peak on every continent.
Dr North’s family has been monitoring his progress through a blog on the website of Adelaide-based Chessell Adventures.
Yesterday morning they were both relieved and thrilled to read that their son was among eight of a nine-member expedition team to reach the top.
Owner of Chessell Adventures Duncan Chessell was among the group to go all the way, making him the first Australian to scale Mt Everest three times.
The May 25 blog reported that the climbers were “on their way down ... and doing well”.
Yesterday a spokesperson for Chessell Adventures told the Daily Liberal that the expedition team had encountered “fresh snow and 30 to 40 kilometre winds” in its final assault on the mountain.
He said once on the summit, the team would have “focused on climbing down”, an exercise that might take longer as Mr Chessell was keen to search for remains of Andrew Irvine, who with George Mallory made an attempt on the summit in 1924. Mallory’s body was found in 1999.
Sub Dean at the School of Rural Health in Dubbo, Associate Professor Bob North said his son would probably call home on a satellite phone when he reached base camp.
To have done so on the summit would have been folly because “minus 30 degrees” temperatures made it imperative to keep hands in gloves, he said.
Dr North, who attended West Dubbo Primary School and Delroy High School, has had an “adventurous life”, according to his family who have tracked his movements across the globe including several excursions to Antarctica, where in 2006 he walked for three weeks in order to reach and climb Mt Vinson.
