Greg Mortimer (born 10 December 1952) is an Australian mountaineer. Mortimer is notable as one of the first two Australians (with

Tim Macartney-Snape Tim Macartney-Snape (born 5 January 1956) is a mountaineer and author. On 3 October 1984 Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer were the first Australians to reach the summit of Mount Everest. They reached the summit, climbing without supplementary ...

) to successfully climb

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

, on 3 October 1984. Their ascent, without supplemental oxygen, was the first via the

North Face North face or Northface or The North Face may refer to: * North face (Eiger), in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland * North Face (Everest), in Himalaya, usually traversed ascending Everest from the north * North face (Fairview Dome), a climbing route ...

and

Norton Couloir The Norton Couloir or Great Couloir is a steep, gully high on the north face of Mount Everest in Tibet which lies east of the pyramidal peak and extends to within 150 m below the summit. Its companion to the west of the summit is the Horn ...

. It is one of the climbing routes that has not been repeated often.

Early life

Mortimer was born in 1952 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and grew up around

Gladesville Gladesville is a suburb in the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gladesville is located 10 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Ryde a ...

and

Bondi Junction Bondi Junction is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of Waverley. Bondi Junction is a largely comme ...

. He graduated in geochemistry and geology at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

, Sydney. He then worked as a survival-training instructor and as a Scientific Affairs Adviser for the New Zealand Antarctic Division.

Mountaineering

Mortimer was the first to climb

Annapurna Annapurna (; ne, अन्नपूर्ण) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the tenth highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the difficu ...

II by its south face (1983), the first Australian to climb

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

's highest peak,

Vinson Massif Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located ab ...

(1988), the first to climb Mount Minto in the

Admiralty Mountains The Admiralty Mountains (alternatively Admiralty Range) is a large group of high mountains and individually named ranges and ridges in northeastern Victoria Land, Antarctica. This mountain group is bounded by the Ross Sea, the Southern Ocean, a ...

(1988) and, with Greg Child, one of the first two Australians to climb K2 (1990). In 1991 Mortimer founded Aurora Expeditions. Since 1992 he has led over 80 expeditions to Antarctica, many on a commercial basis with Aurora Expeditions. In 1994, Mortimer summited Chongtar in China, which was then the world's highest unclimbed peak.

Honours and legacy

Mortimer is the recipient of a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) and three Australian Geographic Society medals. In 2019, Aurora Expeditions named its newbuild expedition vessel the ''

Greg Mortimer Greg Mortimer (born 10 December 1952) is an Australian mountaineer. Mortimer is notable as one of the first two Australians (with Tim Macartney-Snape) to successfully climb Mount Everest, on 3 October 1984. Their ascent, without supplemental o ...

''. The crux pitch on the North Face of Everest route pioneered by Mortimer is known as "Greg's Gully".

Books about Greg Mortimer

* ''White Limbo: The First Australian Climb of Mt Everest'' (1985) by Lincoln Hall, Kevin Weldon, Sydney. * ''The Loneliest Mountain: The Dramatic Story of the First Expedition to Climb Mt Minto, Antarctica'' (1989) by Lincoln Hall, Simon & Schuster, Sydney. * ''First Ascent: The Life and Climbs of Greg Mortimer'' (1996) by Lincoln Hall, Simon & Schuster, Sydney.

Early life

Mountaineering

Honours and legacy

Books about Greg Mortimer

References

See also