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Peter Steele: A doctor on Everest

Alaska Public Media | By Eric Bork
Published February 16, 2022 at 11:55 AM AKST
Peter Steel as doctor for 1971 International Everest Expedition
Team doctor for the 1971 International Everest Expedition.

On this Outdoor Explorer, we’ll go to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, to visit with doctor, mountaineer, and author Peter Steele. Introduced to rock climbing and outdoorsmanship in the 1950s at the Outward Bound school in England, Peter Steele eventually found his way to the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Himalayas before finding his way, with his family, to the Yukon Territory. As a medical doctor, he walked the length of Bhutan with his family over the course of five and a half months in the 1960s, conducting a goiter study at the invitation of the King – likely the first European to do so. He became friends with Eric Shipton, the most active and well-known European explorer of the Himalayas in the 1930’s and 40’s. And he was the team doctor for the 1971 International Everest Expedition. We’ll discuss Peter’s adventures as a mountaineer, a husband, and a father, his friendship with Eric Shipton, and his observations about large Himalayan mountaineering expeditions. 

HOST:  Adam Verrier

GUESTS:

  • Peter Steele - doctor, mountaineer, and author

LINKS:

BROADCAST: Thursday, February 10th, 2022. 10:00 am – 11:00 a.m. AKT

REPEAT BROADCAST:  Thursday, February 10th 2022. 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. AKT

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Eric Bork
Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs. After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
See stories by Eric Bork