COVER STORY
ON TOP
OF THE
WORLD
Dawson Stelfox approaching
the 2nd step on Everest’s
North Ridge, 27th May 1993.
Photo by Frank Nugent.
When you’ve made your mark as the
first Irish person to reach the summit of
Mount Everest it must be all downhill
after that? Not at all! Now 60,
Dawson Stelfox looks forward to new
adventures in the hills in an exclusive
interview with John Stanley for the
Freebird Times.
Dawson Stelfox’s paternal grandparents were one
of the earliest influences on the man who would
become the first person from the island of Ireland to
climb Mount Everest and, as a dual passport holder,
THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018
the first British person to complete its challenging
North Ridge route. They were both botanists and
when his grandfather, Arthur, retired as a curator in
Dublin’s Natural History Museum they moved to
Newcastle in Northern Ireland.
As a regular summer visitor the young Dawson was
brought out walking and plant hunting. “That was
probably my earliest introduction to the outdoors
and I loved it,” he recalls. His mountaineering
career began around age 10 and when he tried rock
climbing at 15 he was hooked.
One of the motivations for mountaineering is
escape from normal, every day life, but Dawson
says he had an added stimulus. “I was one of the
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