Greg Barber stood on top of the world this week.
The Montrose native reached the summit of Mount Everest on Wednesday.
He was the sole Canadian in a group of 25 climbers who reached the Earth’s highest peak after an 11-week ascension with the American guiding company, IMG (International Mountain Guides).
Barber lives and works in Vancouver. Since graduating from J.L. Crowe in 1982, he has built an impressive climbing resume from Alaska to Africa and Argentina to Antarctica as well as Panama, Russia, Tibet, Washington State and Nepal.
When Barber began his Everest trek in March, he must have reflected back to his young hockey playing days because he had one request from a friend who still lives in town.
That request was to take a piece of Trail with him on the climb.
“He (Barber) requested that (Lee Oliver) send him a Smokies hat to take pictures with along the way,” Oliver’s partner Lorissa Johnson shared back in February. “We would like him to know how proud his childhood community … (and) once he is back with the pictures of the Smokies hat along the journey up Everest.”