Opinion from David Noble, well-known outdoorsman and adventurer

When I first read the Inside Sports article - I talked to a few people who know Peter better than I do - and this included some who had been on trips with him - or who had supported him on trips in various ways. I was left with a fair bit of scepticism about whether his solo trips where genuine.

Also - a few other things I had read or heard about Peter, that were not mentioned in the Inside Sports article, seemed to be false as well.

The article does raise some points including -

The Claustral rescue - Peter's biography states the date of the rescue and that the weather was bad (storms - raining). The article say that local weather stations recorded no rain - for several days eaither sie of the date. I have checked my records - and I was in a party doing a Blue Mts canyon in the Bungleboori on the Sunday of the weekend (the resuce is supoosed to have taken place on a Friday night) - and we had to drive back through a bushfire near Clarence - so it does seem unlikely that there was rain. I find it very suprising that the writer of Peter's biography did not seem to attempt to contact the person who Peter supposedly rescued and get her side of the story. After all she owes her life to Peter.

Back in the 70's - Peter claims to have climbed the Caroline Face of Mt Cook when he was 18. The magazine has checked the Mt Cook ascent book and local hut logbooks and has found no mention of his name (except in the intentions book for some short daywalks). This is perhaps similar to Peter's name being absent from the summit logbooks on the Three Peaks in the Blue Mts (Peter has long claimed the record for the round trip from Katoomba). Peter could argue on these sorts of trips that there is not time to sign the logbooks - but if you are claiming a record - then I think it it should be necessary to sign the books as proof that you were at each summit. So in my opinion - there is a lot of doubt about at least some of Peter's solo trips - and if some have been fabricated - then as the magazine says "doubts must now infect all of his solo claims".