Medic and high altitude cameraman Rob Casserley will be calling on both sets of skills when he joins Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Kenton Cool to climb Everest in April this year.

Currently working as a doctor in Barnstaple, 32-year-old Rob has practised remote medicine in America, Alaska, Peru, Bolivia, in the Alps and the Himalayas.

In May 2003 he became the 60th Briton to reach Everest’s summit and to date he has successfully scaled the mountain four times. Following one of those peaks in 2006, he took one day off before setting off to climb the 8,501 metre Lhotse, being thwarted only 150 metres from the top by broken crampons.

Rob knows that an Everest ascent is not to be taken lightly. An earlier 2005 attempt on the mountain turned back only 300 metres from the top when one of his team mates tragically lost his life. They came down the mountain in a raging storm and were thankful to make it back to the 4,800 metre South Col camp in one piece.

His interest in climbing began on his elective as a medical student – as part of his training he spent time in Bolivia and Peru, where he chose to climb the 6,088 metre Huana Potosi. In his own words he “didn’t particularly enjoy it – we fell a bit, nothing major. I remember getting to the bottom and thinking ‘never again’ but the next day I looked back and felt a sense of enormous achievement.”

He enjoys expeditioning as it takes life down to the common denominators – communication, getting on with friends and the normal tasks that people take for granted back in their everyday lives.

Rob describes the first time reaching Everest’s summit as being like watching a complex film for the first time – you never quite know what’s gone on until you run through it again. He said: “The first time I was very scared. It was bad weather – my Sherpa brother and I were like two little boys out of our depth. It was great, a relief, but with an overwhelming feeling that you have to get down to make it a success.

“It’s a long way up and a very long way down and it’s important for us all to remember that it’s a return trip.”