LONDON - Sir Wally Herbert, who some argue is the first explorer to have reached the North Pole without motorised transport, has died at the age of 72, a family friend said Wednesday.
Herbert died Tuesday in Raigmore hospital in Inverness, Scotland, where he had been admitted a week earlier suffering from diabetes and heart trouble, the friend told the Scottish Press Association.
Following an epic 16-month trek across the frozen Arctic Ocean with three companions and a pack of 40 dogs, Herbert reached the North Pole on April 6, 1969.
The team, which had spent years planning the expedition, covered 3,800-miles from Alaska to Spitsbergen in Norway.
Then prime minister Harold Wilson hailed the "feat of endurance and courage which ranks with any in polar history." Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip called it "among the greatest triumphs of human skill and endurance."
Record books show that American Robert Peary was the first to reach 90 degrees North on April 6, 1909, but explorers Pen Hadow and Robin Hanbury Tenison have argued that Peary missed his mark.
Without getting into the dispute about who got there first, the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) praised Herbert's contributions to science.
"As well as his superhuman physical achievements, his expeditions laid the foundations for modern polar science and our understanding of the thinning Arctic ice from climate change," said RGS director Rita Gardner.
"Sir Wally is quite simply one of the greatest polar explorers."
He was awarded the Polar Medal twice -- once for his Antarctic research (1960/62) and again for his crossing of the Arctic Ocean (1968/69).
Named after him in the Artic is the most northerly mountain in Svalbard named. A mountain range and plateau are also named after him in the Antarctic.
Sir Wally, who received his knighthood in 2000, also became a prize-winning author of nine books and became an accomplished painter, with two of his paintings owned by members of the Royal Family.
He leaves wife Marie, who lives in Laggan near Aviemore, Scotland, and a daughter Kari.
06/13/2007 14:51 GMT