Pronounced Dead to his Family and Friends near the summit of Mount Everest, the legendary story of Australian climber Lincoln Hall lived to tell the tale.
Lincoln Hall narrowly survived after his ascent of Mount Everest in 2006. He was left for dead at an altitude of 8700m while descending from the summit on 25 May 2006. He had fallen ill from a form of altitude sickness, probably cerebral edema, that caused him to hallucinate and become confused. According to reports, Hall's Sherpa guides attempted to rescue him for hours. However, as night began to fall their oxygen supplies diminished and snow blindness set in. Expedition leader Alexander Abramov eventually ordered the guides to leave the apparently dead Hall on the mountain and return to camp. A statement was later released announcing his death to his friends and family.
However, the next morning, 12 hours later, Hall was found still alive by a team making a summit attempt. The team consisted of team leader Daniel Mazur (U.S.), Andrew Brash (Canada), Myles Osborne (UK), and Jangbu Sherpa (Nepal). Osborne described the scene just below the Second Step:
"Sitting to our left, about two feet from a 10,000 foot drop, was a man. Not dead, not sleeping, but sitting cross legged, in the process of changing his shirt. He had his down suit unzipped to the waist, his arms out of the sleeves, was wearing no hat, no gloves, no sunglasses, had no oxygen mask, regulator, ice axe, oxygen, no sleeping bag, no mattress, no food nor water bottle. 'I imagine you're surprised to see me here', he said. Now, this was a moment of total disbelief to us all. Here was a gentleman, apparently lucid, who had spent the night without oxygen at 8600m, without proper equipment and barely clothed. And ALIVE."
A rescue effort that mountain observers described as "unprecedented in scale" then swung into action. Mazur and his team abandoned their summit attempt to stay with Hall, who was badly frostbitten and delusional from the effects of severe cerebral edema. At the same time, Abramov dispatched a rescue team of 12 Sherpas guides from the base camp. The rescue team comprised Ongshu Sherpa, Nima Wangde Sherpa, Passang Sherpa, Furba Rushakj Sherpa, Dawa Tenzing Sherpa, Dorjee Sherpa, Mingma Sherpa, Mingma Dorjee Sherpa, Pemba Sherpa, Pemba Nuru Sherpa, Passang Gaylgen Sherpa, and Lakcha Sherpa.
Hall was brought down the mountain, walking the last part of the way to Everest's North Col where he was treated by a Russian doctor Andrey Selivanov. He arrived at Advanced Base Camp the next day in reasonably good health although suffering from frostbite and the lingering effects of cerebral edema. He lost the tips of his fingers and a toe to frostbite.[9]
Hall's survival and rescue came shortly after the death of UK climber David Sharp on the mountain. No attempt was made to rescue Sharp. While he was unconscious but still alive, other climbers passed him and continued on their own ascents. However, unlike David Sharp, Hall was conscious and able to walk, two factors that allowed for his rescue. The case had raised concerns, including comments from Sir Edmund Hillary.[10] Dan Mazur said of his team abandoning their summit attempt, "The summit is still there and we can go back. Lincoln only has one life."
After Everest
He remained close with Myles Osborne, who sacrificed his only attempt on Everest to aid Hall. Osborne says Hall was "a great guy, really laid back, with a penchant for bad jokes." Dateline NBC aired Left for Dead on Mount Everest, an Emmy Award-nominated documentary special, in 2006.
Hall wrote two books about his experience: Dead Lucky: Life after death on Mount Everest (2007) and Alive In The Death Zone: Mount Everest Survival (2008).
A second documentary, Miracle on Everest, based on Hall's book Dead Lucky, premiered in 2008 on National Geographic Channel in the USA and on ABC1 in Australia.
Death
Hall died on 20 March 2012 at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, after suffering from mesothelioma. He had been exposed to asbestos while working as a builder in the 1960s.
Friend and fellow mountaineer Greg Mortimer, who was with Lincoln at the end, said: "It was very peaceful in the end, around 11:45 last night. Lincoln got into quiet, rhythmic breathing-it was almost meditative-and then he quietly slipped away". Hall lived in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales with his wife and two sons, who survived him.
📼Director: Jennifer Peedom
Writer: Chris Thorburn (script writer) (as Christopher Thorburn)
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