MOUNTAINEERING NEWS ITEM

Aussie Mountaineer Lincoln Hall Is Alive

WEDNESDAY, 31 MAY 2006

Lincoln Hall, the Australian mountaineer who was given up for dead in Mount Everest was in fact alive, contrary to earlier reports. His friend, Jonathan Chester, related Hall's story of survival in Richard Bang's column, Adventure Beat at the Yahoo! News website last Monday.

Chester said in the column that Hall's Everest quest began with the latter first encountered it in 1984. He had the opportunity to climb it this year when he took the job as guide for 15 year-old Chris Harris and his father Richard. Their team, including filmmaker Mike Dillon, signed with the "7 Summits Club" commercial expedition led by Russian climber Alexander Abramov, according to Chester.

The father and son tandem was struck with altitude sickness and decided not to pursue their summit bid. Hall, however, decided to push through and eventually reached the summit at approximately 9 am on May 25th. On his way down along with two Sherpas, he was hit with cerebral edema and collapsed at around 8,800 meters. The Sherpas helped him down the mountain, but when his condition seemed to worsen at around 7 pm, his two guides determined that there was nothing more they could do to help him.

Seeing that it was already getting late, Abramov ordered the guides to abandon Hall and save themselves. Abramov later issued the news that Hall perished and the news spread soon after that.

The following morning, Hall was spotted by American guide Dan Mazur and his clients spotted him. Seeing some signs of life, Mazur gave some tea to Hall and radioed base camp. Upon receiving the news, Abramov immediately ordered some Sherpas to come to Hall's aid and rescue him. By 11 am, Hall was moved down by three Sherpas and Mazur.

According to Chester, Hall is, "one very lucky person to have survived cerebral edema and a night out on Everest in the death zone," which is above 8,000 meters. He further added that, "his friends rejoice and thank the teams and Sherpas who risked their lives, their summit bids and dreams to save him from certain death."

The entire article can be read at travel.news.yahoo.com.

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