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| Lincoln Hall obituary | Lincoln Hall obituary |
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| Late on 25 May 2006, Barbara Scanlan took a call from Everest base camp in Tibet explaining that her husband, the Australian mountaineering star Lincoln Hall, was presumed dead near the mountain's summit. Hall had collapsed on his way down from the top, suffering from cerebral oedema, a severe form of altitude sickness. Two Sherpas, Lakcha and Dawa Tenzing, had worked for hours to support the raving and incoherent Hall and, when he lost consciousness, stayed by his side. But as night fell, and injured and in peril themselves, the Sherpas were ordered by the expedition leader Alex Abramov to leave their charge and save themselves. | |
| That night, when she finally slept, Scanlan dreamed that she saw Hall walking towards her with a smile on his face. Next morning, she told their son Dorje about her dream: "I've got this sort of hope that it's all a mistake." On Everest, meanwhile, Hall had regained half-consciousness, and was fighting for survival at 8,600m in the brutal cold. A follower of Buddhism who had practised meditation for many years, he gathered his mental resources for what he described as "an experience to which no name can be given". He imagined himself wearing a cloak of "the finest wool; it was thick and warm and all-encompassing". | That night, when she finally slept, Scanlan dreamed that she saw Hall walking towards her with a smile on his face. Next morning, she told their son Dorje about her dream: "I've got this sort of hope that it's all a mistake." On Everest, meanwhile, Hall had regained half-consciousness, and was fighting for survival at 8,600m in the brutal cold. A follower of Buddhism who had practised meditation for many years, he gathered his mental resources for what he described as "an experience to which no name can be given". He imagined himself wearing a cloak of "the finest wool; it was thick and warm and all-encompassing". |
| He also imagined himself sitting on a grassy knoll in Poland, a country he had never visited, surrounded by rolling hills as dawn broke over the roof of the world on 26 May to reveal not a bucolic scene but the reality of his position – perched over a white abyss. | He also imagined himself sitting on a grassy knoll in Poland, a country he had never visited, surrounded by rolling hills as dawn broke over the roof of the world on 26 May to reveal not a bucolic scene but the reality of his position – perched over a white abyss. |
| That is how four climbers from another expedition found him, cross-legged on the north-east ridge, half out of his insulating down suit, his balaclava at his feet and his frozen hands exposed. When he finally gathered the presence of mind to speak, Hall said: "I imagine you are surprised to see me here." Abandoning their own summit attempt to help him, the four climbers, led by the American Dan Mazur, began what became a major rescue effort. Luckily, Hall was sufficiently mobile to be rescued. | That is how four climbers from another expedition found him, cross-legged on the north-east ridge, half out of his insulating down suit, his balaclava at his feet and his frozen hands exposed. When he finally gathered the presence of mind to speak, Hall said: "I imagine you are surprised to see me here." Abandoning their own summit attempt to help him, the four climbers, led by the American Dan Mazur, began what became a major rescue effort. Luckily, Hall was sufficiently mobile to be rescued. |
| Hall, who has died aged 56 of mesothelioma, was not the first man to survive a night out alone at such altitudes, but the conviction of all those on the mountain that he was beyond saving and the fact that his wife had been informed of his death made his story an international sensation, which overshadowed his other considerable achievements as one of Australia's top mountaineers and a tireless worker for the Australian Himalayan Foundation. | Hall, who has died aged 56 of mesothelioma, was not the first man to survive a night out alone at such altitudes, but the conviction of all those on the mountain that he was beyond saving and the fact that his wife had been informed of his death made his story an international sensation, which overshadowed his other considerable achievements as one of Australia's top mountaineers and a tireless worker for the Australian Himalayan Foundation. |
| Hall began climbing as a teenager at Booroomba Rocks, just outside his native Canberra, introduced to the sport by Norm Booth, his physical education teacher at the city's Telopea Park school. By the time he went to Australian National University to study zoology, Hall was an accomplished rock climber who practised during the week by climbing the buildings on campus. At ANU, shortly after his first mountaineering season in New Zealand's Southern Alps, he teamed up with a tall and very thin forestry student, Tim Macartney-Snape, and, together with Greg Mortimer, they formed the nucleus of arguably the strongest climbing generation in Australian history. | Hall began climbing as a teenager at Booroomba Rocks, just outside his native Canberra, introduced to the sport by Norm Booth, his physical education teacher at the city's Telopea Park school. By the time he went to Australian National University to study zoology, Hall was an accomplished rock climber who practised during the week by climbing the buildings on campus. At ANU, shortly after his first mountaineering season in New Zealand's Southern Alps, he teamed up with a tall and very thin forestry student, Tim Macartney-Snape, and, together with Greg Mortimer, they formed the nucleus of arguably the strongest climbing generation in Australian history. |
| In 1978, as part of a larger ANU team, Macartney-Snape reached the summit of the 7,000m Dunagiri in India, but Hall suffered frostbite and missed out on the summit, later losing a few toes. The experience did not put him off. Over the next few years, he racked up a series of successful expeditions to peaks in the Himalayas and elsewhere, including in 1983 the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna II, just shy of 8,000m. | In 1978, as part of a larger ANU team, Macartney-Snape reached the summit of the 7,000m Dunagiri in India, but Hall suffered frostbite and missed out on the summit, later losing a few toes. The experience did not put him off. Over the next few years, he racked up a series of successful expeditions to peaks in the Himalayas and elsewhere, including in 1983 the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna II, just shy of 8,000m. |
| Encouraged by this high-altitude success, in 1984 Macartney-Snape, Mortimer and Hall set out on their most ambitious target to date – a new route on the north face of Everest without bottled oxygen. It was also the first Australian ascent of the mountain. Only Reinhold Messner had achieved a similar feat, and the Australians' route was much harder than his, but Hall missed out on the summit. He felt afterwards that his contribution might be overlooked, but their success was one of the truly great episodes in the mountain's history. | |
| After his first attempt on Everest, Hall dialled back the extremity of his adventuring to concentrate on family life, although he continued as a mountain guide and climbed Makalu, the world's fifth highest mountain, in 1999. Three years later, with Simon Balderstone, another friend from Everest, he was a founding director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation, which funds schools and healthcare in Nepal. He had returned to his job as editor of Australian Geographic Outdoor magazine shortly before his second and successful attempt on the peak, which cost him several fingertips and another toe. | After his first attempt on Everest, Hall dialled back the extremity of his adventuring to concentrate on family life, although he continued as a mountain guide and climbed Makalu, the world's fifth highest mountain, in 1999. Three years later, with Simon Balderstone, another friend from Everest, he was a founding director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation, which funds schools and healthcare in Nepal. He had returned to his job as editor of Australian Geographic Outdoor magazine shortly before his second and successful attempt on the peak, which cost him several fingertips and another toe. |
| The author of eight books, including White Limbo (1985), the classic account of the first Australian ascent of Everest, last year Hall was diagnosed with cancer, acquired from exposure to asbestos as a boy while helping his father build dens in the garden of their Canberra home. Barbara, Dorje and their other son, Dylan, survive him. | The author of eight books, including White Limbo (1985), the classic account of the first Australian ascent of Everest, last year Hall was diagnosed with cancer, acquired from exposure to asbestos as a boy while helping his father build dens in the garden of their Canberra home. Barbara, Dorje and their other son, Dylan, survive him. |
| • Lincoln Hall, mountaineer and author, born 19 December 1955; died 20 March 2012 | • Lincoln Hall, mountaineer and author, born 19 December 1955; died 20 March 2012 |
| • This article was amended on 11 May. It had said that Lakcha and Dawa Tenzing dragged Lincoln Hall in a rope stretcher to lower altitudes; he made the descent himself. It may have given the false impression that not reaching the summit on the ascent of the north face of Everest had disrupted Hall's friendships with his colleagues. These points have been corrected. |
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