Lincoln Hall (climber) facts for kids

Lincoln Ross Hall (born December 19, 1955 – died March 20, 2012) was a famous Australian mountain climber, adventurer, and author. He was known for his amazing climbing skills.

Lincoln was part of the first Australian team to climb Mount Everest in 1984. They even found a new way to reach the top! In 2006, he tried again and reached the summit. What's incredible is that he survived a night high up on the mountain, even after his family was told he had passed away.

Lincoln Hall wrote seven books about his adventures. He also helped start the Australian Himalayan Foundation, a group that does good work. He shared his climbing stories with people all over the world. In 1987, he received the Medal of the Order of Australia for his climbing achievements. He also won the Australian Geographic Society's Lifetime of Adventure award in 2010. Lincoln Hall passed away in 2012 at age 56.

Early Life and Climbing Start

Lincoln Hall was born in Canberra, Australia. He went to Telopea Park High School. Later, he studied Zoology at the Australian National University.

He learned to climb at places like Booroomba Rocks in Australia. He even created new climbing routes there. Lincoln also practiced ice climbing in the Snowy Mountains. He would even climb the walls of buildings at his university to train!

A Career of Mountain Adventures

Lincoln Hall's real climbing journey began with trips to New Zealand. These were with the Australian National University Mountaineering Club. In 1978, he joined an expedition to Dunagiri in India. This mountain is about 7,066 meters (23,182 feet) high.

Lincoln and his climbing partner, Tim Macartney-Snape, were asked to find a way to the summit. They pushed through and made a bold attempt for the top. Lincoln was key to their successful climb.

After reaching the summit, they faced a big electrical storm. Lincoln even spent another night on the mountain. He was later rescued by helicopter. This was one of the highest helicopter rescues ever in the Himalayas at that time.

The Dunagiri trip made Lincoln and Tim a strong climbing team. This led to their famous 1984 Mount Everest expedition.

After Dunagiri, Lincoln led many climbing trips around the world. He made many "first ascents" for Australian climbers. This means they were the first Australians to climb those peaks.

His climbs included two trips to Mount Everest in Nepal. He also made the first Australian climb of Mount Minto in Antarctica in 1998. Other big mountains he climbed were Annapurna II (7,963m) and Makalu (8,481m). He also climbed Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia.

Amazing Rescue on Mount Everest

Lincoln Hall had a very close call after climbing Mount Everest in 2006. On May 25, 2006, he was left for dead at 8,700 meters (28,543 feet) high. This happened while he was coming down from the summit.

He became very sick from a type of altitude sickness. It was likely cerebral edema, which made him confused and see things that weren't there. His Sherpa guides tried to save him for hours. But as night came, their oxygen ran low. They also started to get snow blindness, which makes it hard to see.

His expedition leader told the guides to leave Lincoln, who seemed to have passed away. A statement was sent out saying he had died.

However, the next morning, 12 hours later, Lincoln was found alive! A new team trying to reach the summit found him. This team included Daniel Mazur (from the U.S.), Andrew Brash (from Canada), Myles Osborne (from the UK), and Jangbu Sherpa (from Nepal).

Myles Osborne described finding Lincoln: "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."

What happened next was called an "unprecedented" rescue. This means it was bigger than any rescue seen before. Mazur and his team stopped their climb to help Lincoln. He had severe frostbite and was still confused from the altitude sickness.

At the same time, a rescue team of 12 Sherpas was sent from the base camp. They worked together to bring Lincoln down the mountain. He even walked the last part of the way to Everest's North Col. There, a Russian doctor helped him.

Lincoln arrived at Advanced Base Camp the next day. He was in pretty good shape, but he lost the tips of his fingers and a toe to frostbite.

Lincoln's survival happened shortly after another climber, David Sharp, passed away on the mountain. Other climbers had passed David Sharp without trying to rescue him. But Lincoln was awake and could walk, which helped his rescue. Dan Mazur said about his team giving up their summit attempt, "The summit is still there and we can go back. Lincoln only has one life."

Life After Everest

Lincoln stayed good friends with Myles Osborne. Myles had given up his only chance to climb Everest to help Lincoln. Myles said Lincoln was "a great guy, really laid back, with a penchant for bad jokes."

A TV show called Dateline NBC made a special documentary about his story in 2006. It was called Left for Dead on Mount Everest.

Lincoln wrote two books about his amazing experience: Dead Lucky: Life after death on Mount Everest (2007) and Alive In The Death Zone: Mount Everest Survival (2008).

Another documentary, Miracle on Everest, was based on his book Dead Lucky. It came out in 2008 on National Geographic Channel. His story was also shown on the TV show I Shouldn't Be Alive in 2011.

Passing Away

Lincoln Hall passed away on March 20, 2012, in Sydney, Australia. He had been suffering from an illness.

His friend and fellow climber, Greg Mortimer, was with him. Greg said, "It was very peaceful in the end... Lincoln got into quiet, rhythmic breathing... and then he quietly slipped away." Lincoln lived in the Blue Mountains with his wife and two sons. They survived him.

See also

• Beck Weathers, an American climber who was also left for dead on Mount Everest in 1996.