Posted on 05/26/2006 5:53:45 AM PDT by Mr. Brightside
Everest rescue underway for Australian
Email Print Normal font Large font May 26, 2006 - 11:10AM
Advertisement AdvertisementA dramatic rescue operation is underway in the hope of saving the life of an Australian climber given up for dead on Mount Everest.
Lincoln Hall, 50, and one of Australia's leading climbers, was reported by a Russian expedition leader to have died on Thursday while descending from the summit of the world's highest mountain.
Friends in Australia mourned Hall after Russian Alexander Abramov declared on Everest news websites that the climber's death "was verified", and was probably due to cerebral edema.
However, the reports were thrown into confusion on Friday by a new website posting by Australian climber and Everest summiteer Duncan Chessell, who said a climber had found Hall alive and set in train a rescue operation.
"Lincoln Hall is still alive," Chessell said on a DCXP/Project Himalaya team website in a report headlined "Lincoln Hall still alive after one night out".
Chessell said he had been told by radio that Hall, of Blackheath west of Sydney, was being helped down the mountain by Russian team Sherpas and had been gaining in strength.
"This is perhaps the most dramatic rescue on the mountain," Chessell said on the website.
Quoting from the radio call, Chessell, currently in Australia, said: "Lincoln is down to the first step with the Russian Sherpa team assisting him.
"It is very difficult going but with every step down he gains strength and a chance to live, Jamie (McGuinness) is heading up to the North Col now and we are all hoping Lincoln Hall gets down OK.
"Good luck Lincoln."
Chessell, speaking from Adelaide, said he had heard nothing more since posting the message and it was still not known for certain if Hall was dead or alive.
"If he's alive he's high up and in serious danger," he told AAP.
Hall's wife Barbara Scanlan and their two sons, Dylan, 17, and Dorje, 15, are waiting for more news of the dramatic turn of events.
Chessell's website entry said Hall had been returning from the summit with two Sherpas when he lost energy and became weak at about 8,700 metres.
"Initially coherent, Hall had quickly developed cerebral edema and began to hallucinate and refused to move down the rope."
The two Sherpas helped Hall until their oxygen supplies were exhausted and they developed snow blindness.
They were then ordered by expedition leader Abramov to leave and save their own lives. Exhausted, they made it down the mountain on Friday.
However, climber Dan Mazur had found Hall still alive and gave him hot tea and oxygen.
"Alex Abramov immediately dispatched a team of 12 Sherpas to re-ascend with fresh oxygen and a stretcher," Chessell said.
Hall was descending Everest after finally fulfilling his ambition to scale the world's highest peak.
He had failed in 1984 when part of the first Australian team to climb the mountain.
This time, he was part of an expedition with 15-year-old Sydney boy Christopher Harris, who was trying to become the youngest person to climb Everest.
While Harris failed in his attempt, turning back because of respiratory problems, Hall decided to make another push to reach the top, said long-time friend Simon Balderstone.
Mr Balderstone said Hall reached the summit on Thursday, accompanied by a group of Sherpas.
The mounteverest.net website reported that, using a portable radio, Hall joyfully informed friends and team members that he had reached the top about 9am (1300 AEST).
But as Hall descended he began to move slowly, lost his coordination, and could not continue down the mountain independently.
Mr Balderstone said while Hall reported to members of Harris' team that he was "heading strongly down" he got into trouble.
"Some time after that he became ill and was resisting attempts to keep going. He wasn't making complete sense. He got a little better before he deteriorated and died at about 8,600 metres," Mr Balderstone said.
Mr Balderstone hailed Hall as a "world-class, legendary climber" who would not have taken risks.
Fourteen climbers have died trying to climb Everest this season.
One was Briton David Sharp, 34, who died on Everest last week after being passed by up to 40 climbers, and controversy has raged about whether they did enough to help him.
Very intelligent response.
Show's your 5 year old age.
I thought the same thing of your ignorant response.
What makes you think that you (sitting in the comfort of your own home and never having made a life-threatening climb on the highest mountain in the world) would know better that two native professionals how to get a frozen man down the mountain?
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