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'Dead' Everest climber descends
27/05/2006 12:24 - (SA)
Nepal - In an astonishing feat of survival, an Australian mountaineer left for dead shortly after conquering the summit of Mount Everest has been found alive and walked back to base camp on Saturday in "reasonably good" condition, a colleague said.
Lincoln Hall, 50, had been reported dead by his expedition teammates after reaching the 8 848-metre summit of Everest on Thursday but then succumbing to acute altitude sickness as he began his descent.
Hall, one of Australia's most experienced climbers, became disoriented, lay down in the snow and resisted attempts by accompanying sherpas to help him, according to an account of the incident posted on the internet by his expedition leader, Alexander Abramov.
The two sherpas with Hall were forced to leave him behind when they ran out of oxygen and Abramov issued a statement on Friday that the Australian was dead.
Rescue
But another team of climbers led by American Dan Mazur came upon Hall several hours later and found the Australian alive.
Mazur radioed the news back to camp and in a rescue operation involving about a dozen sherpas and a Russian doctor, Hall was brought to safety.
Duncan Chessell, another Australian climber who organises mountaineering expeditions, said one of his guides on Everest informed him Hall had spent the night in a heated tent at North Col camp, at 7 000 metres altitude.
He was then able to walk Saturday morning into the advanced base camp, which is at 6 400 metres, he told the Australian national news agency AAP.
'Reasonably good condition'
"He's in reasonably good condition but he doesn't have much memory of things at this stage," Chessell said.
"Basically he's been able to come down under his own steam, without assistance," he said.
"I imagine he got up in the morning after being treated with oxygen and hydration and left (North Col)."
Hall still faces a 22km trek across loose rocks and ice to reach the Everest base camp at 5 000 metres.
Deaths on Everest
Another member of the same expedition, Thomas Weber from Germany, who was visually impaired, stopped 50 metres short of the summit after his sight failed and died during the descent.
The initial decision to leave Hall on the mountain and the erroneous reports of his death are likely to revive debate about the ethics and practices of the high-priced Everest expeditions.
Last week a British climber, David Sharp, 34, died on Everest after being passed by up to 40 climbers who said they were unable to help him.
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to conquer Everest, joined in a raging controversy over the incident, sharply criticising the climbers who left Sharp to die.
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