retreat without reaching summit
rockfall on Annapurna
yoga
Harris, Wyn
health
heat
Henderson, Andrew
broken crampon
enforced inactivity
frostbite
insomnia
loss of pack
severe sunburn
high altitude, effects of see oxygen deprivation, effects of
Hillary, Peter
Hillary, Sir Edmund
Hill, David
Himalaya
author’s experience in
earliest expeditions
geography of
immensity of
peaks
Changabang
Cho Oyu
Dhaulagiri
Gyachung Kang
Himalchuli
Makalu
Manaslu
Qomolangma see Everest, Mt
Himalayan Journey, A (film),
homeopathic remedies
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
Hong Kong Oxygen
Hunt, John
hypothermia
India
independence
reconnaissance of Everest (1921)
International Turkey Patrol
Irvine, Andrew
Italian ascent of Everest (1972)
Japanese ascents of Everest
1973
1980
Journey to the Dawning of the Day, A (film),
Karakoram
Kathmandu
Kenya, Mt
Khumbu Glacier
Khumbutse, Mt
Kulu Himal
Lambert, Raymond
Lamjung, Mt
Lhasa
Centre for Physical Culture and Sports
Jokhang Temple
Potala Palace
see also Tibet
Lho La Pass
Lhotse (Everest’s south peak)
lightweight expeditions see under mountaineering
Lingtren, Mt
Lobsang Tenzing Sherpa see Tenzing, Lobsang Sherpa
Logan, Kim
Lovett, Graham
Lowe Alpine Systems
luxuries
Macartney-Snape, Tim
ascending summit of Everest
director of travel company
encounters with avalanches
fund raising
loss of boots
retinal haemorrhage
speech from summit
trekking guide
McDowell, Mike
Machapuchare, Mt
Mackenzie, Roddy
Macpac,
Mallory, George
Martin, Ross
medical equipment
Messner, Reinhold
Minto, Mt (Antarctica)
Monteath, Colin
Morse, Stafford
Mortimer, Greg
cerebral oedema
diary
hit by avalanche
need for activity
on top of the world
snow blindness
Mother Goddess of the Earth
Mountain Designs
mountaineering
ascents without oxygen
Australian ascent of Annapurna II
Australian ascent of Everest
first ascent without oxygen (1978)
booking of peaks
climbing sequence
lightweight expeditions
lure of
terminology
mountain sickness
Mrigthuni, Mt,
Muir, John
Nepal
borders opened (1950)
closed to foreigners early twentieth century
government corruption and incompetence
Ministry of Tourism
outlook on life
site of the Himalaya
superstition
support team on Annapurna II expedition
New Zealand Antarctic Programme
Norton, Edward
Nottle, Craig
Nuptse Ridge
Ocean to the Sky (film)
oxygen deprivation
adjusting to reduced oxygen levels
cerebral oedema
dehydration
effects of
importance of food
mental and physical deterioration
sleep problems
Packer, Kerry
Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co.,
photography, still
Pokhara (Nepal)
Polish ascent of Everest (1980)
Pumori, Mt
Qomolangma
Radio 3AW
Reeves, Nick
Return to Everest (film)
Rongbuk Glacier
Rongbuk Valley
Royal Geographical Society
Sanitarium Health Foods
Schmidt, Richard
Scotpac
Scott, Karen
Sheldon and Hammond
Shipton, Eric
Shresta, Narayan
Siklis (Nepal)
skiing
Smythe, Frank
snow, melting for drinking
snow blindness
snow caves
confinement in
Somervell, Howard
sponsorship
Storage Technology
Sudershan
Swiss ascent of Everest (1954)
Swiss Foundation of Alpine Research
Tamang, Maila
Tamang, Sambhu
Tasker, Joe
Tenzing, Lobsang Sherpa
Tenzing, Norgay Sherpa
Tibet
Anyemaqen massif
British opposition to access through
Buddhism
Chinese invasion
first foreign ascent of Everest from
name for Everest
roads
trade in secondhand climbing gear
withdrawal of Chinese garrison
Xigatse
see also Lhasa
Tilman, Bill
Trisul, Mt
Ube, Akira
vegetarianism
Vinson massif (Antarctica)
Wager, Lawrence Rickard
weight loss
Weldon, Kevin
Whelan, Howard
Wilderness Expeditions
Wild Magazine
yaks
wool used for clothing
Yugoslav ascent of Everest (1979)
When I was found sitting alone, at daybreak, at 8600 metres on Everest’s North-East Ridge in late May, 2006, I startled my rescuers with the words, “I imagine you are surprised to see me here.”
Dan Mazur had been informed that I was dead, but decided he should re-assess the situation. He asked me if I knew my name.
“Yes,” I replied, “My name is Lincoln Hall.”
Immediately another of the party spoke up.
“You’re the White Limbo guy?”
Andrew Brash, a Canadian from Calgary, had got it right. I was the White Limbo guy, but never in my wildest dreams or worst nightmares had I expected to be addressed as such after a night out on Everest.
In Dead Lucky: Life after death on Mount Everest, I acknowledge gaps in my memory around the time when I was close to death. There is an irony in the fact that, twenty-three years after our climb of the North Face, there are images that remain crystal clear. The irony is particularly apparent given that in the introduction to the second edition of White Limbo, I wrote:
Memories present themselves to us as life-like images while the spaces between are bridged by thoughts and ideas. Gradually the images fade, until only the words and the vaguest shapes remain.
And yet, fourteen years later, I note in Dead Lucky that:
… on any day since October 1984 I could have closed my eyes and seen the summit pyramid as clearly as if I were back in Tibet, at the spot near our Advance Base Camp
where I spent hours alone with my yoga, alone with my thoughts, staring upwards.
Without a doubt, our climb of Mt Everest’s North Face is one of the seminal events of my life. During many of the twenty-three years that followed, there was an idea that would surface, not every year, but persistently over the decades, that I might have another shot at Everest’s summit. Sometimes I would dismiss the notion as ridiculous. I would take the point of view held by most people that Everest was too dangerous, too cold, too expensive in both time and money, and bore a very real chance that I would die and shatter the happy cohesion of my family. Sensible as this perspective may be, it is the kind of attitude that I used to rail against, as I attempted to convince people that life not lived at the greatest intensity is not truly being lived.
But at other times, the idea would capture my attention when I was in a more optimistic mood, when my mind was yearning for the world’s possibilities. I could convince myself that I was not too old, that I would be able to bring my fitness levels back to those of my twenties and that I could make a foolproof plan for survival, which might again involve retreating without the summit. My survival plan had worked in 1984 at the cost of the summit, but that was okay. It gave me a dream to nurture.
I had always maintained that my climbing was about the journey, not the goal. Had the summit been the greatest reward, I would have chosen the easiest route to the summit every time, whereas that was rarely the case. However, in 2006, after a seven-year absence from the world’s highest mountains, I tackled Everest by one of the two “easy” routes. Sure enough, I reached the summit, the culmination of a twenty-five-year dream, but that is almost inconsequential compared to what happened during my descent. It is nine months since I staggered into Advance Base Camp after the climb, and I am still recovering physically, mentally and emotionally from the climb of an “easy” route. My circumstances were unusual, and once again the goal became the journey.
Many committed mountaineers won’t go near Everest because they believe the commercialisation of climbing has spoilt the mountain. That is a one-eyed view. Apart from the two standard routes there are a dozen other existing routes on Everest, and several unclimbed lines and features awaiting the imprint of crampons and ice-axe. I am amazed that our 1984 route has not been repeated, given that it is such a direct and obvious route to the summit. My great hope is that up-and-coming mountaineers will read White Limbo, see the potential, and ask, “Why not?” If that challenge is ignored, then at least the climb can again be enjoyed by armchair mountaineers.
Readers would not have had this new opportunity to read White Limbo if it were not for the publishing team at Random House Australia. I would like to thank everyone involved for bringing this book back to life, especially to Jeanne Ryckmans for appreciating the relevance of this new edition at a time when both tragedy and triumph had put the spotlight on Mt Everest, and Kimberley Bennett for her gentle persistence in managing the project while I was totally engrossed in writing Dead Lucky. Thanks also to my agent Margaret Gee for bringing it all together and, of course, to Bradley Trevor Greive for his belief in the book and for taking the time to write the Foreword for this edition.
Lincoln Hall
February, 2007
More fantastic books from
Random House Australia
www.randomhouse.com.au
Dead Lucky
by Lincoln Hall
On the evening of Thursday 25 May 2006,
I died on Mount Everest …
Lincoln Hall set off for Everest in early April 2006. After weeks of climbing, Hall reached the summit and was the highest man on the planet. His Sherpa companions arrived, photos were taken, and the climbers commenced their long descent. Then things began to go horribly wrong.
Hall was struck by cerebral oedema—high altitude sickness—in the aptly named ‘death zone’. Drowsiness quickly became overpowering lethargy, and he collapsed in the snow. Two Sherpas spent hours trying to revive him, but as darkness fell he was pronounced dead.
Early the next day, Dan Mazur, an American mountaineering guide, was startled to find Hall sitting cross-legged on the knife-edged crest of the summit ridge. Hall’s first words—‘I imagine you are surprised to see me here’—were a massive understatement.
Much was reported in the press about Hall’s resurrection, but only he has real insight into what happened, and how he survived that longest night. Dead Lucky is Lincoln Hall’s own account of climbing Everest during a deadly season in which eleven people perished on the world’s highest mountain.
Around the Buoys
by Adrienne Cahalan
In 2004, professional sailor Adrienne Cahalan planned on taking a year off to contemplate her future—until millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett called. He wanted Adrienne to be navigator on the yacht Cheyenne as he and his crew attempted to sail around the world in record time. After 59 days at sea they smashed the record.
Sailing is a tough sport—gruelling conditions; loads of money, politics, pressure; and full of brash men—yet Adrienne Cahalan has competed successfully at the highest levels. In a career spanning more than 20 years, she has sailed on big boats and small ones, in local regattas and at major international events. In 2005 she was navigator on Sydney to Hobart winner Wild Oats XI and was voted Australian yachtswoman of the year.
In Around the Buoys, Adrienne discusses both triumphs and disappointments candidly; confesses that her lifestyle and ambition have presented challenges in the romance stakes; and explains how important her family have been in supporting her through both good times and tragedy.
This is an inspiring account of the life of one of Australia’s highest achievers.
With a foreword by America’s Cup sailor and multiple World Champion Iain Murray.
A Teaspoon of Courage
by Bradley Trevor Greive
Even though life comes with more ups than downs, the downs will still be there. The only way to face them is with courage. Not bluff, not bravado, not overstarched underwear but true courage. In A Teaspoon of Courage, bestselling author Bradley Trevor Greive uses his hilarious head-on style to show you how to summon your braver self and press on with life.
A Teaspoon of Courage delivers just the right pick-me-up to anyone facing troubled times—those moments of despair when you’d rather crawl back under the covers than face the world again. In the spirit of his perennial bestseller The Blue Day Book, which has sold over five million copies worldwide, Bradley Trevor Greive acknowledges the universality of fear, loss, heartache, anxiety and body odour, then with gentle wit and firm resolve marches us down the path to steely nerve, true grit and unstoppable passion. A Teaspoon of Courage is the perfect book for Monday mornings, dentist appointments, ending lousy relationships, eating haggis and anyone facing life’s difficulties.
White Limbo: The Classic Story Of The First Australian Climb Of Everest Page 24