Authors@Google: Lincoln Hall

Author Lincoln Hall visits Google's Mountain View, Ca headquarters to discuss his book "Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest". This event took place on May 21, 2008, as a part of the Authors@google series. For more info about Lincoln Hall, please visit http://www.lincolnhall.net/

Lincoln Hall set off for Everest in early May 2006. Five weeks after reaching Base Camp in Tibet, he began his push for the summit. After three days of climbing higher into the oxygenless air, he was blessed with a perfect summit day. For a few minutes, Hall 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 edema--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 with two clients and a Sherpa, 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.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• atgoogle
• authors@google
• google
• Lincoln
• Hall
• everest
• mountaineering