Courtesy of Lincoln Hall

 

Saturday, November 3, 8:00 p.m.
Eric Harvie Theatre (Live)
Margaret Greenham Theatre (Simulcast)

Lincoln Hall

Dead Lucky

In May 2006, Australian mountaineer Lincoln Hall fulfilled a lifelong dream and reached the summit of Everest. But as he began the long descent with his Sherpa companions, altitude sickness overpowered him and he collapsed in the snow. After hours of trying to revive him, the Sherpas pronounced him dead and, as night fell, they were ordered by the expedition leader to descend to save themselves. The next day, a group of climbers, including Calgary’s Andrew Brash, found Hall alive on the crest of the summit ridge. “I imagine you are surprised to see me here”, Hall said.

Hall’s book Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest is his personal account of his climb of Everest, and of a tragic season on the mountain. “During the second-half of 2006 I had plenty of time to appreciate just how close I had come to being just another frozen statistic on the world’s highest peak. I also realized how far removed from the truth many of the web reports being issued from the basecamps were during the weeks when 11 people died on Everest,” says Hall. “I decided that Dead Lucky would be my personal story of my own climb, but I hoped that through the telling I would be able to convey something of the essence of climbing the greatest of all mountains.”

Hall is one of Australia’s best known mountaineers. His climbing career spans three decades. He began rock climbing at the age of 15 and the sport quickly became his passion. After joining the Australian National University’s Mountaineering Club, he spent many summers in the New Zealand Alps, and joined a 1978 expedition to Dunagiri in the Himalayas. From 1979 onwards, he worked as an adventure guide and professional mountaineer, making guided ascents in Bolivia, Nepal, and Antarctica. Other major climbing achievements include a successful Australian-American expedition to Makalu (1999), the first ascent of the South Face of Annapurna II (1983), and the third ascent of Ama Dablam’s North Ridge (1981).

Adding to his high-altitude career, Hall played a key role in the first Australian ascent of Everest in 1984. His book White Limbo was an international best-selling account of this expedition. He has written six other books, including The Loneliest Mountain, his story of sailing to Antarctica in a small yacht to make the first ascent of Antarctica’s Mt. Minto. In 1987 he was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia (O.A.M) for services to mountaineering.

A gripping, almost unbelievable story of survival that offers insight into a largely misunderstood domain.

— The Sun Herald