SierraDescents.com

May 30, 2006

Lincoln Hall Survives Everest

It has become another ‘bad’ season on Everest—fifteen climbers dead so far, including skier Tomas Olsson, who was skiing the mountain’s north face.

And then this: following a successful summit bid, climber Lincoln Hall collapsed around 8800 meters, struck by cerebral edema, one of the deadliest of the many high-altitude disorders.

Sherpas tried for nine hours to get him off the upper mountain, but eventually gave up for their own safety. Hall was left on the mountain, and word was sent to his family and to his native Australia that he had perished.

Seven a.m. the next morning: climbers on the way to Everest’s summit found Hall alive. His first words were reportedly, “I imagine you are surprised to see me here.”

Miraculously, Hall had survived a night alone on Everest. With the aid of fresh sherpas, he was assisted down the mountain to base camp, where, aside from frostbite, he quickly recovered.

It is strange, isn’t it, to read these stories? Every year, Everest’s call lures climbers to the deaths, and still they come.

If the opportunity came for you to go to Everest, would you be able to resist? Would you go, but tell yourself (as writer John Krakauer did) you’re only going to climb a little way above base camp? Or would you take your best shot, come what may?

Posted in 8000m Peaks, Climbing | 0 Comments

February 8, 2006

Cerro Torre Mystery Solved?

National Geographic Adventure magazine is running a story on a recent ascent of Patagonia’s 10,262′ Cerro Torre, considered one of the world’s hardest climbs.

Mountaineering Geeks out there are probably aware that Cerro Torre is the site of one of climbing’s greatest controversies. Here’s a little background:

Cesare Maestri, a legendary Italian climber, claimed the first ascent of Cerro Torre in 1959. The mountaineering world was thunderstruck. At the time, Cerro Torre was not only unclimbed, it was considered unclimbable.

Maestri’s route was years ahead of its time, so much so that subsequent climbers failed, year after year, to repeat it. They also failed to find any evidence that Maestri had actually reached the summit.

Since Maestri’s partner, Toni Egger, died during the descent, there were no witnesses. And Maestri himself provided contradictory details about the route, eventually refusing to talk about it and angrily denouncing those who questioned his accomplishment.

The dispute opened a rift in the mountaineering community between those who believed Maestri and those who didn’t. A 2004 American Alpine Journal investigation concluded Maestri did not climb the peak, but the controversy remained.

Last November, Rolando Garibotti, Ermanno Salvaterra, and Alessandro Beltrami made a brilliant ascent of Cerro Torre’s north face, as well as climbing thousands of feet of Maestri’s alleged 1959 route. What did they discover? Visit National Geographic’s Adventure Online to find out.