A Mount Everest climber was left for dead by fellow climbers. But he somehow survived even after his fellow climbers stripped him down. Hear his extraordinary tale of survival.
According to People, Lincoln Hall went to climb Mount Everest in 2006. However, he became ill and unresponsive on the mountain. His fellow climbers took his equipment and left him exposed at 28,000 feet. They even told his family that he was dead. But Hall was still alive on Mount Everest. Fortunately for him, fellow climber Dan Mazur was on his way up the mountain.
He found Hall without cloves, a hat, and uninsulated.
"We came upon him suddenly. He was just sitting there on the brow of a ridge, with a cliff on one side that had a drop of about 8,000 feet. He's got his arms out of his down suit, wearing just a thin fleece top. He's got no hat, no gloves and no goggles. There's no oxygen. He's got no equipment and he was just sitting there gaping," he told People.
Mount Everest Survivor
"He was 'dead,' so the people he was with apparently took all his stuff," Mazur continued. "He'd had three Sherpas, and I heard they were like poking fingers in his eyes and he wasn't moving. They figured he was dead. Maybe he was almost dead. A couple of people later told me they did everything they could. Anyway, he said, 'You must be surprised to see me here.' I said, 'Yeah, buddy, I'm really surprised to see you.' "
"He's sitting up, holding his hands up, talking to us. If you walk past someone like that, you're going to hell, dude, you're going to hell!" Mazur said "His fingers looked like candles. Frozen down to halfway. All waxy, yellow. It's like minus 20 or minus 30. But there was no wind. I'm like, 'Hold out your hand, dude. Is this your glove? Let's get that glove on, man. Okay, where's your hat? Let's put your hat on. Zip up your coat.' He was like a 3-year-old."
Hall suffered from oxygen deprivation and didn't know where he was. Instead of Mount Everest, he thought he was on a boat.
"He seemed to think he was on a boat," Mazur recalled. "He kept saying things like, 'Strange boat ride we are on here, huh?' and 'Wow, you guys are on this boat ride too?' "
Thanks to Mazur, Hall survived.
