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Lincoln Hall and Andrew Brash Interviewed by Greg Child — Transcript

by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity · 7,600 words · 998 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:06hello uh my name is Greg child and I'm
0:08sitting here at the bamp center about to
0:10interview a couple of fellas who uh have
0:13been in the meteor a lot lately on my
0:16right is Lincoln Hall and beside him is
0:19Andrew Brash and we're going to talk
0:22about some wild days on Mount Everest
0:26and the aftermath of all of that for
0:28both Lincoln and Andrew
0:30and I I want to really kind of get down
0:33to the the nuts and bolts and the and
0:36the meat of this story um we're here
0:39because you nearly did not come back
0:40from Everest that's right and you're one
0:42of the rare people that gets
0:44to tread that tight route between life
0:46and death quite literally so Lincoln
0:49let's let's take it up from the moment
0:52you're on the summit of Everest morning
0:54of May 25th and everything's looking
0:56pretty
0:58good yeah it was Fant fantastic actually
1:01uh Perfect Day virtually no wind no one
1:03else up there which was an enormous
1:06privilege in a season where hundreds of
1:08people summited uh and I felt good and
1:12strong and uh I could see some people
1:14coming up towards us I thought well we
1:16got to get down here before they come up
1:17and we get a roadblock and there was uh
1:21yeah I mean we had the whole day it was
1:239:00 a.m. Beijing time you know 2 hours
1:25earlier if you step your foot behind
1:27into Nepal uh so we had a whole day to
1:30get down to somewhere safe uh I knew The
1:32Descent would be hard because you know
1:35the last few days to the summit of
1:37Everest you're not sleeping you're not
1:38eating you're dehydrated no matter how
1:40much you're try and drink you have you
1:42know it's it's really hard you're really
1:44stretched and so you're exhausted from
1:46the effort as well and then you got to
1:48get down and so I knew The Descent would
1:53be uh hard uh but it it got to the point
1:59where I was so exhausted that I just
2:01wanted to melt into the snow with
2:02exhaustion and that's what I did and I
2:05basically well I didn't lose
2:07Consciousness but um I actually don't
2:10have any memories of what happened
2:12directly after
2:14that the what had actually happened was
2:17that I was struck with cereal edema
2:19which is a fluid retention within your
2:21skull and obviously your skull doesn't
2:23expand and so it puts pressure on your
2:25brain and your brain doesn't work and
2:27generally kills you that's what happens
2:29with at high altitude so my mind there
2:31were no memories from what happened but
2:33the sherpers told me that I was uh that
2:35I that I went crazy I've rescued someone
2:38with cble edema so I know that they're
2:40aggressively
2:42uncooperative uh they just want to sit
2:44in the stone muttering nonsense it's
2:45like having someone very drunk you try
2:47and drag them you know 10 15 meters and
2:50they just collapse in the snow again and
2:52start the muttering nonsense but what I
2:54was doing I was trying to jump off the
2:55Kung face I wanted to go up the mountain
2:58uh and the sherpers had to sort of of
3:00get ropes on me and pull me down like a
3:01bull who's going to be castrated you
3:02know that kind of thing you know and
3:05so they managed to get me down to the
3:07Second Step I had a little sleep halfway
3:09down the Second Step the second step is
3:11the the hardest part of the climb
3:12whether you're going up or down and uh
3:16and then I came off the Second Step um
3:18with a big fright and uh that brought me
3:21back into a sort of lucid state so I
3:23could suddenly appreciate the urgency of
3:24the situation unfortunately because of
3:26all my Shenanigans high up higher up I
3:28had no energy so sort of crawling along
3:30and the sherpers are pushing and pulling
3:32me and then there's Parts I don't
3:33remember I do remember finally getting
3:35to a point where I could move no further
3:38and Pembo one of the sherpers
3:40saying you'll have to spend the night
3:42here and I remember wanting to say oh no
3:45I'm not going to do that but I just
3:46didn't have the energy to even speak and
3:48that was sort of the last interaction I
3:50had with anyone until
3:52uh well no I had some I had there were
3:55some hallucinations which included
3:56people but the next real contact was
3:58with Andrew uh
4:0012 or 14 hours later well let me set the
4:02scene so you you've come down to the
4:05Hillary Step from the summit you not the
4:07Hillary Step the Second Step the Second
4:08Step sorry we're on the North
4:11side so you've got down to the Second
4:13Step but in in that intervening time
4:15let's set the scene uh how many sherpers
4:17are with
4:18you okay well there were three sherpers
4:22were climbing with me because the rest
4:23of my climbing team had sort
4:26of uh well we um
4:30you there were three sherpers with me
4:32but when another of
4:35our team died the Expedition leader uh
4:40asked Pima who was at the Second Step at
4:43that point to come up and help me cuz I
4:44was in difficulty so I had four sherpers
4:46with me MH Pemba uh laka da tensing and
4:51DOI and uh yeah so that's they were the
4:55people who got me to the uh the the
4:57being at uh 28,000 ft 8,600 M which is
5:02with the point where I could no longer I
5:04presume that uh on the radio these shers
5:07are are telling those at base camp that
5:09you've lost the plot yeah and everyone's
5:11getting quite
5:13concerned uh yeah but they obviously
5:17they were making progress they would
5:18they were making progress
5:20so uh and there were from base camp
5:24members of My Expedition the people I
5:26had been climbing with were trying to
5:27radio me and uh i' had my radio turned
5:30off I think save batteries and um
5:33finally one of the sherpers put a radio
5:34to my mouth and I talked and I sounded
5:36much more together than I actually was
5:39mhh now in the meantime Andrew you know
5:42nothing of any of this you probably
5:44barely even know Lincoln uh did you even
5:47met Lincoln at base camp well I had
5:49heard of Lincoln actually when I was a
5:51young guy I saw Lincoln's video white
5:53limbo uhhuh and I I had heard about the
5:55white limbo I knew about his name and
5:57the climb he had done before and I'd met
6:00his Russian Expedition because I knew
6:02the doctor from their team from a
6:04Kazakhstan trip I did two years ago so
6:08we were hanging out with him a little
6:09bit and Alex actually came to our base
6:11camp one day and he said oh we have a
6:13very famous Lincoln Hall on their team
6:16so I knew he was on the team okay so you
6:18are as Lincoln is up near the the summit
6:22uh losing it badly and then getting to
6:24the uh Second Step you're on your way up
6:26for your own Summit attempt with with
6:28who were you with I was with a guy named
6:30Dan Missour who you know um and uh
6:33another guy miles
6:35Osborne Shera called Jang bu Sherpa and
6:39one other guy Phil krampton there's
6:40actually five of us going up it was a
6:43cool morning and it was their second try
6:44in two weeks cuz we had been weathered
6:46off on a previous morning so this is
6:48your last chance to get to thep pretty
6:50much we're not going to try again a
6:51third time doubtful you know running out
6:54of well you know how it is with the
6:56oxygen bottles and you know like yeah
6:58we're scraping them together for a
6:59second try and stuff like that so yeah
7:01probably the last and had you heard
7:03anything on the radio of the trouble
7:05that was going on up near the the second
7:06step and with Lin not on the radio CU as
7:09we were coming to Camp 3 we're just
7:11climbing um you know not on the radio so
7:13but when we came into Camp 3 his uh a
7:16guy from his team Harry kxra was just
7:19arriving in Camp 3 coming down from the
7:21top and we had spoken a couple times
7:23over the course of the trip you know and
7:25uh so we just sort of met actually as I
7:28was coming to Camp here he was coming
7:29down and we just met standing face to
7:32face and I just said so how did it go
7:33today you know he it seemed it was nice
7:36weather I thought oh hopefully it's a
7:37routine day he he said I had we had a
7:40terrible day I lost two people and this
7:42these people were well Thomas Weber it
7:45was the guy trying to climb with a he
7:47had a vision issue and his vision
7:50deteriorated the high higher he went he
7:53died and then he said I Lincoln Hall has
7:56also died I was like oh so by that stage
7:58Lincoln was being pronounced yes dead
8:01yeah but you weren't dead or were you
8:05well let's depend how you define
8:07death well let's get to that point how
8:09did you you you you're you're going
8:11downhill I mean not you're not going
8:13downhill is the problem but in your head
8:14you're going downhill your mind and body
8:17are really succumbing to cerebral edema
8:19aren't they yeah yeah yeah and so tell
8:22us about you know the sherpers are
8:24obviously in a desperate situation to
8:25try and do something for you but what
8:27are you doing well well
8:30they got to the point where they could
8:31do no more because we we coming down the
8:33mountain we we would now had to descend
8:36we had the obstacle to the first step
8:37which is the first difficulty when
8:39you're going up and that's not
8:40particularly difficult but when I
8:42couldn't move and I'm not a small man
8:45and uh and the sherpers that had a 9
8:48hour day anyway um with not just an
8:51average 9 hour day but trying to control
8:53me being pulling oxygen mask off and all
8:55that sort of stuff so two of the
8:58sherpers just had to keep going because
9:00they would
9:01Pemba who had dealt with Thomas's death
9:04he was just totally exhausted
9:05emotionally and physically and plus I'd
9:07cramp on him in the leg which didn't
9:08help and um so uh yeah so there were two
9:12sherpers left with me and they just
9:14watched my Vital Signs disappear you
9:18know no pulse no uh breathing I mean it
9:21can be difficult to measure those at
9:22extreme altitude so that just for
9:24precaution sake they poke me in the eye
9:27um which was sort of like apparent get a
9:28reaction yeah reaction so uh and I
9:31radioed this back to Alex our Expedition
9:33leader and uh and two hours after 2
9:38hours Alex didn't want to make the call
9:40but he finally made the call saying you
9:42have to come down and save
9:43yourselves now in terms of death uh I
9:47actually don't remember that um but I do
9:49remember having hallucinations and pamba
9:53put this together for me that uh he
9:55didn't intend to but it just came to me
9:58that when he he saw me lying there in
10:02the snow motionless effectively dead
10:05glazed eyes looking up towards Everest
10:07but meanwhile I mean you'd know from as
10:10Mountaineers that when the sun's setting
10:12and you've got all those beautiful
10:13colors on the snow unless you're at a
10:15camp you're thinking we got to get out
10:17of here I got to get out of here cuz
10:18night's coming well I wasn't thinking I
10:20got to get out of here cuz I knew I was
10:22going nowhere and so I could just enjoy
10:24this beautiful sunset and the shape of
10:26the Peaks and you know those the shadows
10:29and
10:30fantastic Mountain scenery but the
10:32problem was not the problem but the
10:34Intriguing thing is that I was facing
10:36that way up at Everest apparently
10:37according to pimo and what I was seeing
10:39was this way so the way I interpret that
10:43was that it was an outof body
10:45experience and um I had another one of
10:48those earlier on on the Second Step what
10:51had happened was IID uh I had
10:53[Music]
10:54um I had a little snooze you know yes
10:58you'd know it's a two tier
11:00step about uh 70t or something I think
11:03anyway I had a little snooze there and
11:04the and finally someone managed to
11:06trigger me to to absy and but I I didn't
11:10get it right and I just shot down the
11:11Rope swung into ping Pemba hit him with
11:14my cramp on and then I swung back and
11:16managed to grab a ledge and pull myself
11:17under that ledge and think of oh and
11:20just totally frightened and then next
11:21thing I know I'm 10 m away 30 ft out
11:25over the North Face this huge exposure
11:28and there's me on cliff and
11:31uh and and it that that was fine
11:35actually uh in a way but and I didn't
11:37want to go back in there uh but then the
11:40next thing there was no control I
11:41suddenly I was nose to nose with the
11:43cliff again and I didn't want to let go
11:46cuz it was a pendule and you know this
11:47huge drop I'd just seen while I was out
11:49in the space anyway so I did the I did
11:51the swing down and it was fine so that
11:53was obviously an outof body experience
11:55as well so I mean when talking about my
11:58death
11:59I mean there are hundreds of uh recorded
12:04examples of that kind of out outof body
12:06experience in hospitals where you know
12:08the person's up in the ceiling seeing
12:10the doctors looking at their body that
12:11kind of thing and uh and yeah it's
12:16called near-death but it's basically
12:17death and back I think it's a better way
12:18to put it let me let me read a quote
12:20from uh by our friend Greg Mortimer
12:23Australian who uh in a in a uh an
12:26article about what happened to you in
12:28Sydney was interviewed and he says uh
12:33he's still living it out on the mountain
12:35and he hasn't actually come down yet
12:37he's trying to figure out what it all
12:38means he died and now he's alive he's
12:41trying to dig deep into his memories to
12:42make sense of it all he doesn't really
12:44want to come back down until he sorted
12:46it all out I mean this idea of you know
12:49that and and outof body experiences and
12:51you having died it's really intriguing I
12:53mean it's a bit of a hairy dog story in
12:55a way isn't it but hairy Yak yeah hairy
12:57Yak yeah but uh I mean I can buy into it
13:01because years of climbing but a lot of
13:03people say wow this is really weird
13:08how I mean you're very clear and
13:09convincing and Lucid about it now but at
13:11the time you know you had cerebral
13:14redemer and your your memor is almost
13:17not there of much of this experience but
13:19you have these little vignettes yes I
13:21have some the things that I do remember
13:23are very Vivid yeah like the
13:25hallucinations uh that being out off the
13:27cliff uh that that Sunset um and
13:32ultimately coming to in the middle of
13:34the night I that was very Vivid and so
13:37you came to in the middle of the night
13:38at what point did you decide you weren't
13:41going to
13:41die well I as soon as I realized well I
13:48mean it was obvious I was going to die
13:49cuz you you're you're now let me just
13:51back up a little bit the sherpers have
13:53had to leave you you're spending a night
13:56way above 8,000 M with cerebral edema
14:01you should die well yeah and uh no no
14:04oxygen I mean I had been using oxygen so
14:07when you don't have it it's even worse
14:08than not ever ever having had it so yeah
14:11uh but the hypoxia the hypothermia the
14:14the exhaustion the dehydration the
14:16cerebal edema I mean that's that's a
14:19death sentence and I could you know and
14:21it was just like bang death and then I
14:23thought no no no I can't be death
14:25because I just had to go back to my
14:27family I mean that was I turned back on
14:29a lot of mountains and um I always
14:32played safe and suddenly my one thing
14:35that I always do which is come home
14:37looked like it wasn't going to happen
14:39well were you you terrified were you uh
14:41you know sad were there emotions to grab
14:44on to well I guess there was the the
14:46shock of that reality and what it would
14:48mean to my family I mean for me it would
14:50have been so easy just to to drift off
14:53and
14:54so so I just knew I had to battle that
14:57drifting off and
15:00um I managed to do that by not by
15:03meditating but because I've done a lot
15:04of meditating I had the ability to focus
15:07not that I display that in everyday life
15:09but when it needs when it needs there
15:11it's there and uh so I just focused on
15:13my physical body and the way to do that
15:15and not drift off was to just move a
15:18little bit just sort of like rock from
15:20side to side and if that got a bit
15:21hypnotic go this way and or you know or
15:24go like that and and just try and just
15:25make sure that I was staying focused on
15:27that not letting my thoughts go anywhere
15:29and so what actually happened then was
15:32that I knew that was what I had to do
15:34and you know sometimes when you're
15:35you're climbing you know you've just got
15:37to keep doing you're not thinking about
15:39what you're doing you're just doing the
15:40next bit and then the next bit and
15:41there's no sort of you're not you can't
15:43think about what's ahead really uh
15:45because youve got to have everything in
15:46that that moment and that's what I got
15:49into was that state of just being in
15:51that moment and
15:54so so the past suddenly wasn't there and
15:58the future wasn't there either which
15:59meant that fear wasn't there but somehow
16:02I I knew I had to just keep getting
16:05through
16:06and until I got through to Daylight I
16:10mean initially I realized first steps to
16:11get to daylight but when I was in this
16:13Focus State I'd forgotten about daylight
16:15I just knew I had to stay in this state
16:17and that was why when Andrew and Dan and
16:22Jang Buu and mils came along I greeted
16:24them in a very flippant way yeah well
16:27let's get to that along the way here so
16:30by this stage the sherpers have left you
16:32they've been they've been ordered to
16:35give up on trying to get you down any
16:37further because you're inert and uh
16:39their lives are at stake and so they've
16:42gone and they've taken your oxygen and
16:45so forth haven't they yeah I thermos
16:47full of fluid leaving you with nothing
16:50and did you meet these sherpers Andrew
16:52on the way down did they tell you what
16:53you would expect to find no we didn't
16:56meet them no I just saw Harry and we got
16:58the new and then we you know went back
17:00to our tent to get ready to go up so
17:02anything you anticipated finding more
17:04dead bodies up there yeah yeah that's
17:05right so that that's um pretty
17:07unsettling you know to to be expecting
17:10that but but the good thing about high
17:12altitude is you you kind of you're
17:13numbed right so able to put that out of
17:16her Minds a little bit it was a good
17:17thing otherwise you'd never do it yeah
17:19so you you get out of your tents so now
17:21we're now now we're at the morning of
17:23the 26th right yesing you're heading to
17:25the summit yeah Lincoln's still sitting
17:28up there and so you head onto the summit
17:30and and what do you find we found well
17:33we had a we were we were going a little
17:36slowly actually but we were going okay
17:38it looked like we were going to Summit
17:39and it was it was a perfect day it was a
17:42good day it was it was calm what time
17:45all that
17:46um right at dawn and it's pre-dawn
17:49actually it's just getting light and you
17:51know from the pitch black to the point
17:52where you can sort of make out shapes
17:55and and you can see sort of where you
17:56are you can see the drop emerging from
17:59the dark and you could see the summit
18:00appearing ahead and we were quietly just
18:03sort of trudging along you know it's
18:04getting a little trickier around that
18:06that area too and um but I I was
18:09thinking okay you keep doing this and
18:11you're going to Summit today you know
18:13it's looking looks good and then
18:16literally you know 30 seconds or a
18:18minute later I really remember this well
18:20I I I could see Dan Dan was in front and
18:22Dan just sort of moving off and I could
18:24see you sitting there I was like uhoh
18:30somebody is alive there you know and so
18:33anyway I just I was confused and I said
18:34what's this and then we all gathered and
18:36then Lincoln made his famous statement
18:39what was your statement I imagine you're
18:41surprised to see me here yes and we were
18:43all we all just sort of did you do a
18:46double take did you automatically know
18:48this is Lincoln Hall who's supposed to
18:49be dead or what did you think well that
18:50crept in pretty quickly um Dan asked you
18:54what your name was and you said Lincoln
18:56hall or said Lincoln and I and I said
19:00something oh you're the white limbo
19:02guy and you looked at me like I was some
19:04kind of idiot but I have an
19:07autograph well then tell me what
19:09happened after that I mean this is well
19:11it was really played out really slowly
19:13um because we were moving like zombies
19:16you know uh but we talked to Lincoln for
19:19the first while I was just talking and
19:21sitting beside him and uh you know while
19:25we were sitting with you um you you made
19:28a dive like like you're sitting right on
19:29the edge of of with your hand on the
19:31Ridge Crest and you actually tried to
19:33jump off at least twice and Dan tackled
19:37you yes I do remember that bit and I we
19:40were very confused I I thought oh boy
19:42this you this guy doesn't like Americans
19:44or something no I thought this guy is
19:45going to die is what I thought and I
19:47thought you it was it was horrible
19:49actually it was a really horrible
19:51situation cuz we we felt like like we
19:54tried you know tried to push you try to
19:56move you but you you're you are a big
19:57guy and you were like a dead weight up
20:00there you know and literally yeah yeah
20:02and we just thought this is I was we
20:04weren't talking about it I was just
20:05thinking this is going to go badly today
20:08this is a bad situation but we didn't we
20:11just sort of hung out with you for a
20:12long time and we eventually started
20:13pulling out like bottles you know of our
20:16half Frozen slushy drinks and you drank
20:20a tiny bit of that uh off of miles and
20:23myself and um we eventually cuz we were
20:28moving slowly you know mentally is you
20:30know even more than usual and um Jang bu
20:33tied you down thought hey let's let's
20:36not let him jump off good plan or roll
20:39off rely on the sherp is to be practical
20:41because because the position is
20:42precarious you know you guys know cuz
20:44you've been there but it's it's um you
20:46know there's not a lot of room to move
20:48there and he's got his hand on the Ridge
20:49Crest with a 10,000 foot drop and then
20:52it's sort of like a slope like this and
20:54you're kind of just in a little Hollow
20:56yeah about that wide yeah and how you
20:58stay there all night is that's what
21:00amazes me that he did it was Pitch very
21:02dark night there was no moon very little
21:05light so it was a pitch black kind of
21:07night well the all the hallucinations I
21:10had focused on me sitting and waiting
21:13that was what I had to do that was what
21:15I mean totally other realities but
21:18that's what the message was and now
21:20there's this strange sort of uh again
21:22you're straddling some You Know Two
21:23Worlds you you're starting you know my
21:25name is Lincoln Hall whatever you said
21:26I'm Lincoln Hall um
21:29you're rational enough to say that
21:30you're rational enough to take these
21:32measures to meditate stay alive but at
21:35the same time you take a flying leap
21:37attempt to jump off the Kang Shong face
21:40what were you thinking I've read that
21:42that you were thinking you on a boat
21:44and well the the way I can explain the
21:49the total craziness and the not so crazy
21:52was that the cerebal edema seemed to be
21:55coming in waves sort of like a pulsing
21:56of swelling I don't know if that's quite
21:58the right to put it and this has been
22:00having talk
22:01to
22:03um psychologists and psychiatrists and
22:06do doctors or having them talk to me
22:08anyway um that seems to be what the only
22:10explanation for me being alive is the
22:12sort of lessening of that cereal edema
22:14which really doesn't happen it us
22:15usually just explodes and that's it so I
22:18think that when I was in those more
22:20Lucid uh times um that that was a
22:24lessening of the cereal edema but early
22:26on uh I think think that you early on I
22:32was I was totally crazy up higher and uh
22:37I'd say that you know this was one of
22:39these when I when I seemed Lucid I you
22:42know I sort of was to a degree but
22:44obviously I just had another wave of
22:46craziness when I tried to to throw
22:48myself off so it wasn't it was just a a
22:52cyclical sort of situation okay so so
22:55you were you're up there and now you
22:59guys must be on the radio saying you
23:01found Lincoln but there's another part
23:03to this is that already the call has
23:06gone out to your wife and two boys that
23:08you're not going to come home well it
23:10didn't go to them directly but
23:13um they heard yeah yeah and in fact uh
23:17they got a message that I was in
23:19distress and and they're back in
23:22Australia to they're back in Australia
23:24and
23:27Barbara um
23:29um yeah they got the message at night
23:31that well I got a message that I was
23:32doing well and that was because there
23:33was this Pudo this this radio call that
23:36sounded good but in fact it was just a
23:39facade so they got the message that I
23:41was dead and the next morning um Barbara
23:45was uh
23:47um uh was was meditating to try and
23:50relax but what happened was she saw me
23:55walking towards
23:56her um and I was wearing this old fleece
24:00jacket from some Antarctic trip that we
24:03both remember and I was walking towards
24:04her with a big smile and and then I came
24:06and I I put my arms around her and she
24:08felt me embracing her on this sort of
24:10was this white
24:12light uh background and um and she just
24:17sort of shrugged that whole thing off
24:19because she knew what that meant and
24:21what that meant was that was me dying
24:24you gone yeah wow so that that and uh
24:28but at some level she she didn't
24:33couldn't believe that I was dead and but
24:36she thought that was just an
24:39A so then the message is going down and
24:43and you guys rally quite a huge rescue
24:45as I understand it there were how many
24:47people ended up getting involved to to
24:49get Lincoln all the way down uh I mean
24:52looking your pictures Lincoln it looks
24:53like about 12 or 14 sh Brothers ended up
24:57coming up that that right no that was
24:59just at the Rison Hotel the the reality
25:03of it was they were invited to the party
25:04yeah I wanted everybody's point of view
25:06I asked Alex the exibition leader to
25:08bring all the sherpers so I could get
25:09their side of the thing because I wanted
25:10to it was so it seem so I couldn't I
25:13really couldn't take on board what had
25:14happened because it was just so extreme
25:15and bizarre and uh basically what
25:19happened was Dan radio to Alex and Alex
25:24took a lot of
25:25convincing um uh
25:28in fact that was a bit of a process it
25:30was actually it took a long time to do
25:32that because persuade people that L was
25:34alive well we don't we didn't have their
25:35channel for one thing so we had to radio
25:37our cook and it was it was Dawn
25:39everybody sound asleep down in base camp
25:41they don't want to get up until the sun
25:42you know MH so it was pretty hard to get
25:45that all going our cook had to go to
25:47your camp and they know they didn't want
25:50to know they didn't want to you got the
25:51wrong guy eventually we were talking to
25:53Dan talked to him at first and uh Dan
25:56ended up fil giving me the radio oh okay
25:59and I i' spoke to Alex for a long time
26:01oh okay trying to convince him that he
26:04said no it can't be Lincoln hall because
26:06we've already phoned his wife to tell
26:08him that he's dead tell her that he's
26:10dead so um but eventually he said yeah
26:13okay I've sent you know I've radioed to
26:15guys in Camp 3 they're coming
26:17up uh it's all going so but we still
26:20didn't know if you were going to live or
26:22not no I was still trying to imagine how
26:25it all how how it could work with you
26:27not able to stand up
26:29yeah so what happened was yeah so what
26:32Alex uh had uh was a couple they had
26:36people up the mountain dismantling Camp
26:37so quite a lot of sherpers up there from
26:39Russell bry's Expedition from our
26:41Expedition and so what Alex needed to do
26:43was to get some oxygen up there that was
26:45the first thing and uh and he managed to
26:47do that
26:50and but that took four or five
26:53hours uh and by that stage the sun was
26:56out and I sort of blossomed like a
26:57sunflower together I mean certainly I
26:59felt a hell of a lot better and the I
27:01was still sort of hallucinating I mean
27:03the thing about the hallucination I had
27:05about the boat was when you're when
27:07you're a climber balance is the one
27:09thing that you always have I mean that's
27:11how you manage to do what you're doing
27:13and uh I mean there's a lot of metal
27:15stuff but balance is just one of the
27:17Givens and so when I felt that my that
27:21my that I was swaying my mind was saying
27:24now well you can't be unbalanced because
27:27you know you've been last two months
27:28you've been balanced very well and you
27:31can't be unbalanced now and in fact of
27:32course I was unbalanced I that was I was
27:34that far gone I was losing my balance
27:36but the way that my brain interpreted
27:38that was that I was actually on a boat
27:40and that's not such a huge
27:43um not such a huge sort of leap in terms
27:47of my memory banks because I've spent
27:49you know a few seasons in Antarctica
27:51working as a climbing guide and wether
27:54mountains everywhere and I'm on a boat
27:56so that was sort of the thing that was
27:57brought out of the files and stuck into
27:59my mind and so that was where the boat
28:01thing came from interesting yeah so now
28:04okay and for you your clim has just now
28:07changed completely yeah at what point
28:09did you just
28:10realize uh we're not going to the summit
28:12of Everest we are now in a rescue
28:14mission and tell me about how that felt
28:16you know you've got to contend with this
28:17big ambition kind of coming to a
28:19crashing end but for obvious good
28:22reasons that you you have to be there
28:24and help this guy talk about that
28:28well I my memory is is even when we
28:32pulled off to the side I was thinking
28:34and and very soon as I thought okay
28:36that's that's it that's this is uh we're
28:39going to be with this guy now for the
28:41rest of the day or or until he dies
28:45um so I I kind of knew right away that
28:48it was the summit wasn't going to happen
28:49that day and obviously after 2 or three
28:51hours it was really obvious and after 4
28:53hours it was yeah nobody was even
28:55thinking about it you know um so it
28:59was yeah I kind of felt blank the blank
29:03empty feeling if you know what I mean by
29:04that um but not a sense of what about
29:07disappointment or or anger or something
29:10like could have just kicked him off the
29:11ridge I was I wasn't angry no I was I
29:14was a bit depressed um to be truthful I
29:16was I was uh you know in coming down up
29:20later that day I was uh I just i s wow I
29:23can't believe that just happened you
29:24know yeah but as you as you processed
29:28that losing the summit and that's a big
29:30ambition for all climbers is Everest or
29:31any big mountain that they're trying to
29:33climb but as you processed it and you're
29:36sitting next to Lincoln now and you're
29:38realizing you contributed to this guy
29:40being alive I mean how do you weigh all
29:42that up oh well it's easy now you know
29:45uh actually it was always easy uh as far
29:47as that goes so that's that's really
29:49clear you know that that it's way more
29:51I'm thank God he's here you know uh and
29:54it turns out that he's a really good guy
29:56and just as well eh yeah thank goodness
29:58for that yeah and uh you know I just
30:00think of the loss to his family that
30:02would have been I mean the Summit is
30:05yeah it's a big ambition but it's it's
30:08really small compared to this other
30:10stuff so uh thank God that's the way it
30:12worked out yeah um of course I was I was
30:16crushed I'll be truthful you know I and
30:18and uh we you know this whole thing with
30:21the media and all this stuff I mean I
30:23was going down thinking okay nobody's
30:26going to believe my excuse for not
30:28summoning this time like I I was you
30:30know cuz I'm a school teacher and I had
30:32800 kids at my school who knew what I
30:34was doing I thought they're just going
30:36to think you I wimped out or I you know
30:38like what what's why didn't you sum all
30:40those other hundred you know hundreds of
30:41people did and I was thinking well well
30:44there was a guy who you know needed some
30:45help and we we did we ran out of time I
30:48I just thought nobody would believe that
30:49and I'd be I just felt terrible about
30:52that you know I felt like I'd let 800
30:55school kids down too who were who were
30:57watching me you and all this stuff
30:59so I was really shocked by how excited
31:03uh everybody got about this and
31:06um the media I learned a lot about the
31:09media uh how they take a story and they
31:12can do what they want with it and make
31:14it you know at the time yes it was a big
31:17deal but but it wasn't it to me it
31:20wasn't uh I guess I was feeling bad
31:22about a lot of stuff you know on the way
31:25down but but the aftermath is that you
31:27and and Dan and and the other guys
31:29painted as Heroes really aren't you yeah
31:32which is which is hilarious but uh
31:34because because it was just to me it was
31:36a climbing trip and
31:38um okay Everest is a big deal for as a
31:41personal ambition but beyond that these
31:43days it's been done by 2,000 people and
31:46uh three and a half oh three and a half
31:48oops okay so anyway it's it's it's not a
31:50big deal in a lot of ways anymore you
31:53know like you're but but you can always
31:55go back yeah you can always go back
31:57that's right you probably would
31:58I probably will yeah yeah yeah I mean
32:00you know you can do it what's two months
32:02you know out of your
32:03life but as for you yeah you came
32:07Lincoln you uh they get you down but it
32:11in between there's this moment when you
32:14communicate with Barbara your wife and
32:17she's got to contend with having lost
32:20you and then getting you back how did
32:22that go in the moment when isn't there a
32:25phone call a a radio call that you
32:28managed to patch through to Barbara Oh
32:30you mean once I'm off the mountain well
32:31at what point did first Barbara learned
32:34that you were going to make it down but
32:36actually hear your voice oh okay well uh
32:40well I was off the mountain I was at
32:41Advanced base camp Which is higher than
32:42most mountains anywhere else anyway but
32:45um I didn't I mean the thing is what
32:47happened was
32:49uh Kevin uh uh who was cameraman with
32:54Harry kxra uh was the only was one of
32:58the few people left at Advanced base
32:59camp apart from the the cook and you
33:01know they were very it was a stripped
33:03down team really and uh
33:07uh he when he saw me it was it was it
33:09was his eyes were just like this and and
33:12I thought the you know the Swedish
33:13women's beach volleyball Team must have
33:15been behind you or something what's the
33:16go and he said mate the rest of the
33:20world things you're dead and I thought
33:22then suddenly the horror that that
33:24included Barbara and so then Kevin then
33:26scuttled off and got his mobile phone
33:28well actually Dr Andre Andrew knows had
33:32dragged me into the tent and was
33:33starting sort of look at my fingers
33:34frostbitten and fingers you were a mess
33:36weren't you I was a mess yeah I was a
33:38mess I mean I
33:39basically once I got the oxygen up high
33:42I was able to walk down the mountain
33:44well stumble and Tumble and but under my
33:47own steam but there were a bunch of
33:48sherpers there who could have stepped in
33:50if they needed to but so anyway so I was
33:53really exhausted by the time I finally
33:54got there and so Andre was looking after
33:57me and then
33:58Uh Kevin came in with a mobile phone and
34:00I remembered the number and I rang barar
34:02and I had a paralyzed vocal cord apart
34:04from being totally dehydrated I could
34:05hardly talk
34:07[Music]
34:08um and and yeah so I kept saying you
34:12know it's me it's me and is that you
34:14Lincoln it's me you know and I told her
34:16the name I told her the name of our
34:18snakes that we had pets and she didn't
34:20seem to Twig into that and then I said
34:22look I just hope you're not looking for
34:23another husband yet and then she knew it
34:25was me so wow that's it must have been
34:29quite insane for her to have to process
34:32loss then regaining and she's a very
34:35strong woman she's
34:37uh she's a very strong woman well I've
34:40met her and I remember that yeah yeah
34:44it's good that you're alive yeah and do
34:47you look at life differently now that
34:49you've been to the edge come back well
34:52yeah I mean people ask me about the
34:54summit and I say what what Summit I mean
34:56sorry just put it like that but um I
34:58take that too yeah who cares but you
35:00know it's it's you know I didn't think
35:02about the summit for months afterwards
35:04actually the achievement and all that
35:06because really it was the death thing
35:08that was to put it there's no other term
35:10for it really uh the death thing was so
35:13extraordinary and just my I mean that's
35:16a you know I practice I'm practicing
35:18Tibetan Buddhist and
35:20so the meditations I've done and
35:23the you know the glimpses of other
35:26levels of consciousness I mean a lot of
35:28things came together in that sense
35:30through what happened to me up there so
35:32that was an extraordinary thing but what
35:34was more amazing was well I guess what's
35:36brought me here was is the uh uh the
35:39humanity of the story and just it was
35:42like when I got home it was like
35:43attending my own funeral and um uh in
35:46terms of you know funerals are where
35:48people say wonderful things about the
35:50person who's died and that's what was
35:52happening and it was it was coming from
35:53people in Brazil that I don't know and
35:55Os and it was it was an extraordinary
35:57thing and it was sort of an overwhelming
36:00um overwhelming uh thing and I think I
36:03mean it it was partly what happened to
36:04me but it was also you know the the
36:07British man David Sharp who who was
36:10unable to be rescued by the time people
36:12realized he was alive his legs were
36:14frozen solid and where he W you just
36:17can't carry someone down from there
36:19without a proper rescue team so so that
36:21that was a a big thing in the in the in
36:24the Press because people have felt that
36:26David Sharp had been ignored and why
36:28didn't why didn't people decide to
36:29rescue him and here I was rescued and it
36:31was such a a Disney ending actually and
36:34it was really heartwarming thing for a
36:36lot of people so it certainly changed my
36:39view of life I mean you know uh nothing
36:42really M well I W say nothing really
36:44matters but everything's okay after that
36:46you know and has this changed your view
36:48of Life what
36:51happened my view of well your sense of
36:53you your priorities about yeah it has
36:56yeah yeah I think uh
36:59well a few things have that and I have a
37:02family now so as you know as I get older
37:05yeah my focus is changing I guess from
37:07from the selfish climbing days to uh
37:11understanding that you know we live with
37:14other people and we have to take care of
37:16each other those kind of things you know
37:19uh obvious enough but but it's really
37:21really brought it out strongly I think
37:24really really forcefully yeah um
37:28um yeah Summits well I've never been I'm
37:33I've always been willing to turn away
37:34from a summit if things weren't right so
37:37and I've done it many times so I could
37:39handle that but it was dis it you know
37:41that was disappointing but on the other
37:42hand like you said go back try it again
37:46um doesn't really matter yeah so I guess
37:49that changed a bit that changed a bit
37:52and uh we learned a lot of things up
37:55there so it was It was a of a need
37:57experience actually in a lot of ways it
37:59was really intense and it was
38:02interesting and for me that's what life
38:04should be you know some of the time at
38:06least so I I I thought that was the
38:09experience was Major so that's good yeah
38:12and I think we have a great friendship
38:13now and uh not many people can say that
38:17they you know the spark was was a
38:20friendship occurred at 28,000 ft it took
38:22a little while to the Friendship to
38:24develop but um we ended up spending
38:26hours on the telephone and yeah we
38:29literally had 2our conversations on the
38:31phone which was yeah we had a lot to
38:34talk about so it's been pieced it all
38:36together yeah yeah well gosh it's an
38:38incredible story
38:40and yeah it's a Cinderella ending isn't
38:42it so except I lost the glass I lost the
38:46toe rather than the glass
38:48shoe it's only
38:50flesh well fabulous story good to see
38:54you thanks thanks Greg thank you Greg
38:57for

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