It Ain't Over

A mountaineer who was left for dead on Mount Everest has returned to camp after being found half dressed and sitting on the edge of a precipice 500 feet from the summit. Sherpas pronounced Lincoln Hall, 50, dead at sunset on Thursday after he had shown no signs of life for two hours. The 5-strong team then left him behind at 8,800 meters, forced to continue down the mountain before their own oxygen ran out. But the next morning, climber Dan Mazur found Mr Hall, who is Australian, alive but disoriented. "I imagine you're surprised to see me here," he said, sitting without a hat and dangling his legs over the edge of the 1,000 meter Kangshung Face. The Ague newspaper reported that he had removed his shirt and gloves and was "twitching around", believing he was sitting in a boat. The team gave him tea, medicine and oxygen before starting an 11-hour descent to the North Col camp at 7,000 meters. Mr Hall had severe frostbite, water on the brain and a chest infection but managed to walk into the camp and talk to his wife by satellite phone.