Rob
Hall is a unique character and climber. Hall’s
character progresses and grows throughout the book. He started as a simple guide for Krakauer's
climbing team but soon he develops into a complex character with many angles. At times, Hall can be gentle, supportive, fun
and caring toward not only his clients and his team, but also the teams of
other guides. Along with his gentler side, he can be a rough hard-ass,
especially when it comes to the safety of the people on his team and his
determination to do everything he can to reach the summit. His combination of
strength, skill, determination and dedication to not only his climbers, but all
the climbers around him, makes him the kind of person to trust with your life.
Hall was not only concerned with the safety
and success of his own team, but also of the other teams as well. "Whenever
there was a problem - a labor dispute with the Sherpas, a medical emergency, a
critical decision about climbing strategy - people trudged over to our mess
tent to seek Hall's advice. And he generously dispensed his accumulated wisdom
to the very rivals who were competing with him for clients, most notably Scott
Fischer" (65). Although, of course, Hall wanted to get clients and have
his business continue to succeed, he also knew that failing to help and support
the other teams was not the way to get rid of his competition. Hall not only wanted to help the other
climbers succeed in order to simply help them, he also knew helping the other
climbers on the mountain would support the safety of his own team.
Hall’s experience with climbing taught him that even if someone is
not on your particular climbing team, they could still cause your team to harm. So when another person needs help, teaching
them what he knows, could mean the difference between life and death for that
person, and possibly people on his own team.
Only when a team of climbers does not respect the other climbers by
being reckless and putting their lives at stake, does Hall shows his more angry
and intense side. When the African team
refused to pick a day to start their assent of Everest, Hall became enraged by
the lack of respect the team showed for the sport of mountaineering and the
other climbing teams. "Hall, ordinarily extremely slow to rile, flew into
a rage when he learned of Woodall's refusal to cooperate. 'I don't want to be
anywhere near the upper mountain when those punters are up there,' he
seethed" (147). Over the years, Hall has learned when to be kind and
helpful toward his team and other teams, and also when he needs to think about
purely the safety of his own team. Rob
Hall was one of the most accomplished mountaineers ever. And his dedication, loyalty, kindness and
persistence is something not only valuable on the mountain, but in day-to-day
life. He was not only an accomplished
mountaineer, but also an accomplished human being.
Kayla Augustine
Rob Hall may seem to have a balance between being gentle and being a good strict guide, and he does most of the time. But when under the pressure during the summit push he was too gentle and may have cost his own life as well as Doug Hansen’s. I agree that Rob Hall had extremely good judgments throughout the beginning of the trip; he was able to control his temper so many situations did not get out of hand. Although, during and right before the summit climb he became too sentimental and determined to reach the top. He got lost in making sure that his entire team made it to the top instead of making sure they got down safely. Before going up he said the turnaround time would either be 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. However, when he reached the top it was already past the turnaround point and he still planned on waiting for Doug Hansen. “Rob Hall, Mike Groom, and Yasuko Namba reached the summit around this time [2:10], too… ‘Doug is just coming up over the horizon; right after that I’ll be heading down.”(209) “But Doug Hansen wasn’t just below the summit at that point, as Hall believed, nor was Fischer. I t would in fact be 3:40 before Fischer reached the top, and Hansen wouldn’t get there until after 4:00 P.M.” (210) The fact that Hall was willing to push the turnaround time more than two hours late shows that he became to attached to letting Doug reach the top instead of sending him down earlier. If Hall turned around at 2:00 and told Doug to do the same they may have made it down to Camp Four alive instead of freezing to death at the Hillary Step.
ReplyDelete