Rob Hall- Section 1

Savanna Young

Elan

March 6, 2014

I read through chapter eight and after meeting many interesting characters I wanted to know more about one of the main characters in the book so far. Jon Krakauer explains his outlook and opinion about Jon Hall on pages 32-37, he said, “There was something cherubic about his face, yet he looked older than his thirty five years- perhaps it was the sharply etched creases at the corner of his eyes, or the air of authority he projected.” (p33.)  According to EverestHistory.com Rob Hall from New Zealand was a climbing visionary and changed the way people looked at climbing and mountaineering. Born in 1969 Rob Hall started exploring and mountaineering as a young boy and through his life climbed the highest summits on every continent. Hall grew up in New Zealand and climbed in the Southern Alps where he met his climbing partner and best friend Gary Ball. The two of them created Adventure Consultants as a sponsorship and began leading high altitude expeditions. On an Everest expedition in 1993 Gary died due to cerebral edema and Hall had to bury him in a crevasse in the mountain.

Halls first climb up Everest was in 1990 and was also the year he met his wife Jan Arnold. Jan worked in base camp as a doctor as Hall lead expeditions, throughout the short time of their marriage she climbed many of the mountains that Hall did. In the time between 1990-95 Hall successfully lead 39 clients to Everest's summit. According to Wikipedia the expedition Hall is most famous for was his fifth and last summit to the top of Everest in 1996. Sadly, shortly after he reached the top, himself and his clients got stuck in a storm along with many other climbers. Hall stuck with his clients and they all ended up dying in the extreme conditions. Hall ended up leaving his wife, son and daughter that was born two months after his death. After Into Thin Air was written Hall became known worldwide and is now remembered as a visionary and entrepreneur.

Halls body recovery was planned by a team of Nepalese Sherpas in 2010. They wanted to clean up the garbage and dead bodies that were scattered around the mountain, however collecting these bodies just below the summit was nearly impossible. Jan said he had died on the South Summit and his body had fallen down the Kangshug face, towards Tibet according to BBC News. She explained that he would never want to put anyone's life in danger by collecting his body; even though he never planned on Everest being his grave. The expedition leader said he would look for Rob but would not recover his body if there was any risk involved. It isn’t clear is Halls body was ever recovered but he is remembered as one of the best high altitude climbers in the world.