Lincoln Hall
Mountaineer and author Lincoln Hall is best known for his miraculous survival after being left for dead high on Mount Everest in 2006. Behind that amazing feat lies a long history of adventure which began in his university years when he devoted his summer vacations to scaling the challenging mountain ranges of New Zealand.
Lincoln has gone on to climb more than forty mountains in nine countries. He sailed a small yacht to Antarctica, where his team became the first to climb formidable Mount Minto, and led the first team to ski to the glaciated source of the Ganges in the Indian Himalaya in winter. Six documentaries have been made of his expeditions, most recently Left for Dead: Miracle on Everest (National Geographic Channel, 2008). His understanding of life's challenges has been broadened not only by his adventurous expeditions but also through his work as a Director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation.
The first of Lincoln's nine books was the bestselling White Limbo, the First Australian Ascent of Mount Everest, now in its third edition. Dead Lucky, Life After Death on Mount Everest is also a bestseller and has been published in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and Germany. His latest book, Alive in the Death Zone, is written for younger readers.
As the organiser of the First Australian Everest Expedition in 1984 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to mountaineering. His keynote speaking career began immediately after that ground-breaking 1984 climb with his accounts of how a small team achieved the audacious goal of climbing a new route on Everest without oxygen.
These days it is Lincoln's dramatic experiences alone high on Everest that draw the crowds. He did not survive his night out alone near the summit unscathed. His hands are damaged by severe frostbite, but he continues to rock climb – a much safer past-time than mountaineering.
