As I sat down to write this review, two news stories jostled for prominence on the ABC’s website. One was the unfolding story of two brothers who were trapped on Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain. Only one brother would come back (the other fell 500 metres to his death). Lincoln Hall would understand what the brothers went through. Hall is an Australian mountaineer who was, famously or infamously, left for dead at 8700 metres on Mt Everest. Having made the summit, Hall was heading back down with sherpas when he was struck down by an oedema, a brain malfunction caused by oxygen deprivation. His body gave out. Without a pulse or any sign of life, Hall was abandoned on a rocky ledge. (Ten days earlier, an English climber had been left to die on the mountain as others trekked past him. Hall was luckier, but both these events sparked condemnation, including from Sir Edmund Hillary.)
Alive in the Death Zone: Mount Everest Survival by Lincoln Hall
Random House, $29.95 hb, 108 pp
30 Australian Sports Legends by Loretta Barnard and illustrated by Gregory Rogers
Random House, $19.95 hb, 192 pp
You're History, Mate!: Dingbats, Dropkicks, Dills, Duds and Disasters in Australian History by Paul Stafford and illustrated by Shane Nagle
Random House, $14.95 pb, 220 pp
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