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Lincoln was the chief organiser of the first Australian Everest expedition in 1984, which established a new route on the North Face without supplementary oxygen. Although he turned back short of the summit, he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his role in the five-man expedition.
In May 2006 Lincoln Hall stood on the peak of Everest, only hours later he was left for dead on the mountainside. He spent the entire night alone without shelter or oxygen, but inside him was a commitment to survive despite impossible odds. He was found alive the next morning by the last few clfaimbers on the mountain and after being resuscitated by those climbers he was able to descend from 8,600 feet under his own steam.
Medical science can’t explain why Lincoln is still alive. His climbing partners watched him succumb to High Altitude Sickness. After six hours of battling his condition, and despite the Sherpas with him, Lincoln stopped moving and breathing. His companions were convinced he was dead and descended to save their own lives.
However, Lincoln’s will to live kindled the tiny spark of life that remained within him. His consciousness returned in the form of hallucinations. Then, in the middle of the night, exposed to the elements, he suddenly became totally lucid. He began a desperate battle against the deadly combination of cerebral oedema, hypothermia, dehydration, exhaustion and frostbite.
His extraordinary fight for survival and the good fortune of meeting a helpful team of climbers the following morning is told in full in his book, Dead Lucky, and the ABC1 documentary Miracle on Everest.
Along with his two Everest climbs, his most challenging mountaineering achievements are his voyage in a small yacht to Antarctica to make the first ascent of remote Mt Minto, and the first ascent of the South Face of Annapurna II in the Himalaya, at the time the highest unclimbed mountain face in the world.
His work as a guide in the wilderness of the Himalaya, the Andes, Antarctica and Australia has given him a deep appreciation of the natural world and a commitment to practical solutions for environmental issues. In support of this commitment within his local community, Lincoln is a member of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area Advisory Committee. At an international level, he is a director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation.