Rescue From The Death Zone

By Andrew Brash

Rating:***

In this article, Andrew Brash takes on the challenge of climbing Mount Everest. He is determined to summit the mountain while he still has the opportunity. However while on the mountain he is faced with a decision that will change his life.

In mid May he traveled to Nepal leaving behind his wife and 18-month old daughter. He climbed 28,430 feet of the treacherous mountain successfully. Only a mere eight-hundred feet from the summit he is faced with a decision after they find a man barely clinging to life. He and his team can either stay to help the man, Lincoln Hall, who had been left by his teammates to die on the mountain, and was suffering from severe frostbite and cerebral edema or finish their summit. Knowing if he was In Hall’s shoes he would want somebody to help him, Andrew and his team stayed with the man and gave him their precious oxygen and food until the help they had requested via radio came from the base camps. After saving the man’s life, the media dubbed him as a hero. A title he does not feel comfortable with having, as he still regrets not being able to climb the mountain, and having to forget about his dream because another team was selfish enough to leave their teammate to freeze on Mount Everest. He is very grateful that he will be returning home, unlike so many who braved the tallest mountain in the world, only to lose themselves to the thin air and unbearable cold.

This article taught me that sometimes you have to sacrifice everything you’ve worked for, but the compensation could potentially be saving someone’s life. No matter how much you want something, you have to make sacrifices. But you should learn to be thankful for everything you have.

Brash, Andrew. ‘ Rescue From The Death Zone’. September/October 2006