Widow’s Wish

Jan Arnold, the widow of legendary mountain guide Rob Hall, who was one of eight people to lose their lives on Mt Everest during a severe storm in 1996, has asked that his body remain on the mountain. A team of 31 Nepalese sherpas left Kathmandu this week on an expedition to remove Hall’s body and four or five others, as well as two tonnes of rubbish, from the “death zone” above 8000m on Everest. Jan Arnold believes that her late husband is “where he’d like to have stayed”, and does not want people risking their lives to retrieve his body, a close family friend toldThe Times. Hall had just reached the summit when a severe storm engulfed him and his exhausted American client, Doug Hansen. Although Hall could have saved himself, he bivouacked with Hansen 150 metres below the summit. Hansen died that night. His body was never found. Hall survived another 30 hours. Hall, 36, had reached Everest’s summit five times previously, a record for any non-sherpa.

Rob Hall: 14 January 1961 – 11 May 1996