Mountaineering: Himalayan Hat Trick

Mountaineering: Himalayan Hat Trick
By Todd Balf (with Greg Child and Dan Dickison)

As climbing seasons go, New Zealander Rob Hall had a phenomenal summer. On May 9, with Seattle’s Ed Viesturs, he led an 11-member team, including six guided clients, to the summit of Mount Everest. But Hall wasn’t done. A week later he and Viesturs, blessed by almost storm-free weather, summited Lhotse, Everest’s stunning 8,000-meter neighbor. And on July 9, Hall could be found
atop K2. In completing the 8,000-meter trilogy, he became the first person to climb three of the world’s four highest peaks in one season. This month he and Viesturs have plans to climb the globe’s sixth-highest mountain, Cho Oyu, on the Nepal-Tibet border.