In the Air: Rob HallEverest is an incredible mountain that has claimed the lives of many of history's greatest climbers. My job was to ensure that customers climbed this dangerous mountain safely. My name is Rob Hall. I was the lead guide and co-founder of a climbing company called Adventure Consultants. My friend Gary Ball and I were professional climbers. Together we managed to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents in seven months. This has been our greatest achievement. After that we decided to start our own business guiding our clients in big mountains. In May 1992, we successfully led six clients to the summit of Everest. Sadly, Gary died of cerebral edema in October 1993 during an attempt on the world's sixth highest mountain. He died in my arms and the next day I buried him in a crevasse. Despite the pain his death caused me, I continued to lead our company and eventually led thirty-nine climbers to the summit of Everest. My last trip to the summit was a journey filled with dangers and trials. The group of people I was to lead to Everest included Doug Hansen, Sandy Pittman, Jon Krakauer, and Beck Weathers. Doug Hansen had attempted the summit on an expedition guided by me a year earlier, but we had to turn back. The start of this trip was similar to many of my other trading expeditions. We started in Kathmandu and headed to Phakding, where I picked up my crew of Sherpas. The Sherpas are very important to our expedition, so I told the team to appreciate their hard work. We then continued to climb until stopping at Lobuje. This overcrowded village was disgusting and made many of my clients sick....... middle of paper ......al and I soon discovered that the valves on the oxygen tanks were frozen. During this period, I frequently sent radio communications to base camp to keep them informed of the situation. I began thawing the oxygen tanks while periodically checking on Doug Hansen. Early in the morning, Doug Hansen died. There was nothing I could do to save him. I couldn't thaw the oxygen tanks in time. I should have told him to turn around. In an attempt to preserve my life, I was finally able to thaw the oxygen tanks. I promised at base camp that I would descend, but quickly found that this feat was impossible. All these calamities had left me very tired and all I could do was lie down on the Hillary March as my energy drained. I spent the very short remainder of my life reflecting on my accomplishments and hoping that the rest of my team was okay. Then I took my last breath and died.