Both the popular and mountaineering press has reported the horrifying details of the deadly storm that struck the summit of Mount Everest that fateful day in May. The tragic deaths of world-renowned guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer are by now well documented in books such as Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Anatoli Boukreev's and Weston DeWalt's The Climb.
The debate generated by those books has spilled over into films, magazines and the Internet to stir in people around the world a craving for all things Everest. And a TV movie based on Krakauer's book, coupled with the widespread release of the IMAX film Everest have only furthered this hunger for information. The incidents of the terrible night of May 10-11 have become part of mountaineering legend, and — because of their widespread dissemination — perhaps the substance of what may be the most infamous climb in recent times.
But never before told in the Western press is the whole story of one climber's private ordeal: Taiwanese climber Gau Ming Ho, who survived the storm-ravaged night above 8,000 meters. (Gau is widely known by another name: after making an attempt on the fifth highest mountain in the world, Gau claimed the moniker of "Makalu Gau.") During the long, dangerous May 1996 night on Everest, Gau was bivouacked only a few yards away from Scott Fischer, who was bivouacked nearby where he had collapsed earlier. Gau survived to be rescued, albeit with terrible consequences, while Fischer did not.
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