BACK-from-the-dead mountaineer Lincoln Hall celebrated an emotional reunion with his wife in Kathmandu last night as it was confirmed his friend and colleague Sue Fear had died climbing a peak in Nepal.

“For an hour and a half he tried all he could to pull Sue out but there was no success … and there was no response from Sue at all, no sound, no movement, leaving [Bishnu] to conclude that she must have been rendered unconscious by the fall.”

As Bishnu detached himself from the rope to try to arrange a better pulley system, the crevasse edge collapsed further, taking the anchor and the rope with Fear on the end of it. “Looking down all he could see was darkness and there was no response from Sue.”

BACK-from-the-dead mountaineer Lincoln Hall celebrated an emotional reunion with his wife in Kathmandu last night as it was confirmed his friend and colleague Sue Fear had died climbing a peak in Nepal.

What should have been a joyous moment for Hall was bitter-sweet, as he tried to come to terms with the news that Fear had lost her life attempting to scale thetreacherous Mount Manaslu. She fell into a crevasse on Sunday soon after reaching the mountain’s summit.

Hall was barely able to speak upon arriving in the Nepalese capital and made no comment about her death. But he did reveal that during the 12 hours he spent alone on Mount Everest last week, he remained conscious.

Fear’s death was announced last night in a statement by World Expeditions, where she worked as a guide and consultant.

The 43-year-old was roped to her climbing partner Bishnu Sherpa, and was leading the way down when she broke through a snow crust and plunged into a crevasse, the statement said.

An exhausted Bishnu, who was brought down to base camp from the mountain by a rescue team of six sherpas, yesterday gave his account of the accident to one of Fear’s colleagues in Kathmandu.

“For an hour and a half he tried all he could to pull Sue out but there was no success … and there was no response from Sue at all, no sound, no movement, leaving Bishnu to conclude that she must have been rendered unconscious by the fall.”

As Bishnu detached himself from the rope to try to arrange a better pulley system, the crevasse edge collapsed further, taking the anchor and the rope with Fear on the end of it. “Looking down all he could see was darkness and there was no response from Sue.”

After consulting with a number of experienced mountaineers at base camp, the rescue team that had been preparing to search for Fear last night decided there was no hope of finding the Sydney woman alive.

It was Fear’s wish that if she died on the mountain that her body remained buried there.

Her brothers, Grahame and John Fear, said their sister had broken many barriers for females in the male-dominated world of climbing. “You could never tell Sue `you can’t do that’ — she would just find a way so she could,” they said.

“Not only is our loss enormous but Australia has lost its first lady of mountaineering.”

Fear’s death cast a pall over the survival and rescue of Hall. After braving dire overnight conditions last week at 8600m on a windswept ridge on the side of Mount Everest, Hall endured a journey to lower altitudes on a yak.

The 50-year-old father of two was met at the Chinese Nepalese border by Australian ambassador Graeme Lade, before making his way to Kathmandu for treatment.

Hall was later joined by his wife Barbara Scanlan.

Hall’s friend Simon Balderstone said:”He’s got frostbite, lost the tips of four fingers on his left hand, tips of four fingers on the right and a little bit of thumb. He’s got a chest infection. Apart from that he’s in amazing shape.”

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