On a bright but typically windy day in northern Nepal on May 6, 1996, three mountaineers, Stuart Hutchison, John Taske and Lou Kasischke, entered the mess at Mount Everest Base Camp. They were there to join a group huddle, headed by New Zealand expedition leader Rob Hall. The wind at that time of year was always ferocious, but there was an upcoming window of calm for their summit attempt a few days later. In the climbers’ HQ, Hall drilled into his clients the importance of their agreed “turnaround time” at 1pm. This is the specified time climbers must begin their descent off the mountain and back to camp, regardless of how close they are to the summit, to avoid hypothermia, frostbite, disorientation, exhaustion and a lack of oxygen, among countless other problems that plague climbers on descent, the deadliest section of a climb for any mountaineer.
Just after midnight on May 10, the climbers left Camp Four for their summit attempt. As they approached the Southeast Ridge in an area referred to as the “death zone”, it was 11am, and a storm was brewing on the horizon. Despite being within three hours of the world’s highest peak, having spent more than US$70,000 and countless hours in training, they quit. Within a few hours, a blizzard had engulfed the mountain, and four of those from the mess briefing earlier that week, including Hall, died, making it one of the deadliest days in Everest’s history.
The heroes of our stories are all lauded for their perseverance and ability to “stick it out”.
In Quit: The power of knowing when to walk away, Annie Duke, an expert decision-making consultant and world-champion poker player, uses this pivotal moment faced by Hutchison, Taske and Kasischke to illustrate how quitting is a powerful decision-making tool but one with a reputation problem.
We might not associate one of the world’s best poker players with quitting but, speaking to the from her
