About Doug Hansen

Doug Hansen was postal worker from Washington state who had been climbing for 12 years, Hansen turned back just short of Everest's summit in 1995.

Doug was a very likeable, easygoing person. Doug was very thoughtful, as well, deferential. He was always sort of looking around, making sure you had a place to sit or whatever. He was always somebody who, I thought, was thinking about the other person.

He was fit; he was tall; he was lean. We used to like to talk about different things that we would do to stay fit. He loved to run steps and so did I. It was just one of the things we had in common for part of our fitness routine. He liked to talk about climbing, and he made it clear that he was there, very determined guy, because he had been there the prior year. He was very concerned about cold. Apparently he had some frostbite in '95 and he thought he had a system all worked out for batteries for his boots that was going to keep his feet warm. I argued with him on the point; I did say I didn't think it would work. [Laughter] But nevertheless, it was just something we talked about.