Edmund February, Andy de Klerk, and Andy Hackland, and the expedition doctor, Charlotte Noble, to resign from the expedition. Lying about his climbing credentials prior to the expedition, having had no previous experience on 8,000-meter peaks. Falsifying his military service by claiming that he had commanded the elite "Long Range Mountain Reconnaissance Unit" (which had never existed), of the British army, and had served as an instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst; none of which was true. There is, however, the famed World War II Long Range Desert Group from which he may have borrowed the name. Insisting that expedition member Andy de Klerk, who held dual citizenship, enter Nepal on his South African passport or he would not be allowed on the expedition. It turned out that Woodall himself did not even hold a South African passport, and, according to de Klerk, "He's not even a South African citizen—the guy's a Brit, and he entered Nepal on his British passport." Facing international scandal, Woodall banished Ken Vernon and Richard Shorey, two reporters from the expedition's sponsor, The Sunday Times, whose presence and accompaniment were required as part of the sponsorship contract. Woodall later had a "blood-chilling exchange" with Ken Owen, an editor from The Sunday Times, which precipitated The Sunday Times' withdrawal of support. Refusing to co-ordinate the mountain traffic and co-operate with other expeditions to avoid gridlock on the summit ridge, declaring, "The South Africans would go to the top whenever they damn well please, and anyone who didn't like it could bugger off." (This was probably on 10 May, which was Hall and Scott Fischer's shared summit date). Hall responded to Woodall's comment by saying, "I don't want to be anywhere near the upper mountain when those punters are up there." Hall, Fischer and six others lost their lives during the expedition, largely because of a series of events precipitated by a gridlock on the upper mountain. There is no evidence, however, that the South African team's presence, directly or indirectly, caused or significantly exacerbated the traffic problems on that day. After the 10 May disaster, Woodall refused to lend the distressed Hall team the South African expedition's powerful radio to co-ordinate the rescue efforts, despite being aware that people were dying on the summit. References Further reading Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster (Villard 1997). O'Dowd, Cathy &