In May 1990, Rob Hall climbed Mt. Everest for the first time as the leader of an expedition which included Peter Hillary, the son of Sir Edmund Hillary. The two called New Zealand from the summit, and their call was broadcast live throughout the country. It was during this expedition that Hall met his wife Jan Arnold, a doctor from New Zealand working at a clinic about 3,000 feet below Base Camp. When Hall returned from the summit, he stopped at the clinic to ask Jan if she would go out with him. He proposed a date to climb Mt. McKinley together. She accepted, and they were married two years later. In 1993 Arnold reached the summit of Everest with her husband, and in 1994 and 1995 she worked at Base Camp as the team doctor.

In 1992, Rob Hall began his high altitude guide business "Adventure Consultants" with Gary Ball, his friend and climbing partner. Together Hall and Ball took wealthy clients up and down the Seven Summits.

In May 1996, Rob Hall led an Mount Everest expedition of eight climbers. Just after reaching the summit, an unforeseen storm hit the mountain, trapping Hall and several other climbers from various expeditions at the top of the mountain. With no shelter and dwindling oxygen supplies, Hall was forced to wait more than 12 hours for the storm to subside. American Doug Hansen, a postal worker and mountain climber from Seattle, collapsed and died just after summitting. As the team guide, Hall stayed with Doug, refusing to leave him alone on the summit. The following day, Rob Hall's body was found, half buried in snow, with Doug Hansen nearby. He was 36 years old. Jon Krakauer, a member of Hall's team, later chronicled the events of this fateful trip in his book Into Thin Air.