Update: January 3, 2007

REACHING THE FINAL SUMMIT

By Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

I bring sad news to those of you who were fans of The Deep radio show.  No, Jim and Peter are fine, but we have heard tragic news about one of our frequent guests.  Christine Boskoff, the world’s premier woman mountain climber has been reported missing and is presumed dead after a climbing expedition in China’s Sichuan Province.  Christine’s body has not been recovered but Charlie Fowler, her climbing partner was found in deep snow and apparently died as the result of an avalanche.

Christine Feld Boskoff was the world’s leading female mountain climber.  She was born in Wisconsin in 1967 and in 1993 she took a two-day climbing course.  Her first mountain was in the Bolivian Andes and she also climbed peaks in Africa, Mexico, Europe and North America.  She made her first trip to Asia in 1994.  In four years, she became the first woman from North America to reach the summit of Lhotse, Earth’s fourth highest mountain.  In 2000, she reached the peak of Mt. Everest.

Christine was the only living woman who had climbed six (Shishapangma, Everest, Gasherbrum II, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, and Broad Peak) of the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter summits (mountains higher than 26,000 feet or 5 miles).  She had also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mt. Blanc and the Matterhorn in Europe and all of North America’s tallest mountains.  Earth’s hundred tallest mountains are all in the Himalayas, and Christine had an extensive record of first accents, particularly in Tibet.

Christine and her climbing partner Charlie Fowler had been climbing those unnamed peaks in the Himalayan Mountains of western China for most of the summer.  In November of last year, the two traveled to Genyen, in China's Western Sichuan Province, to do a 2-day hike to an unnamed 6000-meter peak in Dechin.  After the climb, they expected to return November 25 and catch a December 4 flight home.  When the two failed to show up in US however, a search party was sent to Litang to search for the missing climbers.  Investigation by both local officials and the U.S. Consulate revealed that on 11 November, a driver took Christine and Charlie from Litang to a town called Lamaya (in the Genyen region, about four hours west of Litang).  They stayed at the driver’s house in Litang, and left behind some luggage.

The search team opened the luggage and discovered that Charlie and Christine had taken all their climbing gear with them.  The most recent entry in Christine’s diary, which was in the luggage, was dated 8 November and it confirmed they were heading for Genyen Peak.  According to the driver, the two climbers tried to rent a horse in Lamaya but couldn’t agree on a price.  They told him they would call him to pick them up on 24 November.  He last saw them heading toward the mountains on foot with large packs on their backs.

On 26 December, the search teams visited the Genyen Monastery and discovered that Christine and Charlie had been there on 12 November and at camped near the monastery that night.  They told the monks that they would return for a visit in 4 days.  It was the last time anyone ever saw them alive.

On 27 December the team discovered a body buried in the snow at an approximate altitude of 5300 meters (17,388 feet) about 3 hours above the monastery.  The next day the body was confirmed to be that of Charlie Fowler and he was buried in the snow from an avalanche.  He wasn’t wearing a harness or ropes and he was still wearing his backpack indicating that the two had not yet made a base camp.  There was no sign of Christine.

It’s winter in the Himalayas, and the weather had grown steadily worse in the last week.  The search effort has been called off since Charlie and Christine were last seen alive over a month ago and if Christine survived the avalanche, she would have sought help by now.  The search for her body will resume in the spring.

Unlike many of us, who will unfortunately die painful and pointless deaths, Christine Boskoff died pursuing something she loved.  She constantly strove for the next challenge, the next summit, and her personal best.  Sleep well Christine, I salute you!

CHRISTINE BOSKOFF  1967-2006