Hannelore Schmatz

Hannelore Schmatz of West Germany, was born on 16 February 1940. She perished of exhaustion on October 2, 1979 as she was returning from successfully summiting Mount Everest via the southern route, the first woman and first German citizen to perish on the upper slopes of "Chomolungma." [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Everest summiter Hannelore Schmatz
work =
publisher = Everest News
date =
url = http://www.everestnews.com/climbers/sctmatzeverest1979.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-04-08]

Schmatz was on an expedition via the South East Ridge route with her husband when she died at 8,300 meters (27,200 ft). Gerhard Schmatz was the expedition leader, fifty years of age at the time and the oldest man to summit Everest. On the same expedition was the American Ray Genet, who also died while descending from the summit.

In 1984, police inspector Yogendra Bahadur Thapa and Sherpa Ang Dorje fell to their deaths while trying to recover Hannelore’s body on a Nepalese police expedition. [cite web
last = Salkeld
first = Audrey
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Report from Base Camp
work =
publisher = PBS
date = 1996-05-09
url = http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/expeditions/96/week2/newsflash/news59.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-04-08] [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = List of climbers who lost their lives on the Everest while climbing
work =
publisher = Everest Summiteers Association
date =
url = http://www.everestsummiteersassociation.org/listofdeadoneverst.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-04-08] [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = 2 Nepalese Mountaineers Die Looking for Body on Everest
work =
publisher = The New York Times
date = 1984-10-29
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501E6DC1239F93AA15753C1A962948260
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-04-08]

For years, Hannelore's mortal remains could be seen by anyone attempting to summit Everest by the southern route. About 100 meters above Camp IV she sat, leaning against her pack with her eyes open and her hair blowing in the wind. [cite web
last = Gammelgaard
first = Lene
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Climbing High: A Woman's Account of Surviving the Everest Tragedy
work =
publisher = The New York Times
date =
url = http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/g/gammelgaard-climbing.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-04-08] High winds eventually pushed her remains over the edge and down the Kangshung Face.

Lene Gammelgaard, the first Scandinavian woman to reach the peak of Everest, quotes the Norwegian mountaineer and expedition leader Arne Næss, Jr. describing his encounter with Schmatz's remains, in her book "Climbing High" that tells the account of her own 1996 expedition.

References