Hannelore Schmatz
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16 February 1940
Hannelore Schmatz | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Hannelore Ledermann 16 February 1940 Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany |
| Died | 2 October 1979 (aged 39) |
| Spouse | Gerhard Schmatz |
Hannelore Schmatz (née Ledermann;[1] 14 February 1940 – 2 October 1979) was a German mountaineer and the fourth woman to summit Mount Everest. She collapsed and died as she was returning from summiting Everest via the southern route; Schmatz was the first woman and first German citizen to die on the upper slopes of Everest.[2][3]
Death
In 1962, Schmatz married her husband, Gerhard Schmatz, who was the first European to climb all Seven Summits.[4][5] The pair lived in Neu-Ulm, where Gerhard ran a notary office. Her husband introduced Schmatz to mountaineering and together, they climbed Manaslu in May 1973, Tirich Mir in July 1975, and Lhotse in June 1977. Between 1973 and 1976, the couple made it an annual tradition to scale one of the highest mountains.[6] With the ascent of Tirich Mir, Schmatz was the first German woman to climb a seventhousander mountain.[7]
Schmatz was on an expedition via the South East Ridge route with her husband Gerhard Schmatz, who was the expedition leader and the oldest man to summit Everest at the time at age 50. Hannelore Schmatz initially didn't plan to go to the summit, but decided to do so shortly after her husband began making his way down the day before. On the same expedition was the American Ray Genet, who also died while descending from the summit. Exhausted from the climb, they had stopped to bivouac at 28,000 feet (8,500 m) as the night approached, despite their Sherpa guides urging them not to stop. Ray Genet died later that night and both the Sherpa and Schmatz were distressed, but decided to continue their descent. Then at 27,200 feet (8,300 m) Schmatz sat down, said "Water, Water" to her Sherpa and died.[6][8] Sungdare Sherpa, one of the Sherpa guides, remained with her body, and as a result, lost most of his fingers and toes.[9]
Genet's body ultimately disappeared under the snow, but Schmatz's body remained where she died on the mountain.[10]
It was in 1999, 20 years later, that Helga Hengge was the first German woman to survive reaching the summit of Mount Everest. She made the ascent from Tibet via the North Side route. In 2009, Billi Bierling followed Hannelore Schmatz's route from the south to the summit and back.[11]