The body of a top female mountain climber who has been missing for seven months was found on a remote peak in northern China, her family said Monday.
Christine Boskoff and her climbing partner failed to return home as planned Dec. 4. The body of her partner, photographer Charlie Fowler, was recovered from the mountain in December, and her family had lost hope she would return alive.
The search for Boskoff recently resumed after snowy conditions forced efforts to be suspended over the winter. Her passport and camera were found by her body late last week, said her mother, Joyce Feld of Appleton, Wis.
“Her dreams were doing something like this and she always did everything she wanted to,” her mother said. “She crowded more things into her life than I did in my long life because she was always active.”
Boskoff’s body won’t be brought down from the 14,000-foot peak for about a month, until 15 rescuers can climb the rocky terrain to bring it down, Feld said.
Her body was covered with stones on Monday to protect it until then, Feld said.
Boskoff ascended six of the world’s 26,000-plus-foot peaks, including Mount Everest. She owned Mountain Madness, a Seattle adventure travel company formerly owned by Scott Fischer, one of the guides who died on Mount Everest in the 1996 season portrayed in Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book, “Into Thin Air.”
Fowler, who was from Colorado, was an expert on climbing in southwestern China. He guided climbers up Everest and climbed others of the world’s tallest and most difficult peaks. Both lived in Norwood, Colo.