Scott Fischer
Encyclopedia
Scott E. Fischer was an American
climber and guide
, and the first American to summit 27,940-foot (8,516 m) Lhotse
, fourth highest mountain in the world.
and New Jersey
and took two years of climbing courses after being inspired at the age of 14 by a show he saw on television. In 1982, he and his wife, Jean Price, moved west to Seattle, Washington
where they raised two children, Andy and Katie Rose.
In 1984, Fischer formed his own adventure company, Mountain Madness, which he set up to guarantee clients the summit of the world's highest mountains for fees in the $50,000 range. In 1992, while climbing K2
successfully, he was involved in a daring rescue of Chantal Mauduit
, a French
climber who became severely snow blind
. She went on to climb five more eight-thousander
s but died in an avalanche
on Dhaulagiri
(1998). From the 1992 season, Fischer brought a new level of commercialism
to adventures from successes of climbing.
He died in the 1996 Everest disaster
on May 10, the worst tragedy in the climbing history of Mount Everest
. On May 10, 1996, Fischer, Anatoli Boukreev
and Neal Beidleman guided eight of their clients to the summit of Everest. On the descent, the team was caught in a severe snowstorm. All the climbers managed to reach Camp IV on the South Col
(7,900 m or 25,900 feet), except Fischer.
Fischer, who had reached the summit at around 3:45pm, had severe difficulties on the descent. Fischer was accompanied by sirdar
(chief Sherpa
) Lopsang Jangbu
, but just below the south summit, Fischer was unable to continue and finally coaxed Lopsang to descend without him. Lopsang did so, with the hopes that he would be able to send someone else back up with additional supplemental oxygen and help Fischer get down. Boukreev, after descending ahead of his clients earlier in the day, made several attempts to reach Fischer, but turned back on the first two attempts due to the weather, though he succeeded in rescuing several other stranded people.
, either HACE or HAPE. A memorial cairn for Scott Fischer can be found at the top of a hill near Lobuche
, on the trail to Everest base camp. All Everest climbers using the southern route have to pass a group of five bodies, amongst them Fischer. In May 2010, the bodies of Swiss climber Gianni Goltz and Russian Sergej Duganow were removed. The body of Fischer remains in situ. According to the leader of the expedition, Fischer's family wishes that the body remains where it is. *http://www.blick.ch/news/ausland/schweizer-alpinist-gianni-goltz-geborgen-147648
Accounts of what happened in 1996 were described in the books The Climb
by Anatoli Boukreev
and Gary DeWalt, Into Thin Air
by Jon Krakauer
, Left for Dead by Beck Weathers
, and Climbing High by Lene Gammelgaard
. Mountain Madness by Robert Birkby is a biography of Scott Fischer.
In the TV-movie Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, Fischer was played by Peter Horton
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
climber and guide
Guide
A guide is a person who leads anyone through unknown or unmapped country. This includes a guide of the real world , as well as a person who leads someone to more abstract places .-Guide - meanings related to travel and recreational pursuits:There are many variants of...
, and the first American to summit 27,940-foot (8,516 m) Lhotse
Lhotse
Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain on Earth and is connected to Everest via the South Col. In addition to the main summit at 8,516 metres above sea level, Lhotse Middle is and Lhotse Shar is...
, fourth highest mountain in the world.
Career
Fischer spent his early life in MichiganMichigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and took two years of climbing courses after being inspired at the age of 14 by a show he saw on television. In 1982, he and his wife, Jean Price, moved west to Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
where they raised two children, Andy and Katie Rose.
In 1984, Fischer formed his own adventure company, Mountain Madness, which he set up to guarantee clients the summit of the world's highest mountains for fees in the $50,000 range. In 1992, while climbing K2
K2
K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest...
successfully, he was involved in a daring rescue of Chantal Mauduit
Chantal Mauduit
Chantal Mauduit was a French alpinist. Born in Paris, she arrived in the French Alps at age five and started climbing at the age of 15...
, a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
climber who became severely snow blind
Snow blindness
Photokeratitis or ultraviolet keratitis is a painful eye condition caused by exposure of insufficiently protected eyes to the ultraviolet rays from either natural or artificial sources. Photokeratitis is akin to a sunburn of the cornea and conjunctiva, and is not usually noticed until several...
. She went on to climb five more eight-thousander
Eight-thousander
The eight-thousanders are the fourteen independent mountains on Earth that are more than high above sea level. They are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia....
s but died in an avalanche
Avalanche
An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...
on Dhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri is Earth's seventh highest mountain at ; one of fourteen over eight thousand metres. Dhaulagiri was first climbed May 13, 1960 by a Swiss/Austrian expedition....
(1998). From the 1992 season, Fischer brought a new level of commercialism
Commercialism
Commercialism, in its original meaning, is the practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business. Today, however, it primarily refers to the tendency within open-market capitalism to turn everything into objects, images, and services sold for the purpose of generating profit...
to adventures from successes of climbing.
He died in the 1996 Everest disaster
1996 Everest Disaster
The 1996 Mount Everest disaster refers to the events of 10-11 May 1996, when eight people died on Mount Everest during summit attempts. In the entire season, fifteen people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest single year in Mount Everest's history...
on May 10, the worst tragedy in the climbing history of Mount Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
. On May 10, 1996, Fischer, Anatoli Boukreev
Anatoli Boukreev
Anatoli Nikoliavich Boukreev, , was a Kazakhstani climber who made ascents of seven of the 8,000 metre peaks without supplemental oxygen. In total he made 18 successful ascents on peaks above 8000 m . Boukreev was lost under an avalanche on Annapurna...
and Neal Beidleman guided eight of their clients to the summit of Everest. On the descent, the team was caught in a severe snowstorm. All the climbers managed to reach Camp IV on the South Col
South Col
The South Col usually refers to the southern col between Mount Everest and Lhotse, the first and fourth highest mountains in the world. When climbers attempt to climb Everest from the southeast ridge in Nepal, their final camp is situated on the South Col...
(7,900 m or 25,900 feet), except Fischer.
Fischer, who had reached the summit at around 3:45pm, had severe difficulties on the descent. Fischer was accompanied by sirdar
Sardar
Sardar is a title of Indo-Aryan origin that was originally used to denote feudal princes, noblemen, and other aristocrats. It was later applied to indicate a Head of State, a Commander-in-chief, and an Army military rank...
(chief Sherpa
Sherpa people
The Sherpa are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas. Sherpas migrated from the Kham region in eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 300–400 years.The initial mountainous migration from Tibet was a search for beyul...
) Lopsang Jangbu
Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa
Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa was a Sherpa mountaineering guide, climber and porter, perhaps best known for his work as the climbing Sirdar for Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness expedition to Everest in Spring 1996, when a freak storm led to the deaths of eight climbers from several expeditions, considered...
, but just below the south summit, Fischer was unable to continue and finally coaxed Lopsang to descend without him. Lopsang did so, with the hopes that he would be able to send someone else back up with additional supplemental oxygen and help Fischer get down. Boukreev, after descending ahead of his clients earlier in the day, made several attempts to reach Fischer, but turned back on the first two attempts due to the weather, though he succeeded in rescuing several other stranded people.
Death
Finally, around 7pm on May 11, Boukreev was able to reach Fischer's position, but unfortunately it was too late. Many speculate that Fischer had been suffering from a severe form of altitude sicknessAltitude sickness
Altitude sickness—also known as acute mountain sickness , altitude illness, hypobaropathy, or soroche—is a pathological effect of high altitude on humans, caused by acute exposure to low partial pressure of oxygen at high altitude...
, either HACE or HAPE. A memorial cairn for Scott Fischer can be found at the top of a hill near Lobuche
Lobuche, Nepal
Lobuche is a small settlement at elevation, near Mount Everest in Nepal. It is one of the last overnight stops with lodging on the "trail to base camp"—a hike that climbers make on their way to Everest Base Camp when attempting an ascent of Everest via the standard southeast route. It is also a...
, on the trail to Everest base camp. All Everest climbers using the southern route have to pass a group of five bodies, amongst them Fischer. In May 2010, the bodies of Swiss climber Gianni Goltz and Russian Sergej Duganow were removed. The body of Fischer remains in situ. According to the leader of the expedition, Fischer's family wishes that the body remains where it is. *http://www.blick.ch/news/ausland/schweizer-alpinist-gianni-goltz-geborgen-147648
Accounts of what happened in 1996 were described in the books The Climb
The Climb (book)
The Climb is an account by Russian mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev of the 1996 Everest Disaster, during which eight climbers lost their lives on Mount Everest. The co-author, G...
by Anatoli Boukreev
Anatoli Boukreev
Anatoli Nikoliavich Boukreev, , was a Kazakhstani climber who made ascents of seven of the 8,000 metre peaks without supplemental oxygen. In total he made 18 successful ascents on peaks above 8000 m . Boukreev was lost under an avalanche on Annapurna...
and Gary DeWalt, Into Thin Air
Into Thin Air
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster is a 1997 bestselling non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer. It details the author's presence at Mount Everest during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster when eight climbers were killed and several others were stranded by a 'rogue storm'...
by Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for his writing about the outdoors and mountain-climbing...
, Left for Dead by Beck Weathers
Beck Weathers
Seaborn Beck Weathers is an American pathologist from Texas. He is best known for his role in the 1996 Everest disaster that has been the subject of many books and films, most notably Into Thin Air and Everest.-Everest:...
, and Climbing High by Lene Gammelgaard
Lene Gammelgaard
Lene Gammelgaard is the author of Climbing High, a bestselling book printed in 1998 about the 1996 Everest disaster, which took the lives of Scott Fischer and Rob Hall. She was the 35th woman, and the first Scandinavian woman, to climb Mount Everest via the South-East Ridge route...
. Mountain Madness by Robert Birkby is a biography of Scott Fischer.
In the TV-movie Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, Fischer was played by Peter Horton
Peter Horton
Peter Horton is an American actor and director. He played the role of Prof. Gary Shepherd on the popular television series Thirtysomething until 1991.-Early life:...
.