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The Story Of Hannelore Schmatz — The First Woman To Die On Mount Everest
In 1979, Hannelore Schmatz achieved the unthinkable — she became the fourth woman in the world to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Unfortunately, her glorious climb to the mountain's peak would be her last.⠀
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See the photos and learn the story of Mount Everest’s most famous dead woman by clicking the link in our bio.
In 1979, Hannelore Schmatz achieved the unthinkable — she became the fourth woman in the world to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Unfortunately, her glorious climb to the mountain's peak would be her last.
German mountaineer Hannelore Schmatz loved to climb. In 1979, accompanied by her husband, Gerhard, Schmatz embarked on their most ambitious expedition yet: to summit Mount Everest.
While the husband-and-wife triumphantly made it to the top, their journey back down would end in a devastating tragedy as Schmatz ultimately lost her life, making her the first woman and first German national to die on Mount Everest.
For years following her death, Hannelore Schmatz’s mummified corpse, identifiable by the backpack pushed against it, would be a gruesome warning for other mountaineers attempting the same feat that killed her.
An Experienced Climber
Only the most experienced climbers in the world dare to brave the life-threatening conditions that come with the ascent to the summit of Everest. Hannelore Schmatz and her husband Gerhard Schmatz were a pair of experienced mountaineers who had traveled to reach the world’s most indomitable mountain tops.
In May 1973, Hannelore and her husband returned from a successful expedition to the top of Manaslu, the eighth mountain top in the world standing at 26,781 feet above sea level, in Kathmandu. Not skipping a beat, they soon decided on what their next ambitious climb would be.
For reasons unknown, the husband and wife decided it was time to conquer the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. They submitted their request to the Nepalese government for a permit to climb Earth’s deadliest peak and began their strenuous preparations.
The pair climbed a mountain top each year since to increase their ability to adjust to high altitudes. As the years passed, the mountains they climbed got higher. After another successful climb to Lhotse, which is the fourth highest mountain top in the world, in June 1977, they finally got word that their request for Mount Everest had been approved.
as “a genius when it came to sourcing and transporting expedition material,” oversaw the technical and logistical preparations of their Everest hike.
During the 1970s, it was still difficult to find adequate climbing gear in Kathmandu so whatever equipment they were going to use for their three-month expedition to Everest’s summit needed to be shipped from Europe to Kathmandu.
Hannelore Schmatz booked a warehouse in Nepal to store their equipment which weighed several tons in total. In addition to equipment, they also needed to assemble their expedition team. Besides Hannelore and Gerhard Schmatz, there were six other experienced high-altitude climbers that joined them on Everest.
Among them were New Zealander Nick Banks, Swiss Hans von Känel, American Ray Genet — an expert mountaineer who the Schmatzs had conducted expeditions with before — and fellow German climbers Tilman Fischbach, Günter fights, and Hermann Warth. Hannelore was the only woman in the group.
In July 1979, everything was prepared and ready to go, and the group of eight began their trek along with five sherpas — local Himalayan mountain guides — to help lead the way.
During the climb, the group hiked at an altitude of about 24,606 feet above the ground, a level of altitude referred to as “the yellow band.”
The Story Of Hannelore Schmatz — The First Woman To Die On Mount Everest
By William DeLong | Edited By John Kuroski
Published April 7, 2018
Updated March 22, 2021
In 1979, Hannelore Schmatz achieved the unthinkable — she became the fourth woman in the world to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Unfortunately, her glorious climb to the mountain's peak would be her last.
Hannelore Schmatz Dead And Alive
Wikimedia Commons/Youtube
Hannelore Schmatz was the fourth woman to summit Mount Everest, and the first woman to die there.
German mountaineer Hannelore Schmatz loved to climb. In 1979, accompanied by her husband, Gerhard, Schmatz embarked on their most ambitious expedition yet: to summit Mount Everest.
While the husband-and-wife triumphantly made it to the top, their journey back down would end in a devastating tragedy as Schmatz ultimately lost her life, making her the first woman and first German national to die on Mount Everest.
For years following her death, Hannelore Schmatz’s mummified corpse, identifiable by the backpack pushed against it, would be a gruesome warning for other mountaineers attempting the same feat that killed her.
An Experienced Climber
Hannelore Schmatz On Everest
DW
Hannelore Schmatz and her husband Gerhard were avid mountaineers.
Only the most experienced climbers in the world dare to brave the life-threatening conditions that come with the ascent to the summit of Everest. Hannelore Schmatz and her husband Gerhard Schmatz were a pair of experienced mountaineers who had traveled to reach the world’s most indomitable mountain tops.
In May 1973, Hannelore and her husband returned from a successful expedition to the top of Manaslu, the eighth mountain top in the world standing at 26,781 feet above sea level, in Kathmandu. Not skipping a beat, they soon decided on what their next ambitious climb would be.
For reasons unknown, the husband and wife decided it was time to conquer the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. They submitted their request to the Nepalese government for a permit to climb Earth’s deadliest peak and began their strenuous preparations.
The pair climbed a mountain top each year since to increase their ability to adjust to high altitudes. As the years passed, the mountains they climbed got higher. After another successful climb to Lhotse, which is the fourth highest mountain top in the world, in June 1977, they finally got word that their request for Mount Everest had been approved.
Hannelore, who her husband noted as “a genius when it came to sourcing and transporting expedition material,” oversaw the technical and logistical preparations of their Everest hike.
During the 1970s, it was still difficult to find adequate climbing gear in Kathmandu so whatever equipment they were going to use for their three-month expedition to Everest’s summit needed to be shipped from Europe to Kathmandu.
Hannelore Schmatz booked a warehouse in Nepal to store their equipment which weighed several tons in total. In addition to equipment, they also needed to assemble their expedition team. Besides Hannelore and Gerhard Schmatz, there were six other experienced high-altitude climbers that joined them on Everest.
Among them were New Zealander Nick Banks, Swiss Hans von Känel, American Ray Genet — an expert mountaineer who the Schmatzs had conducted expeditions with before — and fellow German climbers Tilman Fischbach, Günter fights, and Hermann Warth. Hannelore was the only woman in the group.
In July 1979, everything was prepared and ready to go, and the group of eight began their trek along with five sherpas — local Himalayan mountain guides — to help lead the way.
Summiting Mount Everest
Sunset Over Mount Everest
Göran Höglund/Flickr
Hannelore and her husband received approval to climb mount Everest two years before their perilous hike.
During the climb, the group hiked at an altitude of about 24,606 feet above the ground, a level of altitude referred to as “the yellow band.”
They then traversed the Geneva Spur in order to reach the camp at the South Col which is a sharp-edged mountain point ridge at the lowest point between Lhotse to Everest at an altitude of 26,200 feet above ground. The group decided to set up their last high camp at the South Col on Sept. 24, 1979.
But a several-day blizzard forces the entire camp to descend back to down the Camp III base camp. Finally, they try again to get back to the South Col point, this time splitting into large groups of two. Husband and wife are divided — Hannelore Schmatz is in one group with other climbers and two sherpas, while the rest are with her husband in the other.
Gerhard’s group makes the climb back to the South Col first and arrives after a three-day climb before stopping to set up camp for the night.
Reaching the South Col point meant that the group — which had been traveling the harsh mountain-scape in groups of three — were about to embark on the final phase of their ascent toward the peak of Everest.
As Hannelore Schmatz’s group was still making their way back to the South Col, Gerhard’s group continued their hike toward Everest’s peak early morning on Oct. 1, 1979.
Gerhard’s group reached the south summit of Mount Everest at about 2 p.m., and Gerhard Schmatz becomes the oldest person to summit the world’s highest mountain top at 50 years old. While the group celebrates, Gerhard notes the hazardous conditions from the southern summit to the peak, describing the team’s difficulties on his website:
“Due to the steepness and the bad snow conditions, the kicks break out again and again. The snow is too soft to reach reasonably reliable levels and too deep to find ice for the crampons. How fatal that is, can then be measured, if you know that this place is probably one of the most dizzying in the world.”
Gerhard’s group quickly makes their way back down, encountering the same difficulties they had during their climb.
When they arrive safely back at the South Col camp at 7 p.m. that night, his wife’s group — arriving there about the same time Gerhard had reached Everest’s peak — had already set up camp to get ready for Hannelore’s group’s own ascent to the summit.
Gerhard and his group members warn Hannelore and the others about the bad snow and ice conditions, and try to persuade them not to go. But Hannelore was “indignant,” her husband described, wanting to conquer the great mountain,
Hannelore Schmatz’s Tragic Death
Hannelore Schmatz and her group began their climb from the South Col to reach Mount Everest’s summit at around 5 AM. While Hannelore made her way toward the top, her husband, Gerhard, made the descent back down to the base of Camp III as weather conditions began to rapidly deteriorate.
At about 6 p.m., Gerhard receives news over the expedition’s walkie talkie communications that his wife has made it to the summit with the rest of the group. Hannelore Schmatz was the fourth woman mountaineer in the world to reach Everest’s peak.
However, Hannelore’s journey back down was riddled with danger. According to the surviving group members, Hannelore and the American climber Ray Genet — both strong climbers — became too exhausted to continue. They wanted to stop and set up a bivouac camp (a sheltered outcropping) before continuing their descent.
Sherpas Sungdare and Ang Jangbu, who were with Hannelore and Genet, warned against the climbers’ decision. They were in the middle of the so-called Death Zone, where conditions are so dangerous that climbers are most vulnerable to catch death there. The sherpas advised the climbers to forge on so that they could make it back to the base camp further down the mountain.
The Story Of Hannelore Schmatz — The First Woman To Die On Mount Everest
By William DeLong | Edited By John Kuroski
Published April 7, 2018
Updated March 22, 2021
In 1979, Hannelore Schmatz achieved the unthinkable — she became the fourth woman in the world to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Unfortunately, her glorious climb to the mountain's peak would be her last.
Hannelore Schmatz Dead And Alive
Wikimedia Commons/Youtube
Hannelore Schmatz was the fourth woman to summit Mount Everest, and the first woman to die there.
German mountaineer Hannelore Schmatz loved to climb. In 1979, accompanied by her husband, Gerhard, Schmatz embarked on their most ambitious expedition yet: to summit Mount Everest.
While the husband-and-wife triumphantly made it to the top, their journey back down would end in a devastating tragedy as Schmatz ultimately lost her life, making her the first woman and first German national to die on Mount Everest.
For years following her death, Hannelore Schmatz’s mummified corpse, identifiable by the backpack pushed against it, would be a gruesome warning for other mountaineers attempting the same feat that killed her.
An Experienced Climber
Hannelore Schmatz On Everest
DW
Hannelore Schmatz and her husband Gerhard were avid mountaineers.
Only the most experienced climbers in the world dare to brave the life-threatening conditions that come with the ascent to the summit of Everest. Hannelore Schmatz and her husband Gerhard Schmatz were a pair of experienced mountaineers who had traveled to reach the world’s most indomitable mountain tops.
In May 1973, Hannelore and her husband returned from a successful expedition to the top of Manaslu, the eighth mountain top in the world standing at 26,781 feet above sea level, in Kathmandu. Not skipping a beat, they soon decided on what their next ambitious climb would be.
For reasons unknown, the husband and wife decided it was time to conquer the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. They submitted their request to the Nepalese government for a permit to climb Earth’s deadliest peak and began their strenuous preparations.
The pair climbed a mountain top each year since to increase their ability to adjust to high altitudes. As the years passed, the mountains they climbed got higher. After another successful climb to Lhotse, which is the fourth highest mountain top in the world, in June 1977, they finally got word that their request for Mount Everest had been approved.
Hannelore, who her husband noted as “a genius when it came to sourcing and transporting expedition material,” oversaw the technical and logistical preparations of their Everest hike.
During the 1970s, it was still difficult to find adequate climbing gear in Kathmandu so whatever equipment they were going to use for their three-month expedition to Everest’s summit needed to be shipped from Europe to Kathmandu.
Hannelore Schmatz booked a warehouse in Nepal to store their equipment which weighed several tons in total. In addition to equipment, they also needed to assemble their expedition team. Besides Hannelore and Gerhard Schmatz, there were six other experienced high-altitude climbers that joined them on Everest.
Among them were New Zealander Nick Banks, Swiss Hans von Känel, American Ray Genet — an expert mountaineer who the Schmatzs had conducted expeditions with before — and fellow German climbers Tilman Fischbach, Günter fights, and Hermann Warth. Hannelore was the only woman in the group.
In July 1979, everything was prepared and ready to go, and the group of eight began their trek along with five sherpas — local Himalayan mountain guides — to help lead the way.
Summiting Mount Everest
Sunset Over Mount Everest
Göran Höglund/Flickr
Hannelore and her husband received approval to climb mount Everest two years before their perilous hike.
During the climb, the group hiked at an altitude of about 24,606 feet above the ground, a level of altitude referred to as “the yellow band.”
They then traversed the Geneva Spur in order to reach the camp at the South Col which is a sharp-edged mountain point ridge at the lowest point between Lhotse to Everest at an altitude of 26,200 feet above ground. The group decided to set up their last high camp at the South Col on Sept. 24, 1979.
But a several-day blizzard forces the entire camp to descend back to down the Camp III base camp. Finally, they try again to get back to the South Col point, this time splitting into large groups of two. Husband and wife are divided — Hannelore Schmatz is in one group with other climbers and two sherpas, while the rest are with her husband in the other.
Gerhard’s group makes the climb back to the South Col first and arrives after a three-day climb before stopping to set up camp for the night.
Reaching the South Col point meant that the group — which had been traveling the harsh mountain-scape in groups of three — were about to embark on the final phase of their ascent toward the peak of Everest.
As Hannelore Schmatz’s group was still making their way back to the South Col, Gerhard’s group continued their hike toward Everest’s peak early morning on Oct. 1, 1979.
Gerhard’s group reached the south summit of Mount Everest at about 2 p.m., and Gerhard Schmatz becomes the oldest person to summit the world’s highest mountain top at 50 years old. While the group celebrates, Gerhard notes the hazardous conditions from the southern summit to the peak, describing the team’s difficulties on his website:
“Due to the steepness and the bad snow conditions, the kicks break out again and again. The snow is too soft to reach reasonably reliable levels and too deep to find ice for the crampons. How fatal that is, can then be measured, if you know that this place is probably one of the most dizzying in the world.”
Gerhard’s group quickly makes their way back down, encountering the same difficulties they had during their climb.
When they arrive safely back at the South Col camp at 7 p.m. that night, his wife’s group — arriving there about the same time Gerhard had reached Everest’s peak — had already set up camp to get ready for Hannelore’s group’s own ascent to the summit.
Gerhard and his group members warn Hannelore and the others about the bad snow and ice conditions, and try to persuade them not to go. But Hannelore was “indignant,” her husband described, wanting to conquer the great mountain, too.
Hannelore Schmatz’s Tragic Death
Mount Everest
Maurus Loeffel/Flickr
Hannelore Schmatz was the first woman to die on Everest.
Hannelore Schmatz and her group began their climb from the South Col to reach Mount Everest’s summit at around 5 AM. While Hannelore made her way toward the top, her husband, Gerhard, made the descent back down to the base of Camp III as weather conditions began to rapidly deteriorate.
At about 6 p.m., Gerhard receives news over the expedition’s walkie talkie communications that his wife has made it to the summit with the rest of the group. Hannelore Schmatz was the fourth woman mountaineer in the world to reach Everest’s peak.
However, Hannelore’s journey back down was riddled with danger. According to the surviving group members, Hannelore and the American climber Ray Genet — both strong climbers — became too exhausted to continue. They wanted to stop and set up a bivouac camp (a sheltered outcropping) before continuing their descent.
Sherpas Sungdare and Ang Jangbu, who were with Hannelore and Genet, warned against the climbers’ decision. They were in the middle of the so-called Death Zone, where conditions are so dangerous that climbers are most vulnerable to catch death there. The sherpas advised the climbers to forge on so that they could make it back to the base camp further down the mountain.
But Genet had reached his breaking point and stayed, leading to his death from hypothermia.
Shaken by the loss of their comrade, Hannelore and the two other sherpas decide to continue their trek down. But it was too late — Hannelore’s body had begun to succumb to the devastating climate. According to the sherpa who was with her, her last words were “Water, water,” as she sat down to rest herself. She died there, rested against her backpack.
After Hannelore Schmatz’s death, one of the sherpas had stayed with her body, resulting in the loss of a finger and some toes to frostbite.
Hannelore Schmatz was the first woman and the first German to die on Everest’s slopes.
Following her tragic death on Mount Everest at age 39, her husband Gerhard wrote, “Nevertheless, the team came home. But I alone without my beloved Hannelore.”
Hannelore’s corpse stayed at the very spot where she drew her last breathe, horrifically mummified by the extreme cold and snow right on the path many other Everest climbers would hike.
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