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Snow on the Kangchenjunga: Luis Stitzinger died on the world's third-highest mountain
Photograph:
Indranil Aditya / dpa
After days without signs of life, there is now sad certainty: The well-known mountaineer Luis Stitzinger from the Allgäu is dead. The body of the 54-year-old was found on the third highest mountain in the world, the eight-thousander Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas. This is reported by the dpa news agency and the newspaper »The Himalayan Times«, citing Nepalese authorities and the organizers of Sitzinger's expedition.
The experienced mountain and ski guide Stitzinger has been missing since last Thursday. Previously, the man from Füssen had been alone on the 8586-meter mountain on the border between India and Nepal.
Stitzinger's body was found at an altitude of 8400 meters and would be brought down by five Sherpas, Mingma Sherpa, the head of the expedition company Seven Summit Treks, which organized Stitzinger's expedition, told The Himalayan Times. Accordingly, Stitzinger was traveling without artificial oxygen.
Luis Stitzinger has already climbed several eight-thousanders and other high mountains, partly with his wife Alix von Melle, who is also a mountaineer. Together they published the book "Passion for Life: Together on the Highest Mountains in the World". In particular, Stitzinger is known as a well-known "big mountain skier". According to his own statements, the extreme athlete has already skied on seven eight-thousanders.
According to information from Alix von Melle, Stitzinger reached the summit of Kangchenjunga at around 17 p.m. on Thursday, as journalist Stefan Nestler wrote in his blog "Abenteuer Berg" in the run-up to the search operation – as the last of a group that stood on the highest point of the mountain that day. Around 21 p.m., Stitzinger is said to have had radio contact with the base camp team of Seven Summit Treks, according to his own information at an altitude of around 8300 meters. After that, his trace was lost – until now.
sol/dpa