A search team looking for two Norwood climbers missing since early December found a body that might be one of the climbers high on a remote mountain in China.
The news that one body was located on Genie Mountain not far from the Sichuan province border with Tibet where climbers Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff were last headed in mid-November has cast a holiday pall on the Telluride area.
“Obviously, if this is them, they died doing what they loved best,” said Damon Johnston, a Telluride climber who has done hundreds of routes with Fowler. Johnston said Fowler was “a mythical figure in the worldwide climbing community.”
“If there is a mountain range in the world, chances are he has been there and done a first ascent,” Johnston said.
Boskoff was known for ascending six of the world’s peaks over 26,000 feet.
Johnston and other Telluride friends had mobilized two weeks ago to aid in the search for the climbers with donations, political pressure, computer sleuthing and coordination of search teams halfway around the world.
“When we started, it was really a needle-in-a-haystack thing. We’ve had tremendous cooperation and help,” said Arlene Burns, director of the Telluride Mountainfilm organization.
The body in the snow has not been positively identified as that of Boskoff or Fowler and won’t be until an excavation team of Tibetan climbers can reach the site. Burns said she expected word to reach Telluride about 3 a.m. today.
“The body has on modern climbing gear. We’re not sure if it’s Chris or Charlie or if they are roped together. The rescue team was instructed not to touch the body,” Burns said.
She said there is also no way to know yet if the climbers fell or were caught in an avalanche. Earlier in the search, there were fears they could have been the victims of foul play in an area where other climbers had been accosted by armed robbers.
Mountainfilm members had spearheaded the search for the pair, who were reported missing in mid- December after they were not on a scheduled return flight to Denver on Dec. 4.
A search of travel plans on Fowler’s computer in Norwood showed the pair intended to work their way to the south of China. That led to searches for any sign of Fowler and Boskoff in several southern provinces, including Sichuan.
Once a search began in China in mid-December, several sightings of the pair were reported at hotels and Internet cafes. The last sighting was at a monastery three hours below where the body was discovered.
A driver had dropped the pair off in that region Nov. 11 with instructions to keep their luggage and return for them Nov. 24. They were not at the appointed meeting place.
A search of their luggage revealed they had taken all their climbing gear. An entry in Boskoff’s diary revealed they intended to climb Genie Mountain, which is also known as Genyen Peak.
Mountainfilm’s search dovetailed with search efforts by Mountain Madness, a Seattle-based outdoor-adventure company owned by Boskoff.
Staff writer Nancy Lofholm can be reached at 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com.
