Nine years after Telluride climber Francys DiStefano-Arsentiev died near the summit of Mount Everest, her body so close to the trail that mountaineers cannot avoid it, a British climber is returning to bury her.
Ian Woodall, one of the climbers who spoke with Arsentiev as she lay dying on the Northeast Ridge trail, was ascending Everest on Tuesday. He intends to wrap her in a U.S. flag and cover her body with a rock cairn, the only way to effect a burial at nearly 28,000 feet.
“I think it’s great, what Ian is doing,” said Ellen Miller, a Vail writer and athlete researching a book about Everest’s women climbers. “When I was on the Northeast Ridge in 2001, Fran’s body was right out there in the open. It was poignant and haunting.”
The death of Arsentiev, 40, drew international attention.
Arsentiev, a Telluride business accountant, already was in the spotlight because of her goal to become the first U.S. woman to summit Everest without using oxygen.
Effervescent, attractive and an extraordinary athlete, she moved easily between the local cliques of mountaineers, rock climbers, skiers and parents. (She and her first husband, Joe DiStefano, had a son, Paul.)
A plaque commemorating Arsentiev and her husband, Serguei, presumed dead in the same descent that claimed his wife, still stands in a Telluride bouldering area.
Arsentiev reached Everest’s summit, but about 800 feet into her descent she fell or collapsed. She remained conscious but was unable to move.
Several other climbing parties – one included Woodall and his partner, Cathy O’Dowd – encountered Arsentiev when she was still alive on May 23, 1998.
Climbers from other expeditions shared three bottles of oxygen and medicine with Arsentiev, and managed to transport her about 100 meters down the trail.
With temperatures at minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit, and treacherous, shifting rock shards covering the pitched shelf, they were forced to relinquish rescue efforts.
“Please, don’t leave me,” Arsentiev begged, but they had to descend or die alongside her. By midday May 24, she was dead.
“If it was my body lying up there, I’d be thrilled if someone made that effort on my behalf,” Miller said. “I don’t know if it’s a publicity stunt or not. Everest tragedies have this lingering effect. It’s very hard for people to just get on with life.”
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
