KATMANDU, Nepal -- The leader of an American medical expedition to the top of Mt. Everest discovered the body of a West German woman 'embedded in ice' on the upper slopes of the world's highest mountain.
'It was a shock,' Chris Kopcjynski said Saturday of finding the frozen body of Hannelore Schmatz, who fell to her death two years ago with fellow mountain climber Raymond Genet near the icy summit of Mt. Everest.
In a eerie twist of fate, Kopcjynski's sherpa guide Sundere was the only survivor in the 1979 expedition that claimed the life of the West German woman.
'We did not touch it. I could see she had on her watch still,' said Kopcjynski. 'Sundere was petrified. I thought for a while it was a tent. Actually, she was embedded in ice,' he said.
Kopcjynski discovered the body during a harrowing descent from the 29,002-foot peak but said his group did not bring the woman's body down because 'we were not in a physical state to do anything.'
Kopcjynski, who flew to Katmandu Saturday from the foot of the mountain at Likla, was part of an American mountaineering team that climbed Everest to carry out unprecedented heart and lung experiments at the top of the world.
Kopcjynski, 33, of Spokane, Wash., was the first of the three Americans on the team to reach the summit on Oct 21. Christopher Pizzo, 33 of San Diego, and Peter Hackett, 35 of Anchorage, Alaska reached the top on October 24.
At first, Sundere was unwilling to guide Kopcjynski on the final assault.
'He was terrified. He had lost his toes (from frostbite) in the assault two years ago. So I said I would give him 1,000 rupees ($80) and he immediately decided to come along,' the American said.
Despite howling winds and two near falls, the two men made the summit four hours after setting out from their final highest base camp at 26,574 feet. They spent 90 minutes at the highest point on the earth's surface.
'I felt that after 18 years of climbing it was all worth it for the view from the summit. I'll never forget it. It was just amazing. No clouds. No dust. I cried a little,' Kopcjynski said.
