A leading German mountaineer and extreme skier has been found dead on the world’s third highest mountain, in the Himalayas, five days after going missing.
The body of Luis Stitzinger was discovered on Tuesday on Mount Kanchenjunga at a height of 8,400 metres, the head Sherpa of the company that organised the climb to find him told the Himalayan Times.
Stitzinger, 54, who made a name for himself in the mountain sports scene through spectacular skiing descents, had climbed Kanchenjunga without supplemental oxygen or assistance from local guides.
He started his push for the summit at 6pm last Wednesday from a camp at a height of about 7,600 metres, and reached the peak at 5pm the following day. He last communicated via radio at 9pm later that day.
Stitzinger had planned to return to the camp on skis but never arrived at the site and could not be located via GPS. Due to extreme weather conditions at the summit, a rescue team did not set off until four days later.
According to his website, the Bavarian had previously scaled seven of the 14 “eight-thousanders” – mountains taller than 8,000 metres – recognised by the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation. He finished each of these expeditions by skiing down long and steep slopes in treacherous terrain.
Peers described Stitzinger as a prudent and seasoned mountaineer whose experience also made him a sought-after guide. In 2022, he accompanied 68-year-old Graham Keene on an expedition that made Keene the oldest Briton to scale Mount Everest.
Stitzinger carried out several of his expeditions with his wife, Alix von Melle, who leads the list of female German alpinists to scale eight-thousanders, with seven such summits. In 2015, the pair published a book about their joint passion for mountaineering.
“I don’t go up a mountain because I want to break a record”, Stitzinger told Die Welt in 2007. “To me it is about the experience of nature and physicality. That is even more intense when the body is revved up.”
