Climber wants to retrieve wife's body
The parents of an injured Australian climber travelled to Nepal yesterday to help their son, Robert Gropel, retrieve the body of his wife, South Africa-born Marisa Strydom, from Mount Everest after she died on the slopes on Saturday.Strydom, 34, a university lecturer, died of altitude sickness. She was descending when she died.Gropel, a veterinarian, also suffered high altitude pulmonary oedema on the descent. He was taken down the mountain by sled.The recent deaths of Strydom, Dutch climber Eric Ary Arnold and Indian mountaineer Subash Paul have raised safety concerns.The back-to-back tragedies have halted climbing on Everest.Strydom developed altitude sickness while descending from Camp Four, at about 8000m.Arnold died a day earlier after reaching the summit.Paul was one of two Indian climbers who went missing after they lost contact with their group on Saturday on Everest's high slopes known as the "death zone".Fatalities are not unusual on Everest. At least 18 people died when an earthquake sent a massive snow slide careening into Base Camp and an avalanche in the treacherous Khumbu Icefall killed 16 guides in 2014. ..
There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.
From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.
For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.
Already subscribed? Sign in below.
Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.