Francys Arsentiev And The Story Behind One Of The Most Noteworthy Dead Bodies On Everest
Denver Public LibraryFrancys Arsentiev poses at the summit just before she suffered one of history’s most harrowing Mount Everest deaths. This portrait, taken by her husband, is believed to be the last photo ever taken of her.
The night before Francys Arsentiev was set to venture to Nepal to climb Everest in May 1998, her 11-year-old son Paul Distefano had an ominous nightmare. He saw two climbers — trapped and afraid in a flurry of white snow and intense wind gusts — unable to find shelter. Undeterred, she told him, “I have to do this.”
Despite her confidence, Arsentiev wasn’t a climber, though the 40-year-old American was married to one. Her husband was Sergei Arsentiev, who was known as “the snow leopard.” He had scaled the five highest peaks in Russia. Now, she agreed to climb Everest with her husband.
The expedition saw the pair reach Mount Everest’s peak without using supplemental oxygen. Francys Arsentiev made history by doing so, as she was the first American woman to summit the treacherous colossus without breathing aids. Tragically, it was the last thing she ever accomplished.
Wikimedia CommonsArsentiev’s death was highly publicized, with the press dubbing her “Sleeping Beauty.”
Before departing base camp, the Arsentievs had befriended Ian Woodall and Cathy O’Dowd. The climbing couple shared the pair’s enthusiasm, and they were all able to bond before beginning the journey. And, unfortunately, it was Woodall and O’Dowd who first encountered Francys Arsentiev during her descent, and just before her death.
Initially, Woodall and O’Dowd thought they’d spotted a freshly frozen body at around 25,000 feet. But when the body began violently spasming, they realized this person was still alive — and that it was their new friend.
Arsentiev “wasn’t an obsessive type of climber — she spoke a lot about her son and home,” O’Dowd recalled. In her last moments, Arsentiev repeated the same three phrases “like a stuck record,” over and over: “Don’t leave me,” “Why are you doing this to me,” and “I’m an American.”
Public DomainArsentiev was located in 2007 and reburied with an American flag.
By the time they found her, Arsentiev was already suffering from frostbite. Her skin was hardened and pale, and so wax-like that O’Dowd remembered likening her to Sleeping Beauty.
Perhaps most tragic was the fact that O’Dowd and Woodall then had to let their friend go, lest they put their own lives of risk and become Mount Everest corpses themselves.
As for Francys Arsentiev’s husband, he was found one year later. She wasn’t found for another eight years after that.
To Woodall’s credit, he led a 2007 expedition to recover Francys Arsentiev’s body. He and his team wrapped her in an American flag and buried her in an undisclosed location.
To this day, Arsentiev and her husband represent two of the most tragic Mount Everest bodies in history.
