Recovering Markus

kronthaler 1
Here’s a story that is both sad, and inspirational at the same time. It’s the story of the Welt der Berge Expedition in which Georg Kronthaler and a team of dedicated climbers went to Broad Peak to reclaim the body of Georg’s brother, Markus, who died on the mountain last year. Both The Adventurist and the Everest Is Ours Blog have posted on the story already, and done a good job of noting it, but I felt it was worth a mention as well.

You can read a detailed account of the expedition at The Alpinist, which tells the story of how one brother risked life and limb, on a very challenging climb, to reclaim the body of the other brother, who perished on a mountain doing the thing he loved. When it is all said and done, this will be the highest-altitude body recovery mission ever, as Markus perished near the summit ridge on BP at about 8047m.

Everest Is Ours updated today with news that “It is done” and that Markus is off the mountain at long last, and that the entire team will return home to Munich on August 15th.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I would love to read a book about this expedition. I’m sure we could all get caught up in the story of one brother setting out to find the other, with an entire family holding their collective breath. An amazing story and an amazing effort by everyone involved.

Special thanks to Alan Arnette for reminding me about this story!

Kraig Becker

6 thoughts on “Recovering Markus”

  1. I’ve been following this expedition quite a bit too and I think it’s absolutely heartbreaking but in a way inspiring that they would put so much effort in to retrieve his body. I also would definitely read a book on it.

  2. Maybe I should quickly secure the rights to write the book. 🙂 But I do believe it could be a very powerful read.

  3. This was filmed and will be broadcast in October, though perhaps not in the U.S. – unless Discovery or Voom HD is on it. : )

    It is a beautiful story.

  4. Good to know! I’ll keep my eyes out for it. It would be great if it was aired here in the States!

Comments are closed.