Who is the sleeping beauty of Everest?
Among thousands of people who have made it to the top of Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, there was a beautiful American woman named “Francys Arsentiev”. She was the first ever woman from the United States to reach the summit of Mount Everest without using bottled oxygen on May 22, 1998.
Like every climber who longs for mountains and adventures, Francys also dared to make it to the top of the world. The mountains treat everyone fairly meaning it is just as majestic and challenging to everyone no matter where they come from or where they belong.
Despite that, Francys Arsentiev has a different story from the rest of the climbers who made it to the top of the world. She made it to the summit with everything she got without any supplemental oxygen and showed her courage and love for climbing. However, she never made it back down safely.
Francys’s surroundings at the summit took an unpredictable turn and no one saw it coming. This turn took her life near the summit since then it has become one of the most known emotional stories in mountaineering history As a memoir, Francys Arsentiev was regarded as a “Sleeping Beauty of Mount Everest” as a tribute.
Through her story, the world was able to delve into the risks of high-altitude climbing, the moral dilemmas that fellow climbers had when passing by Francys as she struggled through her last breaths and the legacy her life has left for the Everest climbers community.
What made Francys Arsentiev’s story unforgettable from the rest of the climbers?
Unlike other climbers, Francys had the courage and passion for victory to reach the top of the world's highest mountain without supplemental oxygen. During the expedition, she was separated from her team and her husband which might have made her whole experience more scarier and stressful.
Regardless of the exhaustion and immense mental stress she did not give up and set a historical moment for the world. Reaching the summit without an oxygen supplement is a very rare thing for a normal human being.
After her once-considered impossible summit, she prepared herself for the descent. At that wild altitude of 8,849m with low oxygen levels, when the dark storm began to surround her with unpredictable avalanches she had lost hope to make it back safely.
Francis’s fear of death on top of the world was a nightmare after making the impossible summit possible. With all the fear that got up to her, she was stuck in the snow for a long time with no energy to push forward. It was hard to reach her body located somewhere in the Rainbow Valley even though lots of efforts were made to save her life.
Since her body was in a difficult location for rescue, fellow Everest climbers were able to see her body on the mountain clearly for years. People started to regard it as a landmark that symbolizes human beings, their ambition and the unmeasurable cost of pursuing at extremely challenging levels.
Later with multiple efforts she was found covered in snow and looked cold and whitish yet so beautiful as if she was resting peacefully at the top of Mount Everest for a long time after her remarkable achievement. This is why the term “mt everest sleeping beauty” was referred to by Francys Arsentiev.
Even though we are aware of her heartbreaking story, we could never truly understand what she felt and went through alone during that tragic moment of her life.
What was the cause of death of Francys Arsentiev?
After being stuck in the snow at the death zone during her descending journey she could not move forward because of extreme exhaustion and mental pressure. The shortness of oxygen at that high altitude made everything worse for her, she was helpless, alone and scared to death. Researchers have found that her cause of death was frostbite, hypoxia and hypothermia.
The people who came across her couldn't save her due to the dangerous weather changes and high altitude. So despite feeling sad and sorry for her, fellow climbers felt helpless themselves. A long time had already passed when her body was recovered.
The Death Zone: What makes it so deadly?
A human body is built to function properly below a certain level of altitude in a certain level of temperature. Any difference in two of these factors will show an impact to the physical and mental well-being of a person.
Any location above the 8,000 m (26,247 ft) altitude above the sea level is referred to as “The death zone.” In this zone, your body begins to deteriorate minute by minute and cell by cell due to the lack of oxygen percentage in the thin air and slowness of blood flow in the body.
The oxygen level at normal altitude is around 21%. However in the dead zone it drops to about 1/3 of that at sea level. This is not sufficient to sustain human life. Hypoxia, a state of severe lack of oxygen, is considered a primary challenge for climbers at high-altitudes. As the altitude increases the temperature decreases gradually dropping it to -30°C (- 22°F) or even lower. This makes frostbites and hypothermia the other most occurring reasons for death in this zone.
All the 14 peaks above 8,000 m are the death zones located in the Himalaya and Karakoram regions of Asia. And reaching the summit of these peaks requires effective preparations with safety measures and proper guidance. Without additional oxygen, even experienced climbers can only survive a day or two at most in the death zone.
Here are some of the things that are crucial to consider in the death zone:
- Supplemental oxygen is crucial to survive in the death zone.
- The 2:00 p.m. Rule - It is a common safety guideline encouraging climbers to initiate their descent from the summit before 2:00 p.m. to avoid being caught into that zone during afternoon storms and unpredictable avalanches. This is exactly what got to Francys Arsentiev which cost her life.
- It is common to see bodies of climbers who couldn't make it successfully in the death zone. The retrieval is very difficult on the mountain. So prepare for the “Open Graveyard” or popularly known as “Rainbow Valley” you will come across during your journey to the summit.
Where is the Rainbow Valley?
“The Rainbow Valley” popularly known as the graveyard beneath Everest is one of the chilling and emotional sections of Everest where thousands of bodies of climbers lie frozen for years. The bright colored down suits of the climbers - the blues, reds, yellows and greens scattered across the snowy terrain creates a rainbow like image. Hence named The Rainbow Valley.
The Everest climbers refer to it as the final resting place for those who never made it back down safely. Due to the difficult retrieval on the mountains and the challenging weather at the high altitude those dead bodies of climbers remain there for years and years.
Francys Arsentiev was one of those courageous souls who laid among those Frozen souls with her white suit. The Climbers reported feeling an eerie sense of quiet companionship as they came across the open graveyard.
Passing through Rainbow Valley, they are reminded of how vulnerable a human’s courage is against the face of nature's might.
Every single helpless and cold body here reflects a story of strong determination, dreams, passion and irreversible step into eternity. Their beloved families have made continuous efforts to remove their bodies and give them a much deserved rest despite multiple failed attempts.
These souls will forever be a part of Everest's harsh and tragic history along with the majestic views of mother nature at the top of the mountain which they craved the most during their whole journey.
What were the final words of Francys Arsenntiev?
During her last moments, she was found by a few climbers named Cathy O’Dowd, Ian Woodall and a few others. They describe that when they found Francys she was severely frostbitten and barely conscious. She was swollen and blue due to extreme cold. She was suffering from hypoxia and was not able to move at all on her own.
The final words of sleeping beauty mt everest were “Don't leave me, Don't leave me alone please”. It makes us realize how scared and lonely she must have felt during her final moments. How those climbers must have felt when they couldn't help her and had to leave her alone in the cold even after the words she left behind.
Family of Francys Arsentiev
Francys was a happily married woman to Sergei Arsentiev who had the same love and enthusiasm for mountaineering and climbing as her. He was born in Russia and had climbed some significant mountains like the ones in the Pamirs and Tien Shan ranges.
Their Love for mountaineering and climbing brought them together and started a romantic relationship after becoming familiar while they were climbing on Annapurna I. They got married and had a son named Paul Arsentiev.
Francys and Sergei were together on their native Mount Everest climb in 1998. When they separated whilst climbing which led Francys to be scared of death alone on the top of the world. Sergei was the only one who made it safely back to the camp. After this emotional event, he made a continued effort to search for Francys but failed every single time.
Sergei Arsentiev was found dead in 1999 in his Everest Expedition. Paul was only a child when both of his parents passed away in the very mountains they had comprised. Sergei did try to ascend Kanchenjunga ( the third-highest peak in the world) without using supplemental oxygen. He was a professional in his field to be called “the Snow Leopard” for his accomplishments.
Why do female climbers look up to Francys Arsentiev?
When Francys climbed Everest with her courage and passion challenging nature itself by not using any supplemental oxygen, this breaked the barriers to the limits of what women can achieve in high-altitude mountaineering, proving that they could handle an immense amount of risk and climb towards the top.
Francys was able to show the world the physical and mental strength of a woman who wants to make her dream come true. Her strength, resilience and passion for climbing shed light to the potential of female population all over the world.
Her story became an inspiration for all the future climbers, especially female climbers who once would have questioned themselves if they had it in them to make it to the top of the world. From her tragic story, The climbing community is aware of attempting rescue missions in dangerous conditions, incorporating safety measures and support, maintaining the balance between personal drive and safety at the same time.
Francys’s story is a significant moment that expanded the boundaries for women in the mountaineering community.
Is Sleeping Beauty still on Everest ?
No. Francys’s body had been lying on Everest for more than 9 years and was visible to climbers on their way to the summit.
After nearly a decade, the Tao of Everest expedition which was led by a British climber Ian Woodall recovered Francys's body in 2007. The climbers Francys met during her final moments, felt a sense of responsibility to give her a much-deserved rest after hearing her pleading for her life. They were finally able to give her a proper burial and let her rest in peace.
Is it possible to climb mountains without oxygen?
After hearing the tragic story of Francys Arsentiev, The climbing community was aware of how dangerous and unfortunate it would be to climb without oxygen at higher altitudes. We should never underestimate the brutal power of Mother Nature and how unforgiving it can be despite our circumstances.
The mountain climbing community must acknowledge Francys for her remarkable achievement of reaching the summit of Everest without supplemental oxygen but we should also consider how her tragic death occurred because she underestimated how the weather can change in the blink of an eye in high altitudes and dangers of lack of oxygen.
So, make it clear in your mind that it is never considered safe to climb mountains without oxygen, especially at higher altitudes.
Conclusion
Yes, Francys Arsentiev did make her dream come true and she was able to experience stepping on top of the world with the majestic views of mother nature giving her a sense of precious achievement for all the hard work, dedication, and courage she put in risking her life and leave her remarkable legacy to this world.
Even though it cost Francys her life, her courageous efforts to make history were recognized among the whole world and gave her a much worth it tribute as “Sleeping Beauty Everest”.
She might have ended up giving up her life but the legacy she left with us is unmeasurably precious and regarded as a milestone for the whole world.
Let's take a moment of silence to honor Francys Arsentiev- a brave woman who had a dream to reach the top of the world in her ways and make history. Little did she know that we appreciate her courage and her legacy that she left to us to this day and will continue for the rest of humanity.
Her final moments of life on Everest reminds us of both the beauty and the danger of human aspiration!!
