Everest Sleeping Beauty Story Will Impress You

There are people who are not satisfied with a common routine and are always looking for new challenges. Running an ultramarathon, completing an Ironman, crossing a country by bike ... There is no shortage of options for those who want to push their limits, pushing their mind and body to the extreme.

These options are the most popular, but with enough time and money, the possibilities are almost endless. One is to reach the peak of Mount Everest, the highest in the world. Getting there is a challenge for a few, because, in addition to fitness, you need to be very determined to withstand the thin air and freezing temperatures, which can reach 160 degrees below freezing!

Not a few climbers lost their lives during the climb, but even so Francys Distefano-Arsentiev decided to attempt the feat of reaching the summit without the aid of supplemental oxygen. Her fate was tragic, but the way she was found by other climbers was not usual.

Sleeping Beauty

In the year of the challenge, 1998, Francys Distefano-Arsentiev was 40 years old and not a professional climber, despite being the wife of the famous Russian climber Sergei Arsentiev, known for climbing the five highest mountains of his native country. Together they decided that they would try to reach the summit of Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen.

The mountain has no reputation for challenging for nothing, as it is very difficult to predict the weather conditions during the route. Throughout the climb process, adventurers always remember the size of the venture, as they are forced to pass through the bodies of climbers who have succumbed on the path for various reasons.

Access is so difficult and conditions so adverse that rescuing victims is very complicated, so they are left where they have no more strength to pursue. Temperature and thin air keep them from decomposing, serving as a warning to those who want to reach the roof of the world.

The couple managed to accomplish the feat and reached the top, but during the descent some trouble caused them to become two more among the dead on the spot. She was found by another couple; Ian Woodall and Cathy O'Dowd were shocked to identify the purple jacket they had seen earlier at base camp.

Ian and Cathy approached and confirmed that it was really the woman, remembering how she said she was not a frequent climber and how she missed her home and her son. Lying in the snow, her condition was very different, with a white, hard skin, leading Ian to describe Francys as a “sleeping beauty, ” an expression that was used extensively by the press in publicizing the accident.

After all, she was not dead yet and was babbling the phrases "Don't leave me, " "Why are you doing this to me?" And "I'm American" over and over, as if it had entered automatic mode. Weather conditions began to get worse and worse, and unfortunately the couple had no choice but to leave Francys behind.

The attitude may seem selfish, but in such an extreme situation, trying to help someone can be like signing your own death warrant. Francys' husband's body was found elsewhere a year later, probably trying to get help after his wife succumbed.

The image of the frozen woman remained in Ian Woodall's memory; so almost 10 years later, in 2007, he decided to provide a decent burial for Francys. He and a team managed to locate her body and wrapped it in the American flag. Another action taken by them was the removal of Francys from the usual path of climbers, so that she could rest in peace without more pictures of her appearing on the internet.

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