Seattle woman, climbing partner missing in China

WASHINGTON — One of the world's top female high-altitude climbers, Seattle-based Christine Boskoff, is presumed missing in the unclimbed 20,000-foot peaks in Southwest China.

Boskoff and another well-known climber, Charlie Fowler, were last heard from in November. Fellow climbers in the United States say they and American and Chinese officials in China's Sichuan province have organized searches for the two.

Boskoff has ascended six of the world's 26,000-foot peaks, including Mount Everest. She owns Mountain Madness, a Seattle adventure-travel company formerly owned by Scott Fischer, one of the guides who died on Mount Everest in the 1996 season recounted in Jon Krakauer's best-selling book "Into Thin Air."

Boskoff and Fowler left for China in early fall. Fowler, from Colorado, is an expert on climbing in southwestern China. He has guided climbers up Everest and has conquered several other of the world's tallest and most difficult peaks.

Boskoff and Fowler were last heard from in early November, after a first ascent up the north face of the previously unclimbed 19,094-foot Yala Peak, known to locals as Haizishan. They were due back in Denver on Dec. 4.

"I'm having a great time and love the country, mountains and people here," Boskoff said in an e-mail on Nov. 7 to the Mountain Madness office.

Mark Gunlogson, president of Mountain Madness, said Thursday that ground searches were being launched in other regions.

"The hope is that they're sitting in some village drinking yak butter tea, waiting for the weather to clear," he said.

Boskoff and her husband bought Mountain Madness in 1997, just months after founder Fischer died on Everest. Two years later, Boskoff's husband died.

Since then she's worked to make the once-struggling company a success. She has traveled the world, identifying herself as "Chris" instead of "Christine" in countries where men do not do business with women.

Boskoff always found solace in the mountains. In a 2004 interview with The Seattle Times, she described city life as "nerve-wracking and stressful" and said climbing restored her.