Body of Seattle climber found in China

The body of a Seattle mountaineering business owner, missing since her partner was found dead in southern China in December, has been located, the head of the company said today.

Mark Gunlogson, president of Mountain Madness, said a company team in China found the remains of Christine Boskoff on the slopes of 20,354-foot Genyen Peak in Sichuan Province on Tuesday and recovered her camera and passport.

Boskoff, 40, and Charlie Fowler, 52, a mountaineer and photographer from Norwood, Colo., vanished in mid-December on a personal climbing expedition.

Fowler's body was recovered on Dec. 27 and Gunlogson said Boskoff's remains were recovered at about the same elevation as Fowler's.

Boskoff's mother, Joyce Feld of Appleton, Wis., said the family had lost hope that Boskoff was still alive.

"It's been a long time but it is a relief to know that they at least found the body," Feld said.

She said her daughter's body was covered with stones on Monday to protect it until a 15-member party could reclimb the unstable, rocky terrain to recover the remains.

A memorial service is planned in Appleton after Boskoff's body is returned, probably in about a month.

Boskoff is the third owner of the Seattle company to die in 11 years. Boskoff and her late husband, Keith Boskoff, purchased the business after the death of founder Scott Fischer on Mount Everest in 1996. Keith Boskoff committed suicide in 1999.

"This latest news brings closure to what was a great loss for her family, friends, Mountain Madness and the climbing community," Gunlogson wrote in a news release. "Chris lived life to the fullest and she died doing what she loved best in one of her most favorite places to climb."

Boskoff began climbing while studying electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and became hooked on high-altitude mountaineering when she met her future husband.