Pete Schoening

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Peter Kittlesby Schoening (born July 30, 1927 in Seattle , Washington ; † September 22, 2004 ibid) was an American mountaineer , he is considered a national hero in his homeland .

Rockclimbing

Schoening was involved in two important first ascents : 1958 on the eight-thousander Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum I) and 1966 on the highest mountain in Antarctica , Mount Vinson . He took part in the first American Pamir expedition (1974) and was involved in mountain rescue services on the northwest coast of the USA. In 1996, at the age of 68, Schoening tried unsuccessfully to climb Mount Everest with his nephew Klev . In the same year he came to the Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro , and together with his friend Marcus Schmuck the Mount Rainier. Pete Schoening is best known for his unprecedented rescue operation on the US K2 expedition in 1953, when he saved the lives of five mountaineers. The Schoening Peak in Antarctica is named after him.

Significant stations

Pete Schoening left school before the end of World War II to join the Navy . After the war he studied chemical engineering at the University of Washington . 1953 married Schoening; with his wife Mell he had three sons and three daughters. Schoening founded Chemgrate Corporation , which manufactured fiberglass, but sold it in 1995. In 1981, he received the David A. Sowles Memorial Award from the American Alpine Club . Schoening suffered from cancer in the last years of his life.

Rescue operation on K2

In the early summer of 1953, an American mountaineering team headed by Charles Houston set out for K2 to climb this heavy eight-thousander, on which Fritz Wiessner had narrowly failed 14 years earlier. Due to extremely adverse weather conditions, the dangerous situation arose during the attempt to climb the mountain that seven men were trapped in their tents at an altitude of 7620 m on the Abruzzi spur and were forced to stand idly by because of the storm. After nine days of blizzard , the first men were in mortal danger; Art Gilkey suffered a blood clot from the thin air and almost no drinking water was available. The decision was made to descend, but because of the extraordinarily high risk of avalanches it could not be returned via the familiar route, but instead took place over an unknown rock ridge. The men dismounted carefully, the injured Art Gilkey being wrapped in a tarpaulin and being secured by Pete Schoening. Then an accident occurred in a steep ice chute: George Bell slipped, fell and carried his partner with him; her rope got entangled with that of the other rope teams, so that everyone except Schoening lost their balance and was about to fall. With presence of mind, Schoening jammed his ice ax so that he could slow the mass fall that would have led to the death of the entire group.

The next targeted camp point was reached and the injured Gilkey was initially secured with two ice axes on the ice flank, as a platform had to be built first that offered enough space for the climbers. When they wanted to get Gilkey, there was no trace of him or the ice ax to be seen. He had fallen to death; possibly - as was speculated in retrospect - voluntarily, as he knew about his critical state of health and possibly wanted to free his comrades from the great risk of his rescue. The other climbers finally reached base camp, four of them with severe frostbite.

The fact that Pete Schoening was able to keep his comrades from falling is considered one of the most important events in alpinism in the 20th century in US mountaineering circles. The events are famous as The Belay (Eng. "The fuse").

A year later the K2 was climbed for the first time by an Italian team led by Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni . The legendary ice ax that Schoening used to save the lives of other climbers is now in the Museum of the State Historical Society of Washington State in Seattle.

Alpinistic services (extract)

  • First ascent attempt in 1953 on K2. The American expedition reached an altitude of 7,800 meters over the southeast ridge (Abruzzi spur) before they had to give up due to adverse weather conditions.
  • First ascent of the 8080 meter high Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum I) on July 5, 1958 together with Andrew Kauffman over the IHE spur and the southeast ridge.
  • First ascent of the 4892 meter high Mount Vinson (highest mountain in Antarctica) on December 18, 1966 together with Barry Corbet , John P. Evans and Bill Long
  • Attempt to climb Mount Everest in the spring of 1996 as a member of the Mountain Madness expedition, which later failed (see the accident on Mount Everest (1996) )

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The sources do not agree on the number of climbers involved; in some cases eight men are also mentioned; see the specified articles.
  2. ↑ Mount Vinson Expedition 1966

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schoening, Pete
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schoening, Peter Kittlesby (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American climber
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Seattle , Washington
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 2004
Place of death Seattle , Washington