Charlie FowlerA Chinese mountain climber leading a search for the brother of a Jacksonville area woman expressed concern Tuesday about the chances of his survival in the rugged mountains of southwest China.
Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff, nationally known mountain climbers from Norwood, Colo., are missing among 20,000-foot peaks in the rugged Sichuan province.
Fowler is the brother of Ginny Hicks, principal of Griffin Creek Elementary School in Medford.
"Personally, I think their chance of survival is slim," said Gao Min of the Sichuan Mountaineering Association, according to The Associated Press. "We have done our best to search for them."
However, he said the search continues.
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"So we have no idea which routes they took," Yang said.
The two climbers, considered among the best high-altitude climbers in the United States, were due back in Colorado on Dec. 4. However, they haven't been heard from since Nov. 8, when they sent an e-mail after climbing the north face of the previously unclimbed 19,094-foot Haizi Mountain, also known as Yala Peak.
Fowler, 52, who has guided climbers up Mount Everest as well as other challenging peaks, is considered an expert on the rugged mountains of southwest China. Boskoff, 39, has climbed six of the world's peaks over 26,000 feet, including Mount Everest. A longtime partner of Fowler, she is the owner of the Seattle-based adventure travel company Mountain Madness.
Williams resident Spencer Lennard, 49, a mountain climber who first met Fowler in 1976 when the two were climbing in California's Yosemite National Park, is optimistic, given the climbers' experience.
"I knew Charlie fairly well in our youth," Lennard said. "Charlie knows better than anyone about climbing up there (high altitudes).
"He is one of the best people you could be with in the high mountains," he added. "He's the best in terms of gauging the weather, the mountains and what he is capable of."
Fowler impressed the climbers gathered at Yosemite by climbing solo without ropes the direct northwest face of Middle Cathedral Rock, Lennard recalled.
"He blew everybody away he was so good," he said, noting the climb was roughly 1,000 feet. "But he is a super nice guy. He's unassuming, friendly, not egotistical."
The two climbed while training at the University of Colorado on a climbing wall of sandstone. A huge snowstorm in the Rockies had driven climbers indoors, Lennard explained.
"Charlie is a master climber — he could hold on forever," he said, later adding, "But everybody in the climbing community is concerned about Charlie now. He is extremely well-liked."
Meanwhile, former Jacksonville resident Brian Smith of Loveland, Co., has been planning an ascent of Everest this spring as part of a Boskoff-organized climb, according to his father, Larry Smith of Jacksonville, via e-mail to the Mail Tribune from Loveland.
"Brian and Chris have been e-mailing each other for the past three months," Larry Smith wrote. "His last e-mail from her was at the end of October from Tibet."
Smith said his son and daughter-in-law had dinner with Boskoff before she left for Tibet.
Although Hicks could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon, she told the Mail Tribune on Saturday that the family is keeping in close contact with the searchers as well as the U.S. consulate in China.
"The frustrating part is that, even if I could go there, I couldn't do anything," she said. "It's a waiting game for us at this point. But we are being kept informed about everything that is going on.
"There is comfort in that, knowing everything is being done that can be done," she added.
A Web site has been established to raise funds for the search.
For further information, check out:
Searchers' blog: http:fowlerboskoff.blogspot.com/
Mountain Madness: http:www.mountainmadness.com/
Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
