The bodies of climbers Alex Rowe and David Bridges were found last week, bringing an element of closure to the pair’s families and laying to rest one of the enduring mysteries of mountaineering.
16 years ago Lowe and Bridges were climbing on Shishapangma in Tibet with their friend Conrad Anker when an avalanche swept them away. Anker, who survived by running left as his companions ran to the right, recalled in an interview with Outside magazine: “There was just this big white cloud, and then it settled and there was nothing there.”
Anker, Lowe and Bridges were part of a party that was attempting to summit the 8,027m peak and ski down it. Had they made it they would have been the first Americans ever to descend one of the “eight-thousanders” with skis.
“Anker spent days looking for any sign of his missing companions, but nothing was ever found.”
Along with their fellow skiers Anker spent days looking for any sign of his missing companions, but nothing was ever found. Nothing that is until last week, when climbers Ueli Steck and David Goettler were making their own ascent of Shishapangma, and spotted two bodies which had partially melted out of the glacier.
They phoned Anker, who recognised their description of “blue and red North Face backpacks,” and “yellow konflach boots”.
“We’re pretty sure it’s them,” he told Outside.
