Lilliane Barrard
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Liliane Barrard ( – 24 June 1986) and Maurice Barrard ( – 24 June 1986) were a
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
couple who gained fame climbing at high altitude, mainly in the Himalayan and
Karakoram The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...
ranges, and emphasizing Alpine-style 'fast and light' ascents.


Early life

The couple met while climbing in South America, having previously worked mainly in teaching. Billing themselves as the 'World's Highest Couple', they successfully climbed
Gasherbrum II Gasherbrum II (; ; ); surveyed as K4, is the 13th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is the third-highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, and is located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan and ...
(8,035 m/26,360 ft) in 1982 with Liliane's brother, Alain Bontemps, and
Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat () (; ), known locally as Diamer (), is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth and its summit is at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-a ...
in 1984 (first female ascent of this peak for Liliane). Although narrowly failing to make the summit of
Makalu Makalu (; ) is the fifth-highest mountain on Earth, with a summit at an elevation of AMSL. It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas southeast of Mount Everest, on the China–Nepal border. One of the eight-thousanders, Makalu is an isolat ...
(8,462 m/27,765 ft), they nevertheless put the finances together to attempt K2 (8,611 m/28,268 ft) in 1986 with a small team consisting of themselves, Polish climber
Wanda Rutkiewicz Wanda Rutkiewicz ( 4 February 1943 – 12–13 May 1992) was a Polish mountaineer and computer engineer. She was the first woman to reach the summit of K2 and the third woman (first European woman) to summit Mount Everest. Early life Wanda R ...
and French climber Michel Parmentier.


K2

The start to the Barrards' K2 expedition was not a promising one: Maurice and Liliane "had left their entire expedition budget—thousands of dollars plus airline tickets and passports on the backseat of a taxi!" Everything was sorted out in due course, and the Barrards,
Wanda Rutkiewicz Wanda Rutkiewicz ( 4 February 1943 – 12–13 May 1992) was a Polish mountaineer and computer engineer. She was the first woman to reach the summit of K2 and the third woman (first European woman) to summit Mount Everest. Early life Wanda R ...
and Parmentier arrived at the K2 motel at about the same time as
Alan Rouse Alan Paul Rouse (19 December 1951 – 10 August 1986) was the first British climber to reach the summit of the second highest mountain in the world, K2, but died on the descent. Education Rouse was born in Wallasey and began climbing at the age ...
's British expedition, then headed to Base Camp. The Barrards' expedition ascended the mountain very slowly, spending nights at 6300, 7100, 7700, 7900, and 8300 meters (20,669; 23,294; 25,262; 25,919; and 27,250 feet, respectively) on the climb. They spent their last night before their summit attempt bivouacked with a tent but no sleeping bags. The Barrards, Rutkiewicz, and Parmentier all summited successfully by 11:00am on June 23, 1986.
Wanda Rutkiewicz Wanda Rutkiewicz ( 4 February 1943 – 12–13 May 1992) was a Polish mountaineer and computer engineer. She was the first woman to reach the summit of K2 and the third woman (first European woman) to summit Mount Everest. Early life Wanda R ...
was the first female ascender of K2, a mere 30 minutes before Liliane Barrard. Both women summited K2 without using
supplemental oxygen A breathing apparatus or breathing set is equipment which allows a person to breathe in a hostile environment where breathing would otherwise be impossible, difficult, harmful, or hazardous, or assists a person to breathe. A respirator, medical v ...
. The four climbers descended only as far as their bivouac site from the night before, near the
Bottleneck Bottleneck may refer to: * the narrowed portion (neck) of a bottle Science and technology * Bottleneck (engineering), where the performance of an entire system is limited by a single component * Bottleneck (network), in a communication network * ...
(a treacherous terrain feature at around 8,300 m/27,250 feet). The Barrards and their group had run out of fuel for their stoves (which are necessary to melt snow for water in order to prevent dehydration at high altitude). Parmentier descended first, to try and borrow some stove fuel from a nearby pair of
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climbers, Mari Abrego and Josema Casimiro. The others descended after him. Rutkiewicz caught up with Parmentier; the Barrards lagged behind. The Basque climbers had also run out of gas, and accompanied Parmentier and Rutkiewicz back to the French Camp Three, at 7800m/25,600 feet. Rutkiewicz and the Basques continued down the mountain, and Parmentier waited for the Barrards to reach Camp Three. The weather was deteriorating. A French climber climbing with an
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expedition,
Benoît Chamoux Benoît Chamoux (19 February 1961 – 6 October 1995) was a French Alpinist, who claimed to have summited 13 of the Eight-thousanders in the Himalayas. Three of these climbs are disputed and are not formally recorded (Makalu in 1995, Cho Oyu ...
, tried to convince Parmentier to come down, without success, and left him a radio before turning around and heading back toward Base Camp. Eventually Parmentier, who had tried to wait for some sign of the Barrards, began to descend, in white-out conditions and gale-force winds. Parmentier was eventually guided down the mountainside via radio directions from Base Camp, about 3000m/9,843 feet below, based on the few landmarks he could find in the
blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...
. Rutkiewicz, suffering from
frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when someone is exposed to extremely low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occ ...
, and Parmentier both reached Base Camp alive. The Barrards were never seen alive again. The morning after summiting, Maurice had been very tired, and he and Liliane had left their tent after their climbing partners. It was windy and visibility was poor. The most likely scenarios are that the Barrards wandered off-route in the storm; that they fell; or that they collapsed from
exhaustion Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to: Law *Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law **Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law ** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, in ...
and possible hypoxia.


Aftermath

A month later, a South Korean team found Liliane's body on a snow field at around , nearly lower than where she was last seen; Maurice's body was not found until 1998 on the glacier just above Base Camp. Both are now buried at the Gilkey Memorial at the base of K2.


Notes

* That summer, known as the ‘Black Summer of 1986’, saw 13 deaths and 27 ascents on K2. * During the 'Black Summer', many expeditions shared in a surfeit of tragedies. An
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
expedition to the South-South-West Ridge suffered two casualties -- John Smolich and Alan Pennington were killed in an avalanche on June 21, after which their teammates left the mountain. Maurice and Liliane Barrard were lost on their descent after a successful summit bid, on June 25. A
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...
climber, Tadeusz Piotrowski, fell to his death after a successful summit of the Central Rib of the South Face, on July 10. On July 16, Renato Casarotto fell into a crevasse, after an unsuccessful attempt at climbing the South-South-West Ridge, and died later that day after being pulled out. Wojciech Wroz, a Polish climber, died during his descent on August 3–4, after a successful ascent of the South-South-West Ridge. On August 4, Mohammed Ali (Sirdar, or leader, of a South Korean expedition's high-altitude porters) was killed by stonefall on the Abruzzi Ridge.
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
climber
Julie Tullis Julie Tullis (née Palau) (15 March 1939 – 6/7 August 1986) was a British climbing, climber and filmmaker who died while descending from K2's summit during a storm, along with four other climbers from several expeditions, in what was later t ...
died after a successful summit attempt and forced descent to Camp Four, possibly from High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) on August 7. Two
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n climbers,
Alfred Imitzer Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...
and
Hannes Wieser Hannes is a masculine given name and a diminutive of Johannes or Hannibal. Hannes may refer to: *Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995), Swedish chemist and Nobel-prize winner *Hannes Aigner (born 1989), German slalom canoeist and Olympic medalist *Hannes A ...
, died in a descent from Camp Four during a storm on August 10. British climber
Alan Rouse Alan Paul Rouse (19 December 1951 – 10 August 1986) was the first British climber to reach the summit of the second highest mountain in the world, K2, but died on the descent. Education Rouse was born in Wallasey and began climbing at the age ...
is presumed to have died the same day; as was
Dobrosława Miodowicz-Wolf Dobrosława "Dobrusia" "Mrówka" Miodowicz-Wolf (18 August 1953 in Kraków — 10 August 1986 on K2) was a Polish alpinist, mountaineer, ethnographer, and researcher at Poland's National Museum of Ethnography. She was the daughter of politician ...
, a Polish climber who disappeared on fixed ropes below Camp Three. Difficult weather conditions caused many other injuries and near-fatalities throughout the summer.Curran, Jim, ''K2: Triumph and Tragedy.'' p.187-88. Grafton, 1989. () * The Barrards had planned to attempt the notorious East or Kangshung face of
Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at its ...
(8,848 m/29,028 ft) following their K2 bid.


See also

*
1986 K2 Disaster The 1986 K2 disaster refers to a period from 6 August to 10 August 1986, when five mountaineers died on the eight-thousander K2, in the Karakoram during a severe storm. Eight other climbers were killed in the weeks preceding, bringing the total n ...
*
List of climbers A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
List of solved missing person cases Lists of solved missing person cases include: * List of solved missing person cases: pre-1950 * List of solved missing person cases: 1950–1999 * List of solved missing person cases: post-2000 See also

* List of kidnappings * List of murder ...


References

;Sources *


Books

*Jordan, Jennifer, ''Savage Summit: True Stories of the First Five Women Who Climbed K2'' (2006) *Reinisch, Getrude, ''Wanda Rutkiewicz: A Caravan of Dreams'' (2000) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrard, Liliane and Maurice 1940s births 1980s missing person cases 1986 deaths Deaths on K2 Formerly missing French people French female climbers French mountain climbers Married couples Missing person cases in Pakistan Sport deaths in China 20th-century French sportswomen