Swiss expedition member who forged path for Hillary's Mt. Everest ascent dead at 95
Ernest Hofstetter died at his French chalet on Friday, June 1. In 1952, Hofstetter and his climbing friends, meeting for their weekly gathering in a Geneva square, hatched a plan climb Mt. Everest. With legendary Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the friends made their way 23,620 feet up the mountain. Tenzing and another climber, Raymond Lambert, continued to climb, with Hofstetter and others remaining at camp, ready to attempt the rest of the journey if the pair failed. Tenzing and Lambert camped at 27,560 feet without sleeping bags, and reached 28,380 feet when fatigue and bad weather forced them back down the mountain. They had climbed to within 650 feet of the summit without the use of oxygen, as their Swiss-designed devices had failed. The following year, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay followed the path forged by Hofstetter and his group to successfully reach the 29,035-foot peak. Hillary's telegram to the Swiss friends stated "To you goes half the glory." The same path to the peak is still used today. Hofstetter was 95.
Sources: Associated Press, tenzing-norgay.com
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