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Remembering Liliane Barrard
09:33 a.m. EST Dec 9, 2003
Today marks the birthday of French female climber Liliane Barrard. Liliane was one of only five women to have ever summited K2. She also ascended Gasherbrum II in 1982, and was the first woman to summit Nanga Parbat in 1984 - a feat accomlished by only 11 other female climbers since.
In 1986, Liliane with her husband and long-time climbing partner Maurice Barrard were part of a small expedition that scaled K2 via the Abruzzi Spur. It was a season of epic tragedy, the deadliest on K2. 27 climbers reached the summit, 13 people died.
Lilian’s team mates included Wanda Rutkiewicz and Michel Parmentier. On June 23, Wanda became first woman to summit K2. Liliane summited very shortly thereafter, and became the second. Neither women used bottled oxygen.
On their descent, however, the climbers had to bivy up high when darkness fell. Continuing down the next day, Liliane and Maurice disappeared and were never seen alive again.
Liliane’s body was found about three weeks later near the foot of the mountain on the Godwin-Austen Glacier, 10,000 feet below the point where she was last seen alive. She was 37 years old. In 1998, climbers Heidi Howkins and Christian Binggele found the remains of Maurice Barrard just above Base Camp, also on the Godwin-Austin Glacier. They contacted the family for consent to bury Maurice's remains near Liliane at the Gilkey Memorial.
Image of Gilkey Memorial - ExplorersWeb files.
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