Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Apparently, Pete was a client of Patrick's firm, which is how I got this:
Peter Schoening passed away this week. He was a mountain climbing
legend, hero, father and successful business man.
___________
Mountaineer, 77, saved lives of six climbers on K2 in '53
Pete Schoening's name will forever be etched in the annals of
mountaineering for his conquests of many of the highest and most
treacherous peaks on Earth.
For being one of the first two Westerners to summit the remote Pakistani
peak Gasherbrum I, a 26,470-foot monster also called "Hidden Peak," Mr.
Schoening is listed among such luminaries as Sir Edmund Hillary, the
first to scale Everest, as one of the world's renowned climbers.
But whether the famously humble man wanted it this way or not, climbers
will forever associate the name Pete Schoening with a single heroic day
in August 1953, when he alone held a rope that kept six climbers from
plunging to their deaths from the icy crags of K2.
It's a moment climbers simply refer to, with reverence, as "The Belay."
"I'm sure we would have all gone down," recalls climber Dee Molenaar of
Burley, Kitsap County, who is alive today because of a thin nylon rope
that connected him that day to his dear friend, Mr. Schoening.
"He was a prince of a human being."
Mr. Schoening, a successful businessman and the father of six, died
Wednesday (Sept. 22) at his home in Kenmore after a long fight with
blood cancer. He was 77.
Pete Schoening, seen in 1974, was born in
Seattle."He had the strength of a bull and the heart of a Boy Scout,"
said Nick Clinch, of Palo Alto, Calif., who was with Mr. Schoening on
the first-ever ascent of Mount Vinson in Antarctica, in 1966. "His
physical strength, leadership and personality were central on his
expeditions."
Mr. Schoening was born July 30, 1927, in Seattle and attended Roosevelt
High School, said his son, Eric, of Seattle. He dropped out of school to
join the Navy, and served about a year before World War II ended.
He then earned a chemical-engineering degree from the University of
Washington and went on to work in various industries.
He also found himself among an elite group of pioneering mountain
adventurers from the Northwest.
"He was a great guy to rope up with," said Jim Whittaker, of Port
Townsend, the first American to summit Mount Everest.
In 1953, Mr. Schoening joined Molenaar and several others in an attempt
to be the first to reach the top of K2 in the Himalayas, the world's
second-highest peak.
On Aug. 10, the group was pinned down by a blizzard at about 25,000
feet. Climber Art Gilkey developed a deadly blood clot in his lungs, and
the group launched a desperate attempt to lower him using a technique
called a "belay," which simply means suspending a person from the end of
a rope.
During the descent, another climber, George Bell, lost his footing and
slid, pulling the others with him. Their ropes tangled, connecting them
all to one line around Mr. Schoening's waist.
Mr. Schoening held fast with an ice ax. His grip kept all six climbers
suspended by their ropes.
Gilkey later died when an avalanche carried him away, but the five
others lived.
Mr. Schoening returned home, began a 51-year marriage to his wife, Mell,
and continued climbing. His exploits included a record ascent of Hidden
Peak in 1958, but he spent the rest of his life humbly downplaying the
famous belay.
"When you get into something like mountain climbing, I'm sure you do
your thing automatically," he told a Seattle Times reporter in 1978.
"It's a mechanical function you've been trained to perform. You do it
when necessary without giving it a thought of how or why."
And that, his friends and family said, epitomized the modesty that
defined Mr. Schoening's life.
In the late 1960s he started a fiberglass-manufacturing business in
Woodinville called ChemGrate. By the time he retired and sold it in
1995, he had operations here and in Tennessee and China.
Although he went all over the world to climb mountains - he scaled five
of the world's seven highest peaks - he took time to take his large
family on many trips and taught his children how to climb.
"Being roped to him gave me and all his kids tremendous confidence,"
said son Eric. "He was just a huge success in the broadest sense, in his
climbing and his business and his commitment to his family."
After retirement, Mr. Schoening set his sights on the world's toughest
climbs. In 1996, at age 68, he joined an expedition to Everest but
turned back before he reached the summit because of oxygen deprivation.
The expedition turned tragic and eight climbers died, a disaster
chronicled in the Jon Krakauer book "Into Thin Air."
Years later, with cancer taking its toll, Mr. Schoening kept venturing
into the mountains. His last hike was three weeks ago.
"Pete was breathing hard going up the trail," recalled longtime friend
Thomas Hornbein, also a noted mountaineer and former chairman of the
University of Washington's anesthesiology department. "But he was still
enthusiastic."
In addition to his wife and son Eric, survivors include three daughters,
Kim, of New York, Kristiann, of Seattle, and Lisa Schoening Jertz, of
Germany; two other sons, Mark, of Kenmore, and Kurt, of Bellingham; and
12 grandchildren.
A memorial service has not yet been scheduled. Donations may be made to
the Central Asia Institute, P.O. Box 7209, Bozeman, MT 59771; or the
Schoening Memorial Outdoor Studies Endowment, c/o The Lakeside School,
14050 First Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA 98125.
Peter Schoening passed away this week. He was a mountain climbing
legend, hero, father and successful business man.
___________
Mountaineer, 77, saved lives of six climbers on K2 in '53
Pete Schoening's name will forever be etched in the annals of
mountaineering for his conquests of many of the highest and most
treacherous peaks on Earth.
For being one of the first two Westerners to summit the remote Pakistani
peak Gasherbrum I, a 26,470-foot monster also called "Hidden Peak," Mr.
Schoening is listed among such luminaries as Sir Edmund Hillary, the
first to scale Everest, as one of the world's renowned climbers.
But whether the famously humble man wanted it this way or not, climbers
will forever associate the name Pete Schoening with a single heroic day
in August 1953, when he alone held a rope that kept six climbers from
plunging to their deaths from the icy crags of K2.
It's a moment climbers simply refer to, with reverence, as "The Belay."
"I'm sure we would have all gone down," recalls climber Dee Molenaar of
Burley, Kitsap County, who is alive today because of a thin nylon rope
that connected him that day to his dear friend, Mr. Schoening.
"He was a prince of a human being."
Mr. Schoening, a successful businessman and the father of six, died
Wednesday (Sept. 22) at his home in Kenmore after a long fight with
blood cancer. He was 77.
Pete Schoening, seen in 1974, was born in
Seattle."He had the strength of a bull and the heart of a Boy Scout,"
said Nick Clinch, of Palo Alto, Calif., who was with Mr. Schoening on
the first-ever ascent of Mount Vinson in Antarctica, in 1966. "His
physical strength, leadership and personality were central on his
expeditions."
Mr. Schoening was born July 30, 1927, in Seattle and attended Roosevelt
High School, said his son, Eric, of Seattle. He dropped out of school to
join the Navy, and served about a year before World War II ended.
He then earned a chemical-engineering degree from the University of
Washington and went on to work in various industries.
He also found himself among an elite group of pioneering mountain
adventurers from the Northwest.
"He was a great guy to rope up with," said Jim Whittaker, of Port
Townsend, the first American to summit Mount Everest.
In 1953, Mr. Schoening joined Molenaar and several others in an attempt
to be the first to reach the top of K2 in the Himalayas, the world's
second-highest peak.
On Aug. 10, the group was pinned down by a blizzard at about 25,000
feet. Climber Art Gilkey developed a deadly blood clot in his lungs, and
the group launched a desperate attempt to lower him using a technique
called a "belay," which simply means suspending a person from the end of
a rope.
During the descent, another climber, George Bell, lost his footing and
slid, pulling the others with him. Their ropes tangled, connecting them
all to one line around Mr. Schoening's waist.
Mr. Schoening held fast with an ice ax. His grip kept all six climbers
suspended by their ropes.
Gilkey later died when an avalanche carried him away, but the five
others lived.
Mr. Schoening returned home, began a 51-year marriage to his wife, Mell,
and continued climbing. His exploits included a record ascent of Hidden
Peak in 1958, but he spent the rest of his life humbly downplaying the
famous belay.
"When you get into something like mountain climbing, I'm sure you do
your thing automatically," he told a Seattle Times reporter in 1978.
"It's a mechanical function you've been trained to perform. You do it
when necessary without giving it a thought of how or why."
And that, his friends and family said, epitomized the modesty that
defined Mr. Schoening's life.
In the late 1960s he started a fiberglass-manufacturing business in
Woodinville called ChemGrate. By the time he retired and sold it in
1995, he had operations here and in Tennessee and China.
Although he went all over the world to climb mountains - he scaled five
of the world's seven highest peaks - he took time to take his large
family on many trips and taught his children how to climb.
"Being roped to him gave me and all his kids tremendous confidence,"
said son Eric. "He was just a huge success in the broadest sense, in his
climbing and his business and his commitment to his family."
After retirement, Mr. Schoening set his sights on the world's toughest
climbs. In 1996, at age 68, he joined an expedition to Everest but
turned back before he reached the summit because of oxygen deprivation.
The expedition turned tragic and eight climbers died, a disaster
chronicled in the Jon Krakauer book "Into Thin Air."
Years later, with cancer taking its toll, Mr. Schoening kept venturing
into the mountains. His last hike was three weeks ago.
"Pete was breathing hard going up the trail," recalled longtime friend
Thomas Hornbein, also a noted mountaineer and former chairman of the
University of Washington's anesthesiology department. "But he was still
enthusiastic."
In addition to his wife and son Eric, survivors include three daughters,
Kim, of New York, Kristiann, of Seattle, and Lisa Schoening Jertz, of
Germany; two other sons, Mark, of Kenmore, and Kurt, of Bellingham; and
12 grandchildren.
A memorial service has not yet been scheduled. Donations may be made to
the Central Asia Institute, P.O. Box 7209, Bozeman, MT 59771; or the
Schoening Memorial Outdoor Studies Endowment, c/o The Lakeside School,
14050 First Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA 98125.
