Joëlle Brupbacher Explained

Birth Date:3 August 1978
Death Place:Makalu
Death Cause:Altitude sickness, exhaustion
Burial Place:Makalu
Occupation:IT Specialist
Known For:First Swiss woman to summit 5 eight-thousanders
Spouse:Jorge Egocheaga (Spanish summiter of all 14 eight-thousanders), 2011

Joëlle Catherine Brupbacher (3 August 1978 – 22 May 2011) was a Swiss mountaineer.

Brupbacher lived in Muri bei Bern and was employed as an IT specialist with Swiss Federal Railways.[1] Before she turned to mountaineering, she was a sport climber. She would go on to be the first Swiss woman to summit five of the fourteen eight-thousanders, all without the use of supplementary oxygen.[2]

Final climb

Brupbacher was climbing Makalu with a small expedition team on the mountain that day, including her husband, Jorge Egocheaga and Oscar Fernandez.[3] Brupabacher and Egocheaga were married only a month before the climb.[4] It was her second attempt at Makalu, after an attempt in the previous season that was aborted at 7800m.[5] Brupacher was climbing with a cold, and making slower progress than the others. Egocheaga summitted first, meeting Brupbacher on the descent, where he encouraged her to turn around.[6] According to the expedition report, she refused and continued to the summit alongside her sherpa, Pasang Gyalzen Sherpa.[7]

After reaching the summit of Makalu, and descending to Camp 4 on 21 May, Brupbacher died of acute mountain sickness (AMS) in her tent at Camp 3 at an altitude of 7400 m on the 22 May 2011.[8] [9] Egocheaga was already in base camp.[10] On May 21, before Brupbacher died, Egocheaga and Ramos tried to organize a rescue, however efforts were unsuccessful.[11] [12] After her death, her body was left in the tent at camp 3. Fabrizio Zangrilli, a climber from the team sent to render aid to Brupbacher before she died, went up, collapsed the tent over her, and packed snow over the tent to bury her body.

After her death, her family started Joëlle Ayuda, a Nepalese non-profit organization to help disadvantaged children with education and medical care in Nepal's Makalu Valley.[13] [14]

Notable ascents

Notes and References

  1. News: Schulthess. Adrian. Drama am Makalu: Berner Alpinistin stirbt am 5. Achttausender. 27 May 2011. Blick. 27 May 2011.
  2. News: Schweizer Alpinistin kommt im Himalaya-Massiv ums Leben. 27 May 2011. Neue Zürcher Zeitung / SDA. 27 May 2011.
  3. Web site: 2011-12-29 . «Te lo dedico, Joëlle» . 2024-06-30 . La Nueva España . es.
  4. Web site: Amorós . Marta . 2021-03-31 . “Haber conocido a mi mujer es más significativo que haberla perdido” Jorge Egocheaga, médico y alpinista . 2024-06-30 . Instituto Kern . es.
  5. Web site: Himalayan Database Online . June 30, 2024 . Himalayan Database . Ann Arbor, Michigan.
  6. Web site: 2011-05-26 . Joëlle Brupbacher, el rescate que no fue . 2024-06-30 . Desnivel.com . es.
  7. Web site: L . A. . 2011-05-26 . Muere una compañera de escalada de Egocheaga . 2024-06-30 . La Nueva España . es.
  8. Web site: Swiss female mountaineer claimed by Makalu . 27 May 2011 . Explorersweb.com.
  9. Web site: L . A. . 2011-05-26 . Muere una compañera de escalada de Egocheaga . 2024-06-30 . La Nueva España . es.
  10. Web site: S.L.U . Barrabes Esquí Montaña . Cumbre en el Makalu para Martín Ramos, Jorge Egocheaga, Horia Colibasanu y Peter Hámor Blog Barrabes . 2024-06-30 . www.barrabes.com . es.
  11. Web site: d'Angella . Valentina . 2011-05-27 . Muore alpinista svizzera al Makalu, dubbi e polemiche al base . 2024-06-30 . Montagna.TV . it-IT.
  12. Web site: 2011-06-01 . Nessuno ascolta JoëlleMorte sull'Himalaya . 2024-06-30 . La Stampa . it.
  13. Web site: VÁZQUEZ . SOLANGE . 2021-02-10 . Jorge Egocheaga: «Vivimos en la cultura de la queja y no nos hace ningún favor» . 2024-06-30 . El Diario Montañés . es.
  14. Web site: Lorca . Antonio . 2024-01-04 . Jorge Egocheaga siembra en el cielo: el montañero ayuda a que niños de Nepal puedan estudiar . 2024-06-30 . www.epe.es . es.
  15. Web site: Joelle Brupbacher Athletes Arc’teryx . 2024-06-30 . Arc'teryx Equipment.
  16. Web site: Lane . Keese . 2011-05-26 . Climber Dead on Makalu . 2024-06-30 . Alpinist . en-US.

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