I often think about Luis Stitzinger these days. Now that his widow Alix von Melle has spread his ashes on the 7,246-meter-high Putha Hiunchuli in western Nepal. The same place where I first attempted a seven-thousander in 2011 – in vain, I had to turn back at 7,150 meters. Alix’s expedition leader on Putha Hiunchuli was now the Austrian Herbert Wolf – as he was for me 13 years ago.
And with Eva-Maria Ramsebner, from Austria too, there was also someone en route from the team with whom I was able to celebrate the first ascent of the 7,129-meter-high Kokodak Dome in western China in 2014. Expedition leader at the time: Luis Stitzinger. So many interfaces – no wonder I remember him so often these days.
Luis “lived” with Billi Bierling for over a year
Luis Stitzinger died at the end of May 2023 while descending the 8,586-meter-high Kangchenjunga in eastern Nepal. The third highest mountain on earth was the ninth eight-thousander that he summited without bottled oxygen. The 54-year-old had wanted to ski down. A few days later, a Sherpa search team found him lying dead in the snow at 8,400 meters. The Sherpas brought Luis’ body down from the mountain – as is now required by law in Nepal. He was cremated in Kathmandu, his wife Alix was at the ceremony.
“Of course we talked about it from time to time: What if?”, Alix tells me. “So I knew that it was Luis’ wish to stay in the mountains. I wanted to fulfill this wish for him.” Immediately after the accident, she didn’t have the strength or the time, says the 53-year-old. The Himalayan chronicler and mountaineer Billi Bierling helped her. “Billi said: ‘Luis can live with me’. She set up a very nice corner in her apartment – with the ashes and some pictures of Luis, which I gave her. That took the pressure off me for the time being.”
“It just fitted”
Almost a year and a half later, Alix felt ready to go with Luis on his very last earthly journey in Nepal. She chose Putha Hiunchuli, also known as Dhaulagiri VII. “Luis really liked it because it is such a remote and lonely mountain,” recalls Alix. Her husband had scaled the technically rather easy seven-thousander in fall 2021 – with a British client to prepare him for an ultimately successful attempt on Mount Everest in spring 2022.
Lukas Furtenbach, head of the Austrian company Furtenbach Adventures, informed Alix about this year’s expedition to Putha Hiunchuli. Expedition leader Herbert Wolf and Luis had worked together as mountain guides for Furtenbach on Everest, as had Kunga Sherpa, who was now also part of the group. Plus Eva-Maria from Luis’ Kokodak Dome team. “I thought it would fit. It was also the right fit in terms of the people,” says Alix. “I need an environment that supports me.”
New fear of high altitude sickness
The successful German high-altitude mountaineer – she has scaled seven eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen, six of them with her husband Luis – knew that this expedition would be her most emotionally difficult one. The trekking to the remote mountain, which lasted several days, already challenged her emotionally. “You spend hours walking and thinking,” says Alix. “And I felt that Luis wasn’t just missing every day, but every step of the way.”
Luis’ ashes were consecrated once again at the traditional puja ceremony at the base camp. She already brought a small portion of the ashes into the air, reports Alix. “That took some of the pressure off me to make it to the summit. I didn’t know whether I would make it up.” The mountaineer admits that she was “totally panicked” about getting altitude sick on Putha Hiunchuli. “I hadn’t expected that at all. But it’s actually normal because Luis died of high altitude sickness. That’s kind of my Achilles’ heel now.”
Difficult conditions on the mountain
The ascent to the highest point was anything but a walk in the park. It was freezing cold on the summit day, says Alix: “The snow conditions were also terrible: a breakable crust, grained snow underneath. 1,000 vertical meters from the last camp to the summit, every step was torture. But somehow we fought our way up. My ash mission pushed me to the summit.”
Alix believes that the physical strain helped her to endure the mental one. “At the top, I was just happy that it had worked out despite the difficult conditions. And I thought: ‘Oh, how beautiful!’ No wind, perfect visibility. Then I brought the ashes up into the air. Eva-Maria read out texts from her brother, who is a priest. I really thought: ‘Luis would have wished for the same thing.’ And at the same time, I was happy that I had climbed another high mountain.”
Backpack has become lighter
I ask her if she had the feeling that Luis was present at that moment. “I couldn’t think much at the summit. I was on automatic mode, as if remote-controlled,” replies Alix. “But during the whole expedition, I felt that Luis was very close to me.” She realized it even at moments when she hadn’t necessarily expected it. “When we left the base camp three days after the summit success, I suddenly thought: ‘I can’t leave here. I can’t leave Luis alone.’ I then let the group go ahead and took my time. Moments like that are tough.”
Alix is relieved that Luis’ ashes have now found a place that reflects his personality. “I have the feeling that the backpack I carry around with me has become a little lighter,” she says. Nevertheless: “The grieving process is definitely not over, the grief will not be over in ten or 15 years. It will be part of my life. But it was a very important step that did me good.” And a spark that reignited her passion for the high mountains.
Fire is back
“I couldn’t even estimate beforehand whether I would still enjoy it at all without Luis. I loved expedition life with him. We were such a close-knit team,” Alix von Melle tells me. “And now I’m suddenly asking myself again: ‘What am I going to do next fall?’ I feel the desire again and I’m sure I’ll find a goal. Whether it will be a six- or seven-thousander or whether I’ll try another eight-thousander, I don’t know yet. But the fire is back.”
