The US Consulate General in Chengdu, the capital city of
Southwest China's Sichuan Province is offering a 30,000-yuan
(US$3,750) reward to anyone who can provide information leading to
the discovery of two American mountain climbers missing in the
Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province.
Charles Fowler, 52, and Christine Feld-Boskoff, 39, were last
heard from on November 7, when Fowler wrote in an email to a friend
in the US that the two were planning to stay in Litang County in
Ganzi for several days to climb a mountain.
He did not mention the name of the mountain. Nor did he say when
or how they would mount it.
"The search and rescue operation is difficult, for we do not
have any detailed information on them since they did not apply for
a permit from the Sichuan Provincial Mountain Climbers' Association
to mountaineer in Sichuan, in line with the Chinese government's
regulations for foreign mountain climbers," said Lin Li, secretary
general of the Sichuan Provincial Mountain Climbers'
Association.
"But, in the spirit of humanitarianism, the association has made
an effort to search for and rescue them since we learned they were
missing in early December," he told China Daily.
On December 9, people familiar with mountaineering in Ganzi
informed Lin's association that the two American climbers might
have gone missing while climbing the Genie Mountain or some other
nearby peak in early November.
"The association asked the local sports bureau and mountain
climbers' association in Ganzi to verify the report. On December
15, the US Consulate General in Chengdu sent a formal letter to the
association asking for its assistance in looking for the two
American citizens. We immediately started the search-and-rescue
operation," Lin said.
Rescue workers have interviewed villagers in Litang's Genie
Mountain region as well as employees of the county's 43 hotels, but
have uncovered no information about the missing couple.
Rescue workers have also asked the local government in nearby
Batang County for help.
"Officials from the Dangba Township Government, which
administers the Yangmolong Mountain in Batang, said one foreign man
and one woman had stayed in the Yangmolong Mountain region. But
nobody knows if they were the two missing people," Lin said.
Liu Feng, liaison officer of the Sichuan Provincial Mountain
Climbers' Association, said there had never been a mountaineering
accident on Genie Mountain, the summit of which is 6,240 meters
above sea level.
"But it is warmer this winter and the snow is not as hard as in
the past. It could easily result in an avalanche," Liu said.
Kuang Peijun, an information assistant with the Public Affairs
Section of the US Consulate General in Chengdu, said relatives of
the two missing people as well as a team of professional alpine
rescuers from the US will arrive in Sichuan to coordinate search
and rescue plans with the Chinese.
The timing of their arrival is not yet known, she said.
Statistics from the Sichuan Provincial Mountain Climbers'
Association show that the province's abundant mountaineering
resources have attracted more than 300 foreigners this year.
"In Ganzi alone, there are more than 200 mountains whose peaks
are 5,000 meters above sea level," Liu said.
According to information provided by the China Mountain
Climbers' Association, from November 2005 to August 2006, seven
people died in Sichuan while climbing mountains. Six of them had
not applied for permits.
"About 30 percent of all Chinese and foreign climbers climbing
mountains in China have no permits," Liu said.
According to the US Consulate General in Chengdu, both Fowler
and Feld-Boskoff are internationally famous mountain climbers.
Feld-Boskoff, who has organized delegations of mountain climbers to
Tibet and Sichuan, has mounted six peaks of more than 8,000 meters
above sea level.
(China Daily December 22, 2006)
