Dr Maria Strydom on a recent climb of Denali in Alaska, the highest peak in North America Credit: Monash Business school
Posted on 05/22/2016 8:00:39 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Dr Strydom, who also goes by Marisa, was on a seven-week expedition with her husband Robert Gropel - who has also been injured during the trek.
The 34-year-old's family say the couple's GPS tracker stopped working on Friday.
A single transmission from the tracker on Saturday gave them hope but a Google search on Saturday night delivered the devastating news that Dr Strydom had died, her sister Aletta Newman told AAP.
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Conflicting media reports attributing her death to altitude sickness, snow blindness and a stroke only added to the distress of the Strydom family, who have yet to hear from the company behind the expedition.
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Seven Summit Treks confirmed Dr Strydom's death but said it didn't have her family's details.
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The family is also worried about Maria's husband Robert Gropel, a veterinarian who was with his wife on the expedition.
The Department of Foreign Affairs told Ms Newman only that Dr Gropel is injured and they are trying to get him down from the mountain.
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Ms Newman said efforts were underway to recover her sister's body but from an elevation of 8000 metres it would be difficult.
Dr Gropel is at camp two and a rescue will be attempted.
Dutch climber Eric Arnold, who was in the same climbing party, died of altitude sickness on Friday - both fatalities the first this year on the world's highest peak.
Ms Newman said her sister and brother-in-law were experienced climbers and took extra oxygen bottles as a precaution.
Dr Strydom and Dr Gropel are vegans who were determined to climb the highest mountains on each continent.
"It seems that people have this warped idea of vegans being malnourished and weak," Dr Strydom said in March.
"We want to prove that vegans can do anything and more."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
"It seems that people have this warped idea of vegans being malnourished and weak," Dr Strydom said in March.
"We want to prove that vegans can do anything and more."
Epic fail!
To die doing what you love is not the worst way to go...
LOL, that vegan diet apparently did not help.
Maria Strydom and her husband Robert Gropel. Photo: Facebook
How sad. I hope they didn’t leave young children behind.
Vegans are mortal too.
Try as I might, I’ve never been able to see the attraction of this sort of thing.
my guess is that it contributed to what ever complications she was having....climbing Everest is extremely taxing and proper eating while making the climb is important...at that altitude and temperature having fats and protein are important.
Yeah, but do they believe that?
Hopefully they won the darwin awards... but they probably left 3 biological and 7 adopted kids with their nannies.
All they have to do is breathe their oxygen tank as the Sherpas drag their living corpses up the mountain (and back down, if they’re lucky).
The vegan angle is stupid and irrelevant. Hundreds have died on Everest meat eaters and vegans alike. The mountain is ruthless and not discerning. The reasons why many die is sudden changes I weather compounded by very poor decisions made above 8000 meters. Most die on the way down from the summit. Getting to the summit is only half the trip. We won’t know what happens until we get the report of the timeline of the summit attempt.
There’s nothing in the linked article to indicate they had children. Only that her “netball” club will miss her. Journalism is weird.
Everest has become the rich yuppie version of “Hold my beer and watch this....”
Everest is littered with dead bodies that have never been recovered.
It’s not my idea of a good time. Guess I’m just a bore.
They’ll never get her down.. She will stay up there forever. Or they actually develop a high altitude helicopter.
"It seems that people have this warped idea of vegans being malnourished and weak," Dr Strydom said in March.
"We want to prove that vegans can do anything and more."
Humans evolved as omnivores.
Many people, I'm certain, have noticed the pale quality of vegetarians/vegans. That paleness indicates suboptimal health. I'm not surprised that they could not handle the low oxygen and pressure present at high altitudes. Carrying extra oxygen bottles only helps a little--at high altitudes, the blood simply cannot carry enough oxygen, even when breathing a pure oxygen atmosphere. That is why airplanes are pressurized to simulate lower altitudes.
I would hypothesize that vegans have a lower carrying capacity for oxygen, which becomes critical at altitudes lower than what people who eat normal diets can tolerate. It would be an interesting physiological study to carry out.
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