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Iran mystery grows as hundreds search peak for PA hiker
KRT Wire ^ | Wed, Aug. 25, 2004 | BY S.L. WYKES

Posted on 08/26/2004 2:24:36 AM PDT by F14 Pilot

SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - Kathleen Namphy was dazed and bleeding. Her frightened interpreter called for help, and a group of hikers promised to stay with the 69-year-old retired Stanford lecturer as he ran down the snow-covered Iranian mountain.

But when rescuers reached the spot near the summit of Mt. Damavand more than four hours later, Namphy - and the hikers - had vanished.

Now hundreds of searchers, aided by Iranian Army helicopters, are scouring the three-mile high mountain near Tehran for any sign of the Palo Alto, Calif., woman.

Namphy, a veteran hiker who scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro last year, is believed to have died from a fall - or from exposure following the fall - while trekking the peak on Sunday.

"What's the most difficult is that we don't know what happened," said Todd Sipe, a Chicago attorney who made the climb on Mt. Damavand with Namphy and another American.

"It's a mystery," he said, speaking by telephone from Iran, "and I'm worried that she was by herself."

When Sipe last saw Namphy, she was having a snack and enjoying the spectacular view on the way up the mountain. The three Americans had set out Sunday morning with two mountain guides and Mehrdad Etemadi, who knew the mountain well, said Cyrus Etemadi, director of the Tehran tourist agency that arranged the trip.

Namphy had fallen behind, and Sipe and the other American went on, but turned back when their guides grew nervous about the weather. It was on their return down the mountain that they passed Namphy and interpreter Mehrdad Etemadi, who said he tried over and over again to convince her to turn back as well. She refused.

"She said, `I'm strong enough. I was on Kilimanjaro and that's higher than Damavand,'" Mehrdad Etemadi said from Iran.

He said the pair made it to the mountain's top, where Namphy collected stones to bring home to friends. But on the way back, about 100 meters below the peak, Namphy fell and hit her head.

"For one or two minutes, she couldn't talk, she couldn't move," Mehrdad Etemadi said. "I moved her, she started to open her eyes, but her head was bleeding. I was so nervous.

"A group was at the summit. I shouted to them to help. They said they would stay with her."

Etemadi ran thousands of feet down the mountain, but by the time rescuers reached the spot, there was no sign of Namphy or the other climbers. It was dark, snowy and windy, so the rescuers guessed that the hikers had taken Namphy to another shelter on the mountain's north side.

They set out again at first light Monday for the north face shelter, where other climbers told a confusing tale. The rescuers reported to Cyrus Etemadi that either the mountaineers who had agreed to stay with Namphy had not done so, or that she had gotten up and walked for a bit, but fell again and died.

Either way, Etemadi said, he has no idea where the people who were last with Namphy are now.

All that the Iranian guides have found, Etemadi said, is blood on the rocks where Mehrdad Etemadi last saw Namphy and wrappers from candy bars the interpreter gave her.

The people who apparently left Namphy "broke every rule of mountaineering," said Aryn Baker, the third climber in her group. "You don't leave someone."

The U.S. State Department continues to work through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to shed more light on the mystery. One of Namphy's sons, Paul, has been granted an emergency visa to Iran, but he and his three siblings have not yet decided whether he should go. Namphy has been divorced from their father for decades.

Tuesday, the Iranian Ministry of Tourism agreed to pay for an Iranian Army helicopter to fly to the mountain, and hundreds of volunteers organized by the Red Crescent and the Iranian Mountaineering Federation are on the mountain searching, too.

The second-highest volcano in the Northern Hemisphere, Mt. Damavand is spectacularly beautiful, a pyramid-shaped peak that towers 18,600 feet to the northeast of Tehran. The cold, wind and altitude combine to kill climbers every year. Fifteen climbers died on the mountain from March 2003 to March 2004, according to the mountaineering federation.

But it wasn't in Namphy's character to be daunted by such things.

"She just has amazing spirit and selflessness," said Suzanne Sullivan, events director for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which organized the 2003 Mt. Kilimanjaro climb in which Namphy took part. "The way she embraced life - we all could learn a lesson."

Namphy, a forest ranger's daughter born in the Pacific Northwest, was a veteran outdoorswoman. After winning a Fulbright scholarship to study at Oxford, England, she traveled the routes of St. Paul, Alexander the Great and Marco Polo, driving alone from Eastern Europe to China and Burma and hiking the Hindu Kush and in Southeast Asia.

Even into her 60s, Namphy made annual solo hikes through the Mojave desert. In recent years, she has volunteered with Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank and Iraq, sending back word of abuses in Abu Ghraib prison to the non-profit peace group months before the first reports surfaced in the press.

Her life reflected the value system she held, said her son Michael. "It was a value system for human decency and for respect."

Neil Wachter, who accompanied Namphy on her Kilimanjaro climb, remembered that then, too, she had lagged behind the others in the group. "But this is a person with an iron will," he said. "She wrote her own playbook on how to live."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: abughraib; abughraibprison; berg; bleedingheartattack; help; hiker; iran; iraq; iraqwar; kathleennamphy; lost; mayflowermadam; mayflowerwhore; missing; mystery; namphy; stanford; stanforduniversity; usa

1 posted on 08/26/2004 2:24:36 AM PDT by F14 Pilot
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To: nuconvert; freedom44; McGavin999; downer911; sionnsar; AdmSmith; RaceBannon; Valin; risk; Cindy; ...

Ping!

Latest news on American missing in Iran!


2 posted on 08/26/2004 2:39:11 AM PDT by F14 Pilot (Imagine...)
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To: F14 Pilot

That region is full of wolves, jackals and foxes. And it is also so cold even in this time of year.

Now it is 96F (37C) today in Tehran but that mountanous area should be around 5-10F or even colder.


3 posted on 08/26/2004 2:50:04 AM PDT by Khashayar (Learn Geography!)
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To: F14 Pilot

"She just has amazing spirit and selflessness..."

And

"Namphy had fallen behind, and Sipe and the other American went on, but turned back when their guides grew nervous about the weather. It was on their return down the mountain that they passed Namphy and interpreter Mehrdad Etemadi, who said he tried over and over again to convince her to turn back as well. She refused."

I guess it was that "selflessness" that caused her to continue on endangering her interpreter in spite of the warning by the guides to turn back.

A bit of contradiction if you ask me.


4 posted on 08/26/2004 2:54:53 AM PDT by DB (©)
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To: DB
I guess it was that "selflessness" that caused her to continue on endangering her interpreter in spite of the warning by the guides to turn back.

I'll second that. Put yourself at risk in a foreign land and snub your guide's advice, my sympathies are with the guide.

5 posted on 08/26/2004 3:18:22 AM PDT by prion (Yes, as a matter of fact, I AM the spelling police)
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To: prion

I gather from that resume that Kerry just lost a vote.


6 posted on 08/26/2004 4:07:03 AM PDT by GaretGarrett
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To: GaretGarrett

Maybe not, just because she is missing or perhaps even deceased, doesn't mean she can't vote dem.


7 posted on 08/26/2004 4:10:28 AM PDT by Former Proud Canadian
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To: DB

Every year, someone does that type of thing - takes on dangerous conditions and has a fatal accident.

My sympathies are with the rescue workers, who have to go out looking for them.


8 posted on 08/26/2004 4:12:50 AM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: F14 Pilot

This is going to sound cruel but what was this woman doing hiking in Iran in the first place? That doesn't sound all that bright to begin with.


9 posted on 08/26/2004 4:15:52 AM PDT by thathamiltonwoman
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To: F14 Pilot
Fifteen climbers died on the mountain from March 2003 to March 2004, according to the mountaineering federation.

But it wasn't in Namphy's character to be daunted by such things.

Darwin Award Winner

10 posted on 08/26/2004 4:47:09 AM PDT by vox humana
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To: F14 Pilot
She refused.

Huh, well, that about sums it up. Too "smart" for her own good.

11 posted on 08/26/2004 4:50:30 AM PDT by csvset
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To: F14 Pilot

When you go looking for trouble, sometimes you find it. One less Californian peace activist.


12 posted on 08/26/2004 6:03:11 AM PDT by Max Combined
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To: Former Proud Canadian

[Maybe not, just because she is missing or perhaps even deceased, doesn't mean she can't vote dem.]
...................

Dems are historically dedicated to extending the franchise. I was living in Texas when Lyndon Johnson won his first election via the tombstones in Duval County.


13 posted on 08/26/2004 6:04:04 AM PDT by GaretGarrett
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To: thathamiltonwoman

AMEN. Certainly not in today's climate.

Was she wishing to be an on site viewer of whatever Israel has in store for Iran and their "electrical generation plants"?


14 posted on 08/26/2004 8:18:55 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (ridesthemiles)
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To: ridesthemiles

"All that the Iranian guides have found, Etemadi said, is...wrappers from candy bars the interpreter gave her."

What is it going to take to stop these people from polluting the planet?


15 posted on 08/26/2004 9:44:02 AM PDT by Owl558 (Pardon my spelling)
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To: F14 Pilot
Mountain climbing is in the same category as skateboarding. Totally unnecessary, useless, and done at one's own risk. Doing it in Iran tells me a lot about the person's common sense and judgement. Why not make it really exciting and choose Afghanistan?

Why are these trendy bozos allowed to engage in dangerous pursuits in a dangerous political area of the world, but I can't choose to drive down the street without a seat belt?
What's wrong with this picture?

16 posted on 08/26/2004 9:57:00 AM PDT by Publius6961 (I don't do diplomacy either.)
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To: F14 Pilot
This is a news update. There may be something strange in the story of this lady's death. Hiker's body found in Iran

Fri Aug 27, 6:51 AM ET Add Local - San Jose Mercury News to My Yahoo!

By S.L. Wykes, Mercury News

Searchers found the body Thursday morning of Kathleen Namphy, a breast cancer survivor and honored Stanford University lecturer last seen Sunday near the summit of Iran's tallest mountain.

But the location of Namphy's body, a few thousand feet down the mountain from where she was last seen alive, has only deepened the mystery of her death.

The only people who could explain how she got there -- a group of Iranian hikers who promised to stay with the 69-year-old after she fell and struck her head -- are nowhere to be found.

17 posted on 08/28/2004 5:11:56 AM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: Fedora
Stumbled over this story of a Stanford U gal who died in Iran climbing a mountain in an area near an Iranian air base. Don't recall her being mentioned in the stories about Moore, Berg, Abu Ghraibh and what not: Even into her 60s, Namphy made annual solo hikes through the Mojave desert. In recent years, she has volunteered with Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank and Iraq, sending back word of abuses in Abu Ghraib prison to the non-profit peace group months before the first reports surfaced in the press.
18 posted on 07/18/2025 3:52:13 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: F14 Pilot

Don’t care. She’s a “peace activist”, and refers to Earth as “the planet”. (Info in another FR post this morning.)


19 posted on 07/18/2025 4:15:13 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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