Posted on 07/24/2003 6:56:21 AM PDT by yonif
Climber Ofira Zucker, 22, was constantly striving to reach new heights and take on new challenges, her mother Miri told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.
She told her parents in their last conversation that she was going to be the first Israeli woman to reach the summit of the Alpamayo peak in Peru. She came within 150 meters of what became her final goal.
Zucker, an Ashkelon resident, and Guy Ben-Ze'ev, 23, of Haifa, died in an ice avalanche Monday morning in the Peruvian Andes. Four Germans, one Peruvian, one Irishman, and an Argentine were also killed.
Zucker described her daughter as a trailblazer in a wide range of subjects: drawing, dancing, and especially traveling. More than anything, her life was "nature, nature, nature. She loved animals, biology, zoology, sports," she said. Ofira grew up in Ashkelon and served as an Israel geography and natural history instructor in the IDF. She traveled to Peru in April and planned to begin studying biology at a local university in October.
"She was thin but so strong, so energetic. She was always surrounded by friends, always doing new things. She wanted to see the world to return to South America, to go to Africa and eventually go into biotechnology," her mother remembered. "Her laugh, her smile, her love of Israeli music now it's all finished for us."
Ofira recently e-mailed her father, Menahem, a picture of herself on a mountain peak with the caption, "A hug to dad from the summit of the world." Menahem was worried and tried to persuade her not to climb the mountain. "He was against it from the beginning and said it was dangerous, but he couldn't persuade her," family friend Alon Goren told Ma'ariv.
Zucker is survived by her parents and brother Elad, 18.
Guy Ben-Ze'ev graduated high school in Haifa and entered the IDF, clearing explosives as a combat engineer. "When Guy was released from the army, we said to ourselves that he's finished with danger," his father, Eric, told Yediot Aharonot. Guy had been touring South America, visiting Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil, and was set to return home on July 30. "He enjoyed every moment," Eric Ben-Ze'ev told Yediot.
Guy was adventurous and had been interested in climbing for years. During their last phone conversation, Guy's mother, Tzippy, tried to tell him the dangers of the climb, but Eric said, "We knew that Guy loved this and there was nothing we could do. In the army, Guy survived many dangers, and on this trip he wasn't worried about anything."
Ben-Ze'ev is flying to Peru to bring back his son's body, while his wife is surrounded by family and friends in Haifa.
Guy is survived by his parents and two siblings, 27 and 16.
The two left Auaraz, about 420 km. from Lima, on Thursday for a seven-day trek to the summit of Alpamayo. They were experienced mountain climbers who had completed a course in ice-climbing and scaled other difficult mountains. They traveled with an Argentinean guide and a local Peruvian carrying equipment. On the way, they met a group of four Germans and one Irishman.
After five days, they reached the highest base camp on Sunday, and left the next day for the final assault on the summit. At 9 a.m., a shelf of ice, weighing hundreds of kilograms, broke off the mountain and came crashing down on the group. Four climbers, including Ben-Ze'ev, were buried instantly. Ben-Ze'ev's body was found Wednesday. The others, including Zucker, fell with the ice, sliding up to 400 meters.
Zucker screamed for help, and climbers managed to extract her and place her on a donkey, Andres Sallavna, owner of the Peruvian group Andean Kingdom Tours, told Yediot. She died of her injuries during the nine-hour trek down the mountain.
It took other climbers 12 hours to reach a base camp and call for help. The first news reached the Israeli Embassy at 9 p.m. At 11 p.m., a rescue team of experienced alpine policemen was sent out and took about 15 hours to reach the site. Helicopters were unusable to fly because of weather conditions.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said it will take about three days for the two to be returned for burial.
The Alpamayo peak, part of the Cordillera Blanca mountain range, is popular for tourists worldwide, attracting thousands of climbers a year. Geographical Tours head Moshe Savir called it "one of the most spectacular in the Andes," and the Alpamayo, with its glacier-capped steep pyramid shape, is among its most famous peaks.
Between January and October 2002, there were 7,500 Israeli tourists in Peru, said Peruvian Ambassador Nicholas Roncavoiolo, and he estimates this season will be similar. Reports said three or four other Israeli groups were in the area of the avalanche and were uninjured. "In the four years since I'm here, I don't remember another accident like this," Roncavoiolo said. "The Alpamayo is one of the most difficult, dangerous places to climb. I don't think this unfortunate situation will have repercussions on Israeli tourism in Peru. It's a concern but also happens in other countries."
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