KATHMANDU (Xinhua) — Elizabeth Hawley, chronicler of Himalayan expeditions in Nepal, died of pneumonia on early Friday morning, a doctor involved in her treatment said.
Hawley, the former U.S. journalist, who dedicated most of her life to archiving expeditions in Nepal’s Himalayas, passed away at 2:49 a.m. on Friday, confirmed Prativa Pandey, who was one of the doctors involved in her treatment.
After some complications in her health due to pneumonia, she was admitted to Kathmandu-based CIWEC Hospital last week. “Although some improvement was seen mid-way, her health condition deteriorated leading to her death,” Pandey told Xinhua.
Born in 1923, Hawley has been living in Kathmandu since the early 1960s. She has been documenting Himalayan climbs since 1963 although she is not the mountain climber.
She produced Himalayan Database, a compilation of records for expeditions that have climbed in the Himalayas.
The data cover all expeditions from 1905 through 2017 to more than 450 significant Nepalese peaks. Each expedition record contains detailed information including dates, routes, camps, use of supplemental oxygen, successes, deaths, and accidents, according to the website of the Himalayan Database. Her database is used in analyses of success and death rates for climbers in the Himalayas.
