Hannelore Schmatz

Hannelore Schmatz (1940 to 1979) was a German mountaineer and the fourth woman to summit Mount Everest. She collapsed and died while returning from the summit by the southern route, and she was the first woman and the first German citizen to die on the upper slopes of Everest. In 1962 she married Gerhard Schmatz, who was the first European to climb all Seven Summits; the pair lived in Neu-Ulm, where he ran a notary office. Her husband introduced her to mountaineering and together they climbed Manaslu in May 1973, Tirich Mir in July 1975 and Lhotse.