Fowler’s body lay in the fall line below this gully, 100 meters above the bench, and showed trauma consistent with a long fall. He was lightly dressed, with a fleece jacket tied around his waist. In the lid of his pack he carried his sunglasses case — empty — and wool hat, so it must have been daytime and fairly warm. The pack held a sleeping bag, some extra clothes, a stove and liter of fuel, three to four days of food, a cooking pot, enough webbing to improvise a harness, and a coiled rope. It was clear that he wasn’t climbing so much as moving camp when he was killed. Boskoff was probably carrying the climbing hardware and tent, plus her own gear. On Yala and Jampalyang, both lower than Genyen, they had set up advanced basecamps at around 5,200 meters, from which they could summit in a long day. It seems clear that this was their plan on Genyen, as well, and that whatever killed them — avalanche, ice fall, cornice collapse from above — hit as they headed up the gully toward their intended camp.

We may never know what happened. For alpinists of Boskoff and Fowler’s caliber, the gully would have been simple, and the lack of climbing hardwear, including a harness or rope, on Fowler’s body attests to this. It also seems impossible that Fowler might have died in the accident and Boskoff, if left alive, could not have gotten down to the monastery, an easy hour away. (She even could have crawled if injured, as the terrain is non-technical.) Most likely, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a freak accident — one that could have happened to anyone — claimed their lives.

Christine Boskoff still lies somewhere below Genyen’s summit. There is hope that when the search resumes in the spring, when the winter snows begin to melt, we will bring her home. We know that Charlie Fowler never would have wanted to leave her. If we can’t find Chris, Charlie’s family has asked us to scatter some of his ashes up there, so that they can remain together forever, overlooking the infinitely lovely Genyen valley.