Seventeen years ago the great Alpinist Alex Lowe was buried beneath an avalanche in the Himalayas. This week his body was found, giving a sense of closure to his family and friends and to the climbing community at large. But news of the recovery of Lowe’s body may have an even broader impact, affecting the people he worked for and cared about the most while he was alive — the indigenous natives of the regions where Lowe explored and climbed.
The recovery brings renewed attention to the Alex Lowe Foundation, established in his honor to support people who live tenuous lives in the places where Lowe plied his trade. Lowe was “a man who had a remarkable impact on many of the people indigenous to the high mountain regions where his expeditions took him,” the Foundation relates. The Alex Lowe Foundation’s board of directors includes climbing world luminaries like Jon Krakauer (author of Into Thin Air) and Conrad Anker. The organization does tireless, uplifting work with projects like the Widows Relief Fund — helping those left behind after tragedy strikes the Sherpa community — and battling for the survival and prosperity of earthquake victims, especially children with initiatives like Magic Yeti’s Children’s Libraries. (There are now seven of these libraries in Nepal.) The Foundation also advocates conservation and backs international programs to share land management techniques. Visit the site, where donations are accepted.
