Journalist kept records of climbs in Nepal

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Elizabeth Hawley, an American journalist who kept records of mountaineers on Nepal’s highest peaks, died Friday. She was 94.

Hawley had been living in Nepal since 1960 and was the unofficial record keeper of mountaineering activities in the country, which has eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks, including Mount Everest.

A doctor at the CIWEC Hospital and Travel Medicine Centre in Kathmandu said Hawley died Friday of complications from pneumonia.

Hawley maintained the “Himalayan Database,” the unofficial record book for mountaineering. Both Nepal and China do not maintain complete records of mountaineering activities.

She was respected in the mountaineering community both in Nepal and abroad. Although she never climbed any mountain, she often had the final say in any disputes or claims by climbers.

Mountaineers would often meet her before and after their climbs, when she would make them answer difficult questions. “She was a legend in the mountaineering community and it is a big loss to all of us,” said Ang Tshering, former head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

Born in Chicago, she travelled to Nepal in 1960 and later became a correspondent for the Reuters news agency.

Nepal honoured Hawley for her contributions by naming a mountain in the northwest Peak Hawley in 2014.