Fracncys Arsentiev is the first American woman to summit Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Originally known as Francys Yarbro before marriage. Francys Arsentiev was born on Jan 18, 1958 in Honolulu, Hawai, USA. From the beginning, she was an adventurous child with a high-energy. Besides this, she was also a nature-loving person. Actually, she grew up in a place blessed by Mother Nature, that is, Hawai. She built up her confidence in mountaineering which made her to undertake the Everest Expedition in 1998. This expedition also helped her to earn two new titles: The first American woman to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen as well as the Sleeping Beauty of Everest.
Gradually, when she was on her late 30s, she began to develop interest into mountaineering.
In different parts of USA and Russia, she started scaling mountains, ranging from 3000 m plus to 6000 m plus and all that came between.
Since Francys Arsentiev was adventurous, the mountain that she first climbed was Mount Hood (3426 m) in the USA. This made her familiar with glacial climbing, and it was followed by another climb to Mount Rainer (4392 m). There, Francys learnt about new outdoor mountain activities like ice wall climbing and crevasses crossing which helped her in a big way. Later, she headed to Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Russia, and what she had learned in Mount Elbrus helped her to cope with the challenges of mountain slopes.
On May 22, 1998, Francys Arsentiev reached the summit of Mount Everest, showcasing her determination and climbing techniques. But this was followed by incomplete ambition, untimely death and sacrifice. Each of these was a part of the negative side of Mount Everest, and ultimately, she had to pay her prize of reaching the summit. Before that, she had climbed all the highest mountains of North America and Russia and became the first American woman to ski down from the highest mountain of Europe.
Francys Arsentieve died on Mount Everest on May 23, 1998 during the descent time. Her body was found in a peaceful condition, and she was seen on a sleep-like position at 8600 m for almost 9 years. This tragic story made her to earn the title “The Sleeping Beauty of Mount Everest” from climbers. How she reached this situation, she must have suffered from hypoxia and became too weak to walk down. In the Death Zone, she started to have a symptom like confusion, and the worst symptom was that she became the victim of frost bite.
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Francys Arsentiev – The Sleeping Beauty of Mount Everest
From her early childhood, Francys Arsentiev had an interest in hiking and camping. From the University of Columbia, she had a degree in business and before becoming mountaineer, she had worked in different departments of finance. But she always took out time for outdoor activities like hiking and skiing. In addition, she also started doing small climbs in her home country which paved the way for high-altitude Himalaya climbing. There is also one main contribution done by her which is unforgettable, that is, she named one of the peaks of Russia as Peak Goodwill to show the friendly relation between Russia and USA.
Francys wanted to become the first American woman to summit Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and she became successful in May 1998. She was ready to undertake the risk with what she called well planning structure. Not only Francys, but Sergie also wanted to take the risk while heading to Everest’s summit. Because Sergie, her husband was a seasoned mountain climber as well as military climber, who had taught her everything to meet her goal from being technically skillful climber to managing physical exhaustion to undertaking the challenges of high-altitude Himalayas where descending is as much as difficult as ascending.
Francys & Sergei
Sergei, who was a Russian, married Francys in 1992 and was known by the name of “Snow Leopard” and had a strong passion for mountaineering. And both Francys and Sergei climbed almost all the peaks of Russia, including those of North America. Turning their passions into one pool, they got married in 1992 and decided to do the Everest Expedition in 1998.
Francys Arsentiev’s Mount Everest Journey
Both Francys and Sergie worked on acclimatization to help themselves. They also learned how to build up their physical stamina, in line with technical skills, so that they can climb Mount Everest smoothly. They also climbed other highest peaks of their countries in order to become mentally strong and to accept the challenges of the Everest Expedition before climbing.
From North Col, that is, from Tibet side, Francys and Sergie made a plan to start the Everest Expedition. They reached the Everest Base Camp by driving from where they followed the climbing route to reach the summit of Everest. They had reached the summit of Everest late in the evening on May 22, 1998; why they reached the summit late in the evening; they should have reached before the afternoon. Because the climbers head to the summit at mid-night like 2 A.M.
Francys’ wanted to achieve the impossible goal, that is, to summit Everest without man-made oxygen. Her goal was to reach the top of Everest. But she did not know properly where she wanted to reach had lots of barriers as well as factors that would demoralize her courage.
Francys reached the top of Everest successfully on May 22, 1998, and its credit goes for climbing the peaks of Europe and North America before the expedition.
Timeline of Francys Arsentiev’s Final Mount Everest Expedition
When she reached the top of Everest, she proved the world that an American woman can do it like the Sherpa lady. Reaching the top without oxygen was the greatest achievement in her life.
Both Francys and Sergie reached the top of Everest in the evening. But when it is a descending time from Everest, it is as tough as ascending the Everest. They were at an elevation of 8000 m plus and were supposed to come down to an elevation of 7000 m plus. But they had to spend a night at 8000 m plus in the Death Zone of Everest.
They got separated during the dark hour of the day because their headlamps broke out while descending and were unable to see each other in the darkness. On the descent slope, Sergie thought his wife was following him like she did previously. But when he did not see, he went back to get her immediately. In a complete darkness, Francys had lost the sight of Sergie thoroughly. The weather was bad and a climbing route was difficult to navigate. While walking downhill with exhaustion, he had become too tired to walk uphill to search his wife. But he did go up with medicine and oxygen bottle.
That evening when the day was dark, Francys was found by Uzbek climbers. She seems to sleep from tiredness or due to lack of oxygen. There was a frost bite on her face. She was half-conscious and was unable to move even a meter. She died next morning, that is, 23 May, 1998.
Why Is She Called the Sleeping Beauty of Everest?
Francys seemed to sleep, any climber would say she is sleeping peacefully in snow. Since she was lying in this condition for years, she earned the nickname The Sleeping Beauty of Mount Everest from climbers who were heading to the top of Everest. Around 350 people have died on the Death Zone of Mount Everest as this blog is written at the end of 2025. But her story stands out among the women climbers who should know how a proper planning and supplemental oxygen will help them reach the summit of Everest.
Why Climbers Could Not Help Sleeping Beauty on Everest
The Death Zone starts from 8000 m to 8848 m where the air is cold and the oxygen is thin, making climbers difficult to breathe at such a high altitude. The physical exhaustion covers the climber from top to bottom, making him or her difficult to live without oxygen.
When the Death Zone is at an elevation of 8000 m plus, it is difficult to live there for a long time like one hour. The time is limited and so is the oxygen. Here the oxygen means the oxygen bottle as well as natural oxygen. On top of this, climbers themselves are facing the unwanted problems in the Death Zone. And all they want is to summit the Everest quickly and return to the Advanced Camp as soon as possible.
In such a situation when they saw Francys Arsentiev, dying from frost bite, from altitude mountain sickness, from hypothermia and from exhaustion at an altitude of 8600 m on the slope of Mount Everest, they could not help her in a way they wanted. Because all of them were heading to the summit to complete their mission successfully. Helping her would make them unsuccessful. Helping her was risking themselves into an unwanted situation. This is the reason why you see the body of many climbers in the Death Zone
Attempts to cover or Move Sleeping Beauty’s Body and the Controversy
When it comes to ethics and respect on Everest, it includes the conservation of the Everest Region as well as respecting Sherpa culture. Keeping in mind the respect for porters and guides, it also includes the respect for climbers who had died on their way to the summit.
The body of Francys Arsentiev was exposed to the climbers from 1998 to 2007. Her body was removed in 2007 which was done with the help of expert climbers, under the proper planning, at such a height, on the dangerous slope and under the risky procedure, in the Death Zone, with great expense. This involved one of the greatest human efforts in the history of mankind.
Since 1920s, Everest has been claiming the life of climbers. And those who died in 1920s, one of his bodies was found in 1999. His name was George Mallory and all these 75 years, his body was under the ice. There are still more than 200 bodies in the Death Zone that need to be taken out. Some of them are Americans, Indians, Japanese and Nepalese.
Sleeping Beauty was Francys Arsentiev while the Green Boot is Tsewang Paljor. One had reached the summit of Everest successfully but died during the descent. On the other hand, Tsewang was an Indo Tibetan Police who died during summit attempt. The dead body of these two people created a history in the eyes of the climbers. The dead body of Paljor who died in the Death Zone, still remains there from 1996 and can be observed from a far off place by a climber. The Green Boot tells the climber you are in a danger zone and has been telling so for 24 years as of 2025.
What Were the Last Words of Sleeping Beauty Everest?
Her last words were “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me alone, please” which was said to the Uzbek Teams who were heading to the summit of Everest.
Climbers, who were following the route of Francys Arsentiev, became aware with the danger of climbing the high-altitude region near the summit of Everest from 1998 to 2007. Climbers were highly disturbed by seeing her dead body. This made them to be cautious at their planning while ascending and descending along the killing sloping route.
Sleeping Beauty of Everest Husband: Sergei Arsentiev
Although he was tired and exhausted, still he went up hill to find her. That is, he went back again to the Death Zone from his camp where he had reached successfully.
The more Sergei searched his wife, the more problem he had to face. He was a devoted husband but his devotion was the cause of his death. When his body was discovered in the Death Zone in 1999, the experts said that he had died from a fall at an elevation of 8000 m plus.
Both Sergie and Francys died during the descent. Both had successfully climbed all the highest peaks of their countries before climbing Mount Everest. Although they ascended the top of Everest, however, the ascent did not have a good ending. The two souls could not become one after achieving half-success of the Everest Expedition.
Is the Sleeping Beauty Still on Mount Everest?
It was the team of Ian Woodall that removed the body of Francys from the slope of the Death Zone of Mount Everest. Ian Woodall is a British climber who had seen Francys in a critical condition while heading to the summit of Everest in May 1998.
Ian Woodall moved the body of Francys to one of the places of Mount Everest with full of respect in 2007. He covered her body with an American flag and buried her far from Everest Route Summit.
Some bodies remain forever in the Death Zone because the oxygen level is low there. Even the life of rescuers is at risk in the Death Zone. The weather is worst while the climbing route is steep. Above all, the logistic price is expensive and the frozen dead body is really heavy to carry from one place to another.
Where you see the bodies of climbers is called the Valley of Rainbow. Since the rainbow is made of seven different colors, you see these colors in the Death Zone of Mount Everest. In other words, you see red jackets, purple jackets, blue jackets, yellow jackets and so on. And in those jackets are the bodies of the dead climbers. In purple jacket was the body of Francys Arsentiev: The Sleeping Beauty of Mount Everest.
