Marty Schmidt

Martin Walter Schmidt (June 10, 1960 – July 27, 2013), known as Marty, was a New Zealand-American mountain climber, guide and adventurer.

Marty and his son, Denali died in 2013, while attempting to summit the mountain K2.

Martin Walter Schmidt was born in Lodi, California on June 10, 1960, of German/American parents. He attended Castro Valley High School in Castro Valley, California. He began climbing as a young boy, mostly in the Sierra Nevada range where he moved after finishing high school in 1978. At the age of 20, Marty joined the United States Air Force and served in the United States Air Force Pararescue unit known as the "PJs". As a USAF airman he served at a number of posts including the Philippines, where he earned the USAF Air Medal in 1984, for his rescues in a hotel fire; and in Alaska, where he first climbed Denali in 1983.

Marty climbed and guided in the mountains of Europe, South America, Africa and the Himalayas. His first high altitude ascents on Denali in Alaska were from 1983-1986. Marty acted as an assistant guide on Aconcagua in Argentina in 1988, before creating his own company and guiding in the Andes as MSIG (Marty Schmidt International Guiding). He made his first ascent of Mt. Cook in New Zealand in November 1988. In the Himalayas, Marty Schmidt attempted to climb Mount Everest in 1994 and 2008. He summited Kangchenjunga in 2001, and summited Cho Oyu in 2001, 2004 and 2009. In the Karakoram, he made unsuccessful attempts on K2 in 1992 and 2000, and summitted Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II in 2010. In the 2010 Himalayan climbing season, Schmidt became the third New Zealander to summit Makalu solo and the first to do so without bottled oxygen. Marty summitted Ama Dablam and attempted Lhotse in the same season. Marty Schmidt led two successful expeditions to Mount Everest guiding for the Canada-based company Peak Freaks in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, he became the oldest New Zealander to summit Everest at the age of 51. He summitted Everest again in May 2013.

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