Spencer Matthews shares emotional picture of memorial to Michael
Spencer Matthews shares emotional photograph of a memorial to his late brother Michael on Mount Everest that has been covered in prayer scarves by strangers
Spencer Matthews shared an emotional photograph of a memorial to his late brother Michael on Mount Everest, which has been covered in prayer scarves by strangers.
Michael Matthews died at the age of 22 in 1999 while climbing Earth’s highest mountain, after becoming the youngest Brit to ever reach the summit.
Spencer, 34, has been retracing his older brother’s exact steps on a mission to find his body for his Finding Michael film with Disney+.
The former Made In Chelsea star has now revealed that the family set up a cairn, [a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose], dedicated to Michael when they couldn’t find his body on the Thukla Pass in Chukla Lare.
The Pass hosts over 100 memorials to those who have lost their lives in the mountains.
Tribute: Spencer Matthews shared an emotional picture of the memorial to his late brother Michael covered in prayer scarves (left, how it looked when set up in 1999)
Adventurer: Michael sadly died while climbing Mount Everest aged 22 in 1999
Spencer shared a remarkable photo to Instagram, showing the memorial when it was first established in 1999 – and how it looks today, with dozens of prayer scarves left there by strangers.
Wearing a baby blue fleece, hat and gloves to protect himself from the elements, the reality star stood beside the memorial, in awe of the many who so kindly left a tribute to his brother.
Alongside the post he wrote: ‘On the trail to Everest you arrive at Thukla Pass in Chukla Lare, home to a collection of stupas (cairns), memorialising some of those taken by the mountain.
‘Shortly after Michael died and in the absence of a body, we had one built for him so that he could be remembered on this beautiful path.
‘Last year I visited Mike’s to find it completely covered in prayer scarves.
‘Swipe for what it looked like back in 1999.’
Michael’s body has never been recovered and his family have never been able to fully understand what happened to him.
Finding Michael, which is is now streaming on Disney+, shows Spencer’s emotional quest to find his late brother’s body with adventurer Bear Grylls and record-breaking mountaineer Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja.
During the film, Spencer, who was just 10 years old when his brother died, undertook a ‘gut-wrenching’ mission to climb Everest to find his brother’s body, retracing the ‘exact steps’ his sibling took when he died.
Brothers: The TV personality was 10 years old when Michael (left next to sibling James) tragically died
Finding Michael: Spencer deciding to undertake a quest to find his late brother’s body by retracing his steps
Tragic: Michael is said to have got in trouble after beginning to make his way down the south descent through the ‘death zone’ on May 13, 1999
Speaking on The One Show, Spencer said: ‘When Michael went missing, by the time some people realised he was missing, it was too late. Nobody survives the night, really. A couple of cases maybe.’
Michael is said to have got in trouble after beginning to make his way down the south descent through the ‘death zone’ on May 13, 1999, after spending around 20 minutes at the summit.
He was also the brother of Pippa Middleton’s husband, the racing driver turned hedge fund manager James Matthews, 47.
The experienced mountaineer, who had previously conquered Aconcagua, the Pyrenees and the Swiss Alps, was the 162nd person to die on Everest.
Spencer went on to detail how he made the ‘difficult decision’ to undertake the mission himself.
‘In 2017, the family was sent a photo of a body on the mountain and they claimed that it could be Michael. In fact it did look like it could be, with similar summit suits. It’s the first time really that I thought even a body recovery was possible.
‘It continued to tick away in my head: “What if it is him?”. I’ve certainly grown up with feelings that he’s up there and died and was left there. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a body to mourn for my family?’
‘We scrapped together any information we had. Some of the footage of Michael on the mountain I’d never seen before,’ he said, becoming increasingly more emotional as the interview progressed.
‘It was the first time I’d seen him on camera, because as a kid we didn’t do home movies or anything.
‘Retracing his steps and understanding his final days a bit better was quite cathartic for me…’
Finding Michael is now streaming on Disney+.
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