Marty Schmidt

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

Personal life 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, Schmidt joined the United States Air Force (USAF) 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 met his first wife Joanne Patti Munisteri in Santa Cruz, California in 1986. They were married and had their first child, son Denali Schmidt in Macksville, Australia on April 27, 1988. Joanne was hired by Kahurangi National Maori Dance Theatre based in Hastings, New Zealand in 1989. Their daughter, Sequoia Patti Schmidt, was born in Napier, New Zealand on January 1, 1991. The Schmidt family were sponsored by Ngati Kahungunu and received their New Zealand citizenship in 1994. Marty and Denali used their New Zealand passports to travel and climb K2 in 2013, where they both perished.

Climbing career Schmidt 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 to 1986. Schmidt 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 Mount Cook in New Zealand in November 1988. In the Himalayas, 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 summited Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II in 2010. The place of his residency, Christchurch, New Zealand, held a memorial service for Schmidt and his son at the Horticultural Society Hall in Hagley Park. Schmidt's daughter, Sequoia, traveled to Pakistan and K2 to search for the remains of her father and brother in 2015. Her book, Journey of Heart-A Sojourn to K2, was a finalist for the International Book Award for Non-Fiction in 2016.