Stipe Božić (born 2 January 1951) is a Croatian mountaineer, documentary filmmaker, photographer and writer. He is the most successful Croatian Himalayan climber. Božić completed the Seven Summits and is the second European, after Reinhold Messner, to climb the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest, twice. He has directed more than 60 documentary films, mostly related to mountains and climbing. Early life Božić was born in the village of Zavojane near Vrgorac (at the time SR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia). When he finished elementary school, he moved with his parents and sister to Split, where his father, a winegrower, found a job as a driver. In Split, Božić enrolled in a high school, joined the scouts, and started with mountain climbing. His parents, who were rather strict, did not approve, and did not accept his hobby until much later, after reading about their son's achievements in the newspapers. After finishing high school, Božić worked as an electrician on an ocean liner, but quit his job as soon as he saved enough money to buy climbing gear. Mountaineering career Božić's first notable Himalayan climb was the 1979 ascent to Mount Everest as a member of the Yugoslav expedition that used a previously unclimbed West Ridge route, known today as the Complete West Ridge. A similar path was chosen by a 1974 French expedition that ended in disaster when six climbers were killed in an avalanche, but Yugoslav team leader Tone Škarja modified the route so as to avoid the avalanche fall-lines. The large expedition, numbering 25 climbers, arrived at Base Camp on 31 March and progressed smoothly through four additional bases. Andrej Štremfelj and Nejc Zaplotnik reached the summit on 13 May, followed two days later by Stane Belak, Ang Phu and Božić (becoming the 85th through 89th persons to have climbed Mount Everest). On descent, the weather worsened quickly and the team were unable to return to Base Four before dark and were forced to spend the night in a temperature, without tents or sleeping bags, at an altitude of . According to Božić, at the time this was the highest ever overnight bivouac in the open, and the closest he had ever been to death. They managed to survive the night, but on the following day, Ang Phu slipped and fell to his death going through the Hornbein Couloir. The difficulty of the Everest West Ridge route is reflected