69-year-old American climber dies while climbing Everest

Tragedy on top of the world. In Nepal, an American climber died on Everest, the organizer of his expedition said on Tuesday. This is the first death of the season for a foreign climber on the world’s highest mountain.

The 69-year-old climber died suddenly on Monday while acclimatizing at an altitude of about 6,400 meters above sea level. “He didn’t feel well and died at Camp 2. Efforts are being made to get his body down,” Beyul Adventure’s Pasang Tsering Sherpa told AFP. The latter added that operations were hampered by weather conditions.

“We can confirm that this event is not the result of a climbing accident or a problem with the route that could affect other teams in the mountains or create a safety issue for them,” – Eric Simonson, head of IMG (International Mountain Guides). , the American partner of Beyul Adventure, told AFP.

The spring season, which runs from mid-April to the end of May, began tragically this year on Everest with the disappearance of three Nepalese climbers last month. The trio were crossing the dangerous Khumbu Icefall to deliver supplies to Camp 1, the first stop on their way to the summit of Everest, when a mass of snow hit them and dragged them into a crevice.

Every year, an average of five climbers die trying to climb the world’s highest peak, which rises 8,849 meters above sea level. In 2019, 11 people died, four of them due to overuse of the mountain. About 1,000 people will try to reach the summit during this season, which ends in early June, which again could lead to heavy traffic and bottlenecks on the way to the summit, especially if the window suitable for climbing is shortened due to bad weather conditions.