An American mountaineer died in Nepal in Everest, the organizer of his expedition announced on Tuesday May 2, the first death of the season of a foreign climber on the highest mountain in the world.
The 69-year-old mountaineer died suddenly on Monday while acclimatizing at Camp 2, around 6,400 meters above sea level.
His identity has not been released.
"
He was not feeling well and died in Camp 2. Efforts are underway to bring his body down
," Pasang Tshering Sherpa of the Beyul Adventure organization told AFP.
Weather conditions on Tuesday hampered the operation, he added.
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Beyul Adventure is a local partner of US-based expedition organizer International Mountain Guides (IMG).
“
It is with deep sadness that IMG announces the passing of one of the Everest 2023 team members at Camp 2
,” IMG Chief Eric Simonson said in a statement posted on the website. American society.
“Not a climbing accident”
“
We are able to confirm that this event is not the result of a climbing accident or a routing issue that could impact other teams on the mountain or pose a problem for them. security
,” he said.
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The mountaineering season, which lasts from mid-April to early June, got off to a tragic start 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 the route to the summit of Everest, when they were hit by a mass of snow and dragged down a crevasse .
Nepal has already issued 466 climbing permits to foreign mountaineers and most are accompanied by a guide.
Thus nearly 1,000 people will attempt to reach the summit during this season, which ends in early June.
This could again lead to heavy traffic and bottlenecks on the way to the summit, especially if the window for climbing is shortened by bad weather.
Deaths every year
About five mountaineers die on average each year while attempting to climb the highest peak in the world (8849 meters).
In 2019, 11 people died, four of them due to excessive use of the mountain.
Nepal is home to eight of the ten highest peaks in the world and welcomes hundreds of climbers each season, when the temperatures are warmer and the winds generally weaker.
Last month, famed Northern Irish mountaineer Noel Hanna, 56, died on Annapurna, the tenth highest mountain in the world, where the death rate is even higher than on Everest.
The adventurer died at Camp 4 when he had just successfully climbed the technically arduous mountain which rises to 8091 meters.
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The following day, Indian mountaineer Baljeet Kaur, 28, and his compatriot Arjun Vajpai, 30, were both rescued from a crevasse after several hours of searching Annapurna.
A third Indian climber, Anurag Maloo, 34, was later found alive three days after falling 300 meters into a crevasse.
The mountaineering industry in the Himalayas relies on the experience of Sherpas, usually from the valleys of Everest.
They pay a heavy price to accompany hundreds of adventurers each year on the “
Roof of the world
”.
A third of the dead on Everest are Nepali climbers.
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