Efforts to lower the body, hampered by complicated weather conditions, are underway.
This is the first disappearance of a foreign climber on the highest mountain in the world. A 69-year-old American mountaineer has died in Everest, Nepal, the organizer of his expedition announced on Tuesday. The man died suddenly on Monday while he was acclimatizing at Camp 2, about 6,400 meters above sea level.
“He did not feel well and died in Camp 2. Efforts are underway to bring his body back down,” Pasang Tshering Sherpa of the Beyul Adventure organization told AFP. Weather conditions on Tuesday hampered the operation, he added.
Beyul Adventure is a local partner of the expedition organizer International Mountain Guides, based in the United States.
The spring season, which lasts from mid-April to the end of May, started 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 the route to the summit of Everest, when they were hit by a mass of snow and dragged down a crevasse .
Too much people
For several years, the large number of climbers has increased the risk of fatal accidents, experts point out. At least four of the eleven deaths that occurred in 2019 were attributed to the adverse consequences of the mob.
Nepal has already issued 466 permits to climb Everest this season and, as most climbers must be accompanied by a guide, more than 900 people will attempt to reach the summit.
