Death toll on Mount Everest rises to 11

Another death has occurred on the highest mountain in the world. The American climber Christopher John Kulish (61) died today on the descent of Mount Everest and is thus the 11th deadly victim this climbing season.

According to the Reuters news agency, the news was published by an official agency in Nepal. Kulish had gone up the 8,850 m high mountain in the morning along the Southeast Ridge – which most climbers take – but died suddenly on the way back from the summit.

Cause

The exact cause of his death is not yet clear, but most of the deaths this season are attributed to fatigue and exhaustion, which will be aggravated by the long queues of climbers towards the top.

This year a record number of 381 alpinists were allowed to climb the mountain along the Nepalese side. Some 130 climbers try it along the north side of Tibet. The short climbing season ends this month.

The route most climbers take was first used by Sir Edmund Hillary and the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953. About 5,000 people have climbed the summit in the meantime. 300 climbers didn’t survive.