Death of a climber on Everest, the sixth this season, while the ascent records come one after the other

Everest is a multi-million dollar deal, but the mountain is a killer. MAXPPP – SEVEN SUMMIT TREK/HANDOUT

His Nepalese guide is still missing. The two men were victims of a crevasse.

The body of a Kenyan mountaineer was found near the summit of Everest in Nepal, the Nepalese Tourism Department announced Thursday, bringing the number of deaths to at least three. mountaineering season on the highest mountain in the world.

"The team found the Kenyan climber dead between the summit and Hillary Pass, but his guide is still missing" and wanted, Khim said Lal Gautam, head of the local office of the Department of Tourism.

This death is the sixth this mountaineering season in Nepal. Contact with Kenyan Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, 40, and his Nepalese guide Nawang Sherpa, 44, was lost on Wednesday morning in Everest peaking at 8,849 meters.

Record crowds but dangerous

At the same time, searches continue to find British mountaineer Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, and his guide Pas Tenji Sherpa, 21, who disappeared Tuesday morning at around 8,750 meters above sea level while descending from the summit of Everest, in the collapse of a cornice.

On Monday, Romanian mountaineer Gabriel Viorel Tabara was found dead in his tent on Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world. Last week, two Mongolian climbers, missing after reaching the summit of Everest, were found dead. Previously, a Frenchman and a Nepalese had died on Makalu, the fifth highest peak in the world.

About 500 foreign and Nepalese climbers have already reached the summit of Everest since April, when the climbing season begins which lasts until early June.

In spring, when temperatures are mild and winds generally lower, hundreds of climbers flock to Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest peaks.

A third of the deaths on Everest are Nepalese guides

Ultra experienced sherpas are the first, each year, to reach the summit of Everest, opening a safe circuit.

The Nepalese mountaineering industry, now worth several million dollars, is based on the experience of Sherpas, the Nepalese mountain people who serve as guides. They pay a heavy price to accompany foreign climbers every year.

Also read: The incredible record of Nepalese mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa

Also read: YouTuber Inoxtag reached the summit of Everest after more than a month of climbing

A third of the deaths on Everest are Nepalese guides. Nepal has issued more than 900 permits to climb its mountains this year – including 419 for Everest – to foreign mountaineers who, for the most part, climb accompanied by a Nepalese guide.

In 2023, more than 600 climbers reached the summit of Everest, a year which was marked by a disastrous record of 18 deaths.