Mount Everest death toll reaches 10 for this climbing season

A British climber died on Mount Everest on Saturday, bringing the death toll this season on the world’s highest peak to 10, officials said.

Robin Haynes Fisher, 44, died early on Saturday at 8,700 metres after returning from the summit, said Murari Sharma of Everest Pariwar Treks in Kathmandu.

“He had descended about 150 metres below the summit when he suddenly collapsed. His Sherpa guide tried to rescue him, but he had already died,” said Sharma.

On Friday, 56-year-old Irishman Kevin Hynes died in his tent at 7,000 metres after turning back before reaching the summit, UK-based climbing company 360 Expeditions said in a statement.

That same day, Nepalese guide Dhurba Bista, 33, also died at the base camp after being airlifted from a higher camp following illness, according to his employer, Anil Bhattarai of Himalayan Ecstasy Treks.

Three Indians – two women and one man – died earlier this week during their descent after scaling the peak, as hundreds of climbers pushed for the summit while taking advantage of this week’s weather windows.

Earlier this month, a US climber and an Indian climber also died during their descent from Everest. An Austrian climber died on the Tibetan side of the 8848-metre peak.

Seamus Lawless, another Irish climber who went missing on May 16, is presumed dead on the mountain.

Overcrowding at the top

Many teams had to line up for hours on May 22 to reach the summit, risking frostbite and altitude sickness, as a rush of climbers marked one of the busiest days on the world’s highest mountain.

Sherpa, the managing director of Peak Promotion, said the overcrowding had congested the route from Camp IV to the top.

“There were only short weather windows and everyone was trying to climb at once,” he said.

Hundreds of climbers attempt to climb Mount Everest and other Himalayan peaks during the spring climbing season.

The tragedies come amid the feats of Nepalese Sherpa climber Kami Rita, who broke his own record in quick succession.

He scaled Mount Everest for a 24th time on Tuesday, just a week after breaking his record for the most successful ascents of the world’s highest peak.

The route was pioneered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 and remains the most popular snow trail leading to the highest point on the Earth.

Nearly 5,000 climbers have scaled the peak since the pioneering ascent, many multiple times.

Five climbers died on Everest last year.