Two missing climbers are believed to have died after part of an icy ridge on Mount Everest collapsed during a deadly week on the world’s highest peak.
British climber Daniel Paterson, 39, and his Nepalese guide Pas Tenji Sherpa, 23, remain missing for several days after a cornice – a piece of hardened snow overhanging the edge of a cliff – suddenly fell Tuesday, dragging the climbers down the side of the cliff. crowded mountain, the BBC reported.
The two men were part of a group of 15 people who reached the summit of the world’s highest peak, at 29,032 feet.
Mount Everest adventure company 8K Expeditions, which organized the expedition, said it “was caught in a sudden cornice fall, which hit the group of climbers.”
Despite exhaustive search efforts, we regret to confirm that Daniel and Pastenji could not be located,” the company wrote in a commemorative Instagram post on Thursday.
The collapse occurred around 4:40 a.m. Tuesday near Hillary Step as Paterson and Sherpa were making their descent.
Videos posted on social media appear to show a line of hundreds of climbers stranded in a row.
This area is considered part of Everest’s “death zone” above 26,000 feet, where oxygen levels and atmospheric pressure can be deadly over long periods of time.
Sherpa, “a leading guide” in the company, had reached the summit of Everest twice, in addition to having climbed K2, Ama Dablam and a number of other notable peaks of 6 000 meters (19,600 feet), according to 8K Expeditions.
Paterson, co-owner of CrossFit of Wakefield, had successfully climbed Island Peak and Ama Dablam.
Paterson’s partner, Becks Woodhead, raised more than $128,000 to launch a mission to recover his body.
In another incident, Kenyan mountaineer Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, 40, was found dead and his guide Nawang Sherpa, 44, remains missing after disappearing from the mountain on Wednesday.
Nepal’s Himalayan Times newspaper reported that Sherpa told base camp that Kirui had exhibited “abnormal behavior” and “refused to return and even consume bottled oxygen” before disappearing. Officials lost contact with the team shortly afterward.
Kirui’s close hiking friend Kipkemoi Limo told the BBC he died in a fall. His body was found more than 20 meters below the mountain peak.
“I found myself shedding tears this morning after confirming that my brother @cheruiyot_ak had rested on the mountain,” fellow climber James Muhia tweeted on Thursday. “It’s a sad day. Our brother is now one with the mountain. It will be a difficult time. Be well my brother.
Gabriel Tabara, from Romania, was also found dead in his tent at Camp III on Tuesday, according to the Himalayan Times.
Two Mongolian climbers, Usukhjargal Tsedendamba and Prevsuren Lkhagvajav, also died in the death zone while descending the peak on May 13.
The increasing prevalence of deaths on Everest has been blamed on overpopulation and climate change.
New York Post
