KATHMANDU: A British man is among the eight climbers to die on Mount Everest and the 18th in Nepal's Himalayas during the current climbing season. Hiking officials attributed most of the deaths to weakness, exhaustion and delays on the crowded route to the 8,850-metre (29,035 feet) summit. Robin Haynes Fisher, 41, died in the so-called "death zone" known for low levels of oxygen on descent from the summit, Mira Acharya, a tourism department official, said. He is the eighth fatality on Everest in the current climbing season that ends this month. “He died because of weakness after a long ascent and difficult descent,” Murari Sharma of the Everest Parivar Treks company that arranged his logistics said. “He was descending with his sherpa guides from the summit when he suddenly fainted."
Fellow guides changed Fisher's oxygen bottle and offered him water, but could not save him, Sharma said. Garrett Madison of the US based Madison Mountaineering company that sponsors climbers to Mount Everest said many were not "well qualified or prepared climbers" and were without the support necessary to ascend and descend safely.
Traffic jams making Everest deadly
The long, winding line to the peak added another element of risk to what is already one of the most dangerous mountains, raising the possibility of frostbite and oxygen depletion. At least two climbers died after having reached the summit, and their deaths may have been related to the delays. Donald Cash, 54, an American, died after collapsing on the mountain following an unusually long summit, according to Pioneer Adventures, a Kathmandu-based organization that leads expeditions on Everest. Cash was traveling with Sherpa guides and fainted from altitude sickness. He could not be revived. The other fatality, Anjali Kulkarni, 54, an Indian, collapsed while returning from the summit with her husband, according to Arun Treks and Expedition, which led the trip. “Due to the huge traffic and the delay in being able to return back, she couldn’t maintain her energy,” said Phupden Sherpa, the tour group’s manager.
Sherpa, who recalled similar episodes in 2017 that resulted in climber deaths, said it took the group an additional three hours to return to camp, a wait that he believes contributed to her death. Several of the climbers with Kulkarni returned to their camp with frostbite and other injuries. Nivesh Karki, the manager of Pioneer Adventures, attributed the congestion at the summit to good weather. The frequently changing conditions mean that there is often only a small window of time for climbing, so last week, when weather was ideal more groups than usual chose to push ahead rather than wait and risk harsh weather.
“It was such clear day, so everyone was rushing to the summit,” he said. “Once the weather is bad, no one can summit so in good weather, everyone will try to go for the summit.” Karki said the crowding on the mountain increased the peril for all climbers, even under normal circumstances. Two climbers are believed to have died on Everest recently: An Indian man was found dead in his tent and an Irishman went missing after a fall. “This is a huge problem because the route is already dangerous, and there is always risk,” he said.
