The ascent of Mount Everest has claimed another fatality. A climber from the USA has died on the highest mountain in the world. The 69-year-old Jonathan Sugarman was at around 6400 meters in Camp 2 when he died, as the tour organizer announced on Tuesday. “We can confirm that the incident was not triggered by a climbing accident or conditions on the course that could endanger the safety of other teams on the mountain,” said Eric Simonson on his company’s website, International Mountain Guides.
According to Sherpa Pasang Tshering, the expedition is trying to return the body of the mountaineer who died on Monday. “We’re trying to send a helicopter, but it’s snowing and the weather isn’t favorable.” Sugarman’s death is the fourth on Mount Everest this spring season, which began with the accidental deaths of three Nepalese climbers while on a supply mission on the Khumbu Icefall in March .
Northern Ireland climber Noel Hanna was found dead on Mount Everest just two weeks ago. The 56-year-old died in his tent after climbing the Himalayan eight-thousander Annapurna, a spokesman for the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism confirmed. Hanna has climbed the tenth highest mountain in the world without artificial oxygen and has also climbed the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, ten times in the past, wrote the local online portal “Everest Chronicle”.
Home to eight of the world’s ten highest peaks, Nepal welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring when temperatures are warm and winds are usually calm. The country has issued 466 climbing permits for the highest peak in the world this year – but since most climbers can only be accompanied by local mountain guides, so-called Sherpas, around 900 people are expected on the mountain by June.
