With the death of a US climber on Mt. Everest, the toll at the world’s highest mountain has touched its peak at 11, including four Indians, as the climbing season draws to a close.
Christopher John Kulish, 61, breathed his last on Mondayafter scaling Everest. Although, he came down to the South Cole safely in theEvening, he all of a sudden had heartstroke and died, Meera Acharya, senior official at the tourism department, toldPTI.
Even as the number of deaths were put at 11 across theinternational media, the Nepal tourism ministry maintained the number at 9.
The climbing season, which began on May 14, will come to anend on Friday.
Four Indians died on the Everest and two each died on Mt.Kanchanjunga and Mt. Makalu, bringing the total death toll of Indian climbersin the Himalayas to 8.
Indians have topped among the international climbersattempting to scale the Summit this spring with a total number of 78 of themgetting permission.
After the end of the season, some crucial issues are likelyto take the centre stage, including what many say “traffic jam” on the top ofthe world, The Kathmandu Post reported.
“There was a record-breaking summit on May 22 with at least220 climbers reaching the peak,” Gyanendra Shrestha, the government liaisonofficer, said.
Mountaineers have suggested difficult weather conditions, alack of experience and the growing commercialisation of expeditions ascontributing factors to the backlog, the CNN reported.
During the week beginning May 20, crowds of climbers becamestuck in a queue to the summit, above the mountain’s highest camp at 8,000metres (26,247 feet). The summit of Mount Everest is 8,848 metres (29,029 feet)high.
Most people can only spend a matter of minutes at the summitwithout extra oxygen supplies, and the area where mountaineers have beendelayed is known to many as the “death zone,” the CNN report said.
Five people died on Everest in 2018.
In 2016 and 2017, the peak claimed lives of six and fiveclimbers respectively.
In 2015, quake-triggered avalanches killed 20 climbers.
On April 18, 2014, there was an avalanche near Everest BaseCamp which killed 16 Nepali guides. Rescuers pulled out 13 bodies and theremaining three were never recovered, Kathmandu Post report said.