Mongolian climber dies in season’s first Everest fatality

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Sherpas recovered the body of a Mongolian climber from Mount Everest and were looking for another mountaineer missing since the weekend, officials said on Friday. It marked the first confirmed death on Everest of the current climbing season.

The two Mongolians set off last weekend from their final camp at 8,000 metres (26,300 ft) to head for the summit of the world's tallest mountain in Nepal. They were attempting the summit approach from the South Col.

Pemba Sherpa of the 8K Expedition company that provided support services to the Mongolians up to their base camp said rescuers recovered one body below the South Summit at about 8,600 metres (28,500 feet). Details of his death were unclear, he said.

"Rescuers are looking for the other climber in the same area," Pemba told Reuters. Like many other sherpas, he uses his first name only.

Bad weather and high winds hampered any search for the missing climbers below the summit, known as the death zone because of dangerously low oxygen levels.

Mount Everest is the world’s tallest summit at 8,849-metres (29,032 ft) and officials say more than 6,500 people have reached its peak, many of them multiple times since the mountain was first scaled by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

A Nepali guide reached the peak for a record 29th time on Sunday.

However, about 335 people have also died on the mountain, hiking officials said.

Mountain climbing is a key source of revenue and employment in Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 tallest peaks.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma: Editing by Neil Fullick)