Another Climber Has Died On Everest, Bringing This Year’s Toll To Nine

An American climber has died while descending from the summit of Mount Everest, the ninth person to perish on the world’s highest mountain this climbing season.

Christopher John Kulish, 61, managed to reach the summit of the mountain but died suddenly on the descent, according to a Nepal tourism department official. The cause of his death is currently unclear.

This year’s short climbing season has been the subject of a series of reports due to multiple deaths, which have been blamed on “overcrowding” on the mountain. A widely circulated photo on social media shows a lengthy queue to reach the top of the mountain, raising concerns that the government of Nepal has been issuing too many climbing passes.

A record 381 climbers have been permitted to scale Everest this climbing season from the Nepali side of the mountain, with a further 130 approaching the summit from the Tibetan side.

A report in the New York Times yesterday quotes climbers who believe safety standards on the mountain have slipped because of new, lower-cost operators and corruption problems in the climbing pass process:

Climbers themselves, experienced or not, are often so driven to finish their quest that they may keep going even if they see the dangers escalating.

A few decades ago, the people climbing Everest were largely experienced mountaineers willing to pay a lot of money. But in recent years, longtime climbers say, lower-cost operators working out of small storefronts in Kathmandu, the capital, and even more expensive foreign companies that don’t emphasize safety have entered the market and offered to take just about anyone to the top.

An Australian mountaineer was rescued by Tibetan climbing specialists yesterday after being found unconscious on the northern slopes of Everest. He is currently recovering in hospital.

In a statement to the ABC, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was “providing consular assistance to an Australian man hospitalised in Kathmandu”.

About 5,000 people have scaled the summit of Everest, and about 300 have died on its slopes.

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