Boma Achenimie 
In what appears as the fourth fatality on the tallest mountain this climbing season, a mountaineer from the United States (US) on Monday, May 1 died on Everest.
According to the organizer of his expedition, 69-year-old Jonathan Sugarman, passed away while participating in an acclimatisation rotation at about 6,400 meters (21,000 feet).
Pasang Tshering Sherpa of Beyul Adventure said, “He was feeling unwell and passed away at Camp 2. Efforts are underway to bring (back) his body.”
“We are trying to send a helicopter but it is snowing and the weather is not favourable.”
International Mountain Guides,(IMG) a US-based organization that organizes expeditions, confirmed Sugarman’s passing “with deep sorrow” through its local partner Beyul Adventure.
“We can confirm that this event was not the result of a climbing accident or route condition that would be of potential impact or safety concern to any other teams on the mountain,”
IMG CEO Eric Simonson made a statement that was posted on the website of the business.
In the previous year, Sugarman made it to Camp 3 on Everest before giving up a climb.
Three Nepali climbers died last month, marking a terrible beginning to this year’s spring climbing season on Everest.
As part of a supply expedition, the group was attempting to cross the perilous Khumbu icefall when a block of glacier ice fell and washed them into a narrow chasm.
The multimillion-dollar industry relies heavily on Nepali guides, who typically are ethnic Sherpas from adjacent valleys. They take great risks to construct climbing routes and carry supplies.
Since the majority will require a guide, Nepal has granted 466 permits to foreign climbers, and this season, which lasts until early June, more than 900 people will attempt to reach the summit.
If there is a shorter climbing window due to bad weather, this may produce excessive traffic and jams on the way to the top.
On the highest peak in the world, about five climbers every year pass away on average.
But in 2019, there were 11 fatalities, four of which were attributed to crowding.
According to climbers, crevasses are enlarging, there is greater glacial lake formation, and there is rushing water on once snow-covered slopes, all of which suggest that climate change may be escalating the risks.
Each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds are usually calm, Nepal welcomes hundreds of adventurers to its eight of the world’s ten highest peaks.
This season, more than 600 climbers plan to reach the summit of further Himalayan peaks.
Noel Hanna, a 56-year-old climber from Northern Ireland, passed away last month while ascending Annapurna, the tenth-highest peak in the world with an even higher death rate than Everest.
The 56-year-old climber passed away at Camp 4 while returning from a successful ascent of the 8,091-meter (26,545-foot) mountain.
After a long search, two Indian climbers record holder Baljeet Kaur, 28, and fellow countryman Arjun Vajpai, 30 were both successfully rescued from Annapurna the following day.
Anurag Maloo, 34, an additional Indian climber, was later found alive after falling 300 meters (985 feet) into a crevasse.
