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R.I.P.

U.S. Lawyer Who Perished on Crowded Everest Died ‘Doing What He Loved’

He was the 11th fatality on the famed peak this climbing season, the deadliest in years.

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Phurba Tenjing/Reuters

By Olivia Messer

The 11th person to die on a crowded Mount Everest this climbing season was a Colorado lawyer who had just achieved his dream of reaching the top of the highest peak on each continent.

Christopher John Kulish, 62, was just descending from the summit when he died; the cause was unclear, but others have perished of altitude sickness at that level.

“He saw his last sunrise from the highest peak on Earth. At that instant, he became a member of the ‘7 Summit Club,’” his brother, Mark Kulish, said in a statement.

The brother said Kulish had been climbing for 50 years. “He passed away doing what he loved,” he said in the statement obtained by the Denver News. “We are heartbroken at this news.”

Kulish’s death came amid growing concerns about potentially fatal overcrowding on the mountain. This is the deadliest year on Everest since an avalanche in 2015 killed more than 22 people.

Authorities have said many of the deaths in recent weeks were likely caused by exhaustion, since a record 381 people have been allowed to scale the mountain from the Nepalese side this year and another 130 people have climbed Everest from Tibet, Reuters reports.

The climbing season lasts from March through May, and the good weather this year has increased crowds, as climbers try to work their way up and down the summit in a single file line at 29,000 feet.

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On 22 nd of May, I summited everest at 5:30 am and lhotse 3:45 pm despite of the heavy traffic ( roughly 320 people ). Today I have just arrived at the Makalu base camp, I will be going for the summit push from the base camp directly. . Like it, tag it and share it if you love how the project possible 14/7 is rolling 🤙🏼 . I will update more once I’m done with Makalu . Much love to all my supporters and sponsors. @antmiddleton @bremontwatches , DIGI2AL, @hamasteel , @summitoxygen Royal Hotel, Ad construction group, MTC/FSI , @everence.life @brandingscience Premier Insurance, OMNIRISC, Intergage @inmarsatglobal . . . . #nimsdai #believer #uksf #sbs🐸 #projectpossible #14peaks7months #persistence #humanendeavour #selfbelief #positivemindset #beliveinyourself #elitehimalayanadventures #alwaysalittlehigher

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“I have had bottlenecks on mountains before but not this many people at such high altitude,” Nirmal Purja, a climber who took a photo of the precarious-looking crowds, told the The New York Times.

A tour group’s manager for Arun Treks and Expedition blamed the death last week of 54-year-old Indian woman Anjali Kulkarni on the overcrowding, according to the Times.

“Due to the huge traffic yesterday and the delay in being able to return back, she couldn’t maintain her energy,” Thupden Sherpa told the newspaper.

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Climbed up to camp 3, 7500m but the jet stream had returned closing the summit after only 2 days so I descended to basecamp. Around 100 climbers did summit in those 2 days with sadly 2 deaths, an Indian man found dead in his tent at camp 4 and an Irish climber lost, assumed fallen, on his descent. A go fund me page has been set up for a rescue bid for the Irish climber but it is a well meaning but futile gesture. Condolences to both their friends and families. Both deaths happened above 8000m in the so called death zone where the majority of deaths of foreign climbers happen. Around 700 more people will be looking to summit from Tuesday the 21st onwards. My revised plan, subject to weather that at the moment looks promising, is to return up the mountain leaving basecamp Tuesday the 21st 0230 and, all being well and a lot of luck, arriving on the summit the morning of Saturday the 25th. I will be climbing with my Sherpa, Jangbu who is third on the all time list with an incredible 19 summits. The other 4 members of our team decided to remain on the mountain and are looking to summit on the 21st. My cough had started to return at altitude so I couldn’t wait with them at altitude for the window to open without the risk of physically deteriorating too much. Furthermore as I had missed due to sickness the earlier camp 3 rotation best practice was for me to descend to allow my body to recover from the new altitude high so I could come back stronger. This was not an easy decision as the 13 hours climbing from basecamp to camp 2 in a day was the hardest physical and mental challenge I had ever done, now I have it all to do again. Finally I am hopeful to avoid the crowds on summit day and it seems like a number of teams are pushing to summit on the 21st. With a single route to the summit delays caused by overcrowding could prove fatal so I am hopeful my decision to go for the 25th will mean fewer people. Unless of course everyone else plays the same waiting game. #everest #everest2019 #lhotseface

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A British climber who died of altitude sickness on Saturday even warned of the dangers of overcrowding on his last ever Instagram post, and a Canadian documentarian who summited Everest last week used the social media site to post a photo of a dead body he passed on his trek, calling it “horrific.”

“Here we all were, chasing a dream and beneath our very feet there was a lifeless soul,” he wrote. “Is this what Everest has become?”

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