Deaths on crowded Everest now total five this week

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Three more people died Thursday on Mount Everest, as crowds of climbers added to the dangers of attempting to scale the world’s highest peak.

The three died just days after a widely circulated photo showed a long line of climbers extending along a narrow ridge, waiting to reach the 29,029-foot summit and its expansive view of the Himalayas. Two others died on Mount Everest earlier this week.

Expedition operators said the crowding was a result of a record number of permits issued by Nepal and a period of clear weather, which led several groups to push for the summit at once.

Two Indian climbers died Thursday while ascending from the more heavily traversed Nepal side, while another person died on the Tibetan side of the mountain.

One of the Indian climbers, Nihal Bagwan, died Thursday evening after reaching the summit in the morning, said Keshav Poudel, managing director of Peak Promotion, the operation that organized Bagwan’s attempt. The large number of climbers contributed to his death, Poudel said.

“The climber was stuck in traffic some four to five hours and died of exhaustion,” he said, adding that Sherpa guides had provided water and tried to save him.

Kalpana Dash, an Indian woman who first climbed Mount Everest in 2008, died Thursday while descending the summit, said Mira Acharya, an official at Nepal’s Department of Tourism.

“Her legacy in mountaineering will inspire generations of young women in the state,” said Naveen Patnaik, the chief minister of Dash’s home state of Odisha.

A climber with Kobler and Partner, a Swiss outfitter, died Thursday while descending on the Tibetan side of the mountain, the company said.

The crowds on Mount Everest appeared to have contributed to several of the deaths this week, with climbers being exposed to the wind, cold and lack of oxygen for extended periods of time on the mountain’s highest reaches.

Donald Cash, from Sandy, Utah, fainted Wednesday after reaching the summit and could not be revived. Cash, 54, had been attempting to climb the highest mountains on all seven continents. Mount Everest was his last.

Anjali Kulkarni, 54, of India, also died after reaching the summit this week. The manager for her tour group said he believed that delays in returning to camp because of high traffic levels were a factor in her death.