Again this year, the first death of the season is that of a local high-altitude worker. Once again, the cause of death was not a mountaineering accident, such as a fall or an avalanche. The key question, however, is not how Lakpa Tenji Sherpa died, but why.
Lakpa Tenji Sherpa worked with Seven Summit Treks. He summited Makalu on May 6.
“He passed away at Camp 3 while his fellow guides were carrying him down,” Rakhesh Gurung, the head of Nepal’s Department of Tourism (DoT), told Everest Chronicle.
Didn’t feel well
According to the paper, the agency told the DoT that Lakpa Tenji, 54, “didn’t feel well during the descent.” Publicly, Seven Summit Treks only reported that their group of 11 reached the summit at 3 pm — four foreign clients and seven Nepalese workers.
Later, they added Flor Cuenca of Peru to the list. She climbed without oxygen or sherpa support beyond Base Camp. Cuenca typically keeps her climbs quiet until she finishes.
The only climber in that group who shared her live tracker was Allie Pepper of Australia, who also climbed without oxygen. Pepper reached Camp 3 at almost midnight Nepal time, according to her tracker.
The team reached Advanced Base Camp the following day (yesterday). Currently, she is on the way to Makalu’s lower base camp. It is unclear what other members of the team did.
Conditions on Makalu have been tough in the last few days. The lack of snow on the route forced climbers to deal with rock, ice, and relentlessly high winds.
