Climber dies in 5,000-foot fall after reaching mountain's summit

A German climber fell about 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) to his death on Monday, a day after reaching the summit of Ama Dablam mountain, according to a trekking company operator.

Wolfgang Waschiczek, 57, was reported missing from Camp 3, which lies at around 6,200 meters. He had been resting after reaching the 6,812-meter summit on Sunday, before his planned descent.

"After a successful summit, he spent a night at Camp 3 on Sunday, and on Monday morning, his guide found him missing," Gokul Thapa, head of the trekking company Real Himalaya, told AFP.

Thapa said Waschiczek's personal trekking guide, Sonam Lama, had left him in the tent for a few minutes to return borrowed equipment, telling him to stay inside. When he returned, Waschiczek was missing.

Waschiczek's body was spotted by another Sherpa at Camp 2 at around 8 am on Monday at an altitude of about 4,600 metres, Thapa said.

The body was retrieved by helicopter during the afternoon and taken to Lukla, a town known as a gateway for mountaineers and trekkers heading to the Everest region.

It was then flown to the capital, Kathmandu, where a postmortem will be performed at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital.

"Once the postmortem is done, the body will be handed over to his family members through the embassy," Thapa told AFP.

He said this was Waschiczek's second visit to Nepal.

"He had come to Nepal in 2024 for a trek, and his passing saddened us," he added.

Two Japanese climbers died last week on another peak in west Nepal, the Reuters news agency reported.

Ama Dablam lies in Nepal's Khumbu region and is considered a technically challenging mountain with steep faces.

This is the first fatality on the mountain this year.

Last October, two climbers, one French, aged 65, and the other South Korean, aged 66, died during expeditions there.

This climbing season, more than 300 climbers are attempting to scale Ama Dablam.

Mountaineers have died on other peaks this year.

In July, famed British Nepali climber Nirmal Purja and nine other climbers were killed after being swept away by an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak.

In May, two Indian climbers died on Mount Everest during a record-breaking period of ascents via Nepal's southern route.

In May, American climber Shelley Johannesen died in an avalanche on Nepal's Mount Makalu. Johannesen, co-founder of U.S.-based outfitter Dash Adventures, had successfully reached the 27,838-foot summit before she was struck by an avalanche at around 23,600 feet while coming down.