German climber, 57, dies in 1,500-metre fall on Nepal's Ama Dablam

The fall on Monday morning

A 57-year-old German man died on Monday, 26 October, after falling about 1,500 metres while descending Ama Dablam, a 6,814-metre peak in north-east Nepal. He had reached the summit on Sunday, 25 October, and his group was on its way down when the accident happened in the morning, local time. Gokul Thapa, head of the trekking company Real Himalaya, confirmed the death to the German Press Agency and said he had known the climber for several years. Thapa had also arranged other mountain trips for him. Thapa described the fall in plain terms:

“He fell 1,500 metres deep.”

The peak lies about 20 kilometres from Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain at 8,849 metres, in the Khumbu region of Solukhumbu district.

The guide's account

According to Thapa, a Nepalese guide had told the climber not to leave his tent at a camp at about 6,100 metres until the icy terrain was secured. When the guide returned, the climber was no longer in the tent, and Thapa said the weather had been good. Bodhraj Bhandari, managing director of the expedition company Snowy Horizon Treks, said the guide had asked the climber to wait with his safety equipment while he returned a borrowed sleeping bag. The guide was back in less than five minutes, and the climber was no longer at the spot. Bhandari said the pair had lost contact around 8am on Monday as they prepared to descend, and the climber was not wearing crampons on the snowy slope.

Search, recovery and conflicting figures

A helicopter and a rescue team were alerted once the climber was reported missing. The body was found nearly 2 kilometres below the camp, and Thapa told Reuters that a search team had recovered it the same day:

“His body was recovered by a search team today itself.”

The reports differ on the distance of the fall. Most put it at about 1,500 metres, while another account gave about 1,700 metres, measured from Camp III to a spot at 4,500 metres where the body was seen. The body was to be flown by helicopter to Kathmandu for a post-mortem examination. Tourism Times, citing Thapa, reported that it would instead be taken to Lukla.

Season and recent deaths

More than 300 mountaineers hold permits to climb Ama Dablam during the September to November autumn season. The climber had shared his expedition permit with Snowy Horizon Treks, and the German is the first casualty on the mountain this season. Ama Dablam is a popular climb in Solukhumbu district, where Mount Everest also stands. Two Japanese climbers who had been missing since 15 October were found dead on Friday, 23 October, on Gangapurna West, a 7,140-metre peak in the Annapurna region near the Tibet border.