KATMANDU, Nepal – A 15-year-old Sherpa who lost five fingers to frostbite last year has become the youngest person to conquer Mount Everest, Nepalese officials said Thursday.
The teenager, eighth-grade student Temba Tsheri, was one of more than 50 climbers to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain this week.
An Austrian climber fell to his death Wednesday just 165 feet from the summit, the Tourism Ministry said. Peter Gerfried Banner, 55, a broadcast engineer from Klusterneuburg, Austria, slipped and fell from an altitude of 28,880 feet, it said, quoting reports from expedition members.
A flurry of expeditions – among them five American climbers – scaled the 29,035-foot mountain from Tuesday to Thursday, taking advantage of a break in high winds and heavy snow that for days had forced climbers to postpone their bid for the top.
Temba reached the summit Tuesday morning, said Sonam, the director of Thamserku Trekking, which equipped and sponsored Temba’s expedition. Sonam uses one name.
Temba broke the record set in 1973 by another Nepalese climber, Shambu Tamang, who climbed Mount Everest at age 17.
Last year, Temba was forced to turn back just 160 feet from Everest’s summit because of frostbite, exhaustion and deteriorating weather. Before making his final attempt at the summit, he said he had opened his gloves for about 45 minutes to tie his shoes. When he returned from the mountain, doctors amputated five of his fingers.
On Thursday, American climber Jason Edwards, 43, of Lakewood, Wash., along with Canadians François Langlois, 35, David Rodney, 35, and Deryl Kelly, 28, and Peruvian Maxino Zambrano, 44, reached the summit. They were assisted by nine Sherpas.
On Wednesday Paul Giorgio, 36, an investor from Auburn, Mass., and Richard Paul O’Bryan, 47, of Ohio reached the summit with Canadian Grant Maclaren, 32, and Tuno Findik, 29, of Turkey, assisted by four Sherpas.
The mountaineering season in Nepal ends May 31, when climbers must return from the mountains before monsoons in the region bring heavy snow.
Since the season began March 1, teams have set up their base camps at 17,500 feet, acclimatizing and preparing for the climb. Climbers usually spend the first few weeks setting up higher camps, opening the route and getting ready for the final climb.
