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The sole surviving member of the first successful Mount Everest expedition passed away in Kathmandu on Thursday at the age of 92, his family confirmed.
Kanchha Sherpa was just a teenager when he joined the historic 1953 expedition led by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, who became the first climbers to reach the summit of the world’s highest peak.
The exact cause of Kanchha Sherpa’s death early Thursday morning remains unclear.
“He had been feeling unwell for several days,” his grandson, Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa, told AFP.
Born in 1933, Kanchha Sherpa was only 19 when he signed on as a porter, with no previous mountaineering experience. Despite this, he endured a grueling journey over more than two weeks to Everest’s Base Camp, carrying supplies, tents, and equipment, before ascending to over 8,000 meters (26,200 feet) near the summit.
“He was a legend and an inspiration to everyone in the mountaineering community,” stated Fur Gelje Sherpa, president of Nepal’s Mountaineering Association. “We’ve lost one of our guardians.”
Kanchha Sherpa continued working in the Himalayan mountains for another twenty years after that iconic climb. Ultimately, his family said, he was encouraged by his wife to retire from dangerous expeditions, especially after many of his friends lost their lives assisting other climbers.
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