Kanchha Sherpa, the only surviving member of the mountaineering expedition team that first conquered Mount Everest, has died, according to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
Kanchha died aged 92 at his home in Kapan in the Kathmandu district of Nepal, confirmed Phur Gelje Sherpa, the association president.
“He passed away peacefully at his residence,” Phur Gelje Sherpa told the Associated Press, explaining he had been unwell for some time.
“A chapter of the mountaineering history has vanished with him.”
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Last rites will be held on Monday, he said.
Kanchha was among the 35 members of the team that put New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay atop the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) peak on May 29th, 1953.
He was one of three Sherpas to reach the final camp before the summit with Hillary and Tenzing.
Tenzing died in 1986; Hillary died in 2008.
Born in 1933 in Namche Bazar, the gateway to Mount Everest, Kanchha began mountaineering when he was 19 and remained active in the expedition sector until the age of 50.
In an interview with the Associated Press in March 2024, he expressed concerns about overcrowding and filth at the world’s highest peak, emphasising the need for people to respect the mountain as a goddess.
“It would be better for the mountain to reduce the number of climbers,” he said.
Among the Sherpas, Himalayan people renowned as mountaineering guides, Everest is revered as Qomolangma, or goddess mother of the world.
Members of the community generally perform religious rituals before climbing the peak.
Kanchha is survived by his wife, four sons, two daughters and grandchildren. – AP
