Seattle mountaineer dies while climbing Mount Everest
A retired Seattle doctor died Monday while climbing Mount Everest, marking the fourth death on the world’s highest peak this year and the first American fatality.
The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal, identified Jonathan Sugarman as the mountaineer who died at Camp 2, which sits at roughly 21,000 feet on the 29,035-foot peak, according to Outside magazine.
Sugarman, 69, was part of an expedition led by Ashford, Pierce County-based International Mountain Guides, which organizes climbs, treks and mountaineering expeditions all over the world.
IMG founder Eric Simonson said the death was not caused by a climbing accident or route conditions that could impact the safety of other climbers.
“The rest of the IMG climbing team is all doing as well as can be expected given the circumstances,” Simonson said in a statement, which did not name Sugarman.
Pasang Sherpa, an expedition organizer, told CNN that Sugarman died “after he began to feel unwell” at Camp 2. His cause of death remains unknown.
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Sugarman and his fellow IMG expedition climbers arrived in the Khumbu Valley around early April and reached base camp April 10, according to the guiding company’s website. They began moving up the mountain April 29.
Sugarman was an experienced mountaineer, having successfully ascended Aconcagua in Argentina, Denali in Alaska and Cotopaxi in Ecuador, Outside reported. He had also tried to reach the summit of Mount Everest last year but turned back after reaching Camp 3 at an estimated 24,000 feet.
Last September, prolific ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson, who grew up in the Seattle area, died after she fell into a crevasse during an expedition in Nepal. She had reached the top of Manaslu, the eight-tallest mountain in the world at 26,781 feet. An avalanche reportedly swept her off a cliff onto the south face of the mountain.
Source: The Seattle Times
