Kanchha Sherpa, last surviving member of 1953 Mount Everest expedition, dies at 92

Kathmandu: Kanchha Sherpa, the only surviving member of the mountaineering expedition team that first conquered Mount Everest, died early Thursday, according to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

Kanchha died at age 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.”

Last rites will be held Monday, he said.

Kanchha Sherpa 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 (29,032-foot) peak on May 29, 1953. He was one of three Sherpas to reach the final camp before the summit with Hillary and Tenzing.

Born in 1933 in Namche Bazar, the gateway to Mount Everest, he 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, exhorting 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 Sherpa is survived by his wife, four sons, two daughters and grandchildren.