Min Bahadur Sherchan (r. , with expedition leader Shiva Bahadur Sapkota)

He wanted to regain the age record, now he has died in the Base Camp at the feet of Mount Everest. Min Bahadur Sherchan passed away on Saturday afternoon local time, said Gyanendra Shrestha, an official of the Ministry of Tourism, who is staying in the Base Camp on the Nepali side of the highest mountain on Earth. The doctors, according to Shrestha, suspected a heart attack as the cause of death. It is the second fatality of this spring’s climbing season on Mount Everest, after Ueli Steck’s ​fall to death on Nuptse last Sunday.

Two failed attempts

After his Everest summit success in 2008

Sherchan wanted to snatch away the Everest age record from Yuichiro Miura. In 2013, the Japanese, then aged 80, had replaced Sherchan as “Everest Methuselah”. For five years, the Nepalese had previously led the record list after standing on the highest mountain on earth at the age of 76 years and 340 days. Already shortly after Miura’s summit success, towards the end of the Everest spring season 2013, and then 2015 too, Min Bahadur had tried to get back the record. In 2013, however, the Nepalese had fallen above Everest Base Camp and suffered a rib injury. In addition, no weather window had opened at this late stage of season. Two years later, the devastating earthquake in Nepal with almost 9,000 deaths had led to the cancellation of all activities on Everest.

No Everest age limit in Nepal

Sherchan before the expedition

As a young man, Sherchan had been a soldier in the Gurkha regiment. Later he had earned his money as a farmer, construction worker and finally hotel owner. “I may be old in terms of age but I still have a young courage,” Sherchan had said before the expedition. “I will reach the summit of Everest, whatever may come.” It was also due to the chronic drowsiness of the Nepali government that Sherchan was allowed to climb Everest this spring. Once again, the responsible people in Kathmandu had not managed to amend the “Mountaineering Expedition Regulation”, which is in force since 2002. Last year’s draft  included a ban on mountaineers older than 75 years.

Min Bahadur Sherchan

Why does a 85-year-old need to climb Mount Everest? For world peace. For environmental protection. For the self-confidence of old people. As an inspiration for the young. All these alleged reasons had to serve when, earlier this week, Min Bahadur Sherchan officially announced in Kathmandu that he would try to reach the 8850-meter-summit this spring. The real and only issue is to regain the Everest age record from Yuichiro Miura. In 2013, the Japanese, then aged 80, had replaced Sherchan as “Everest Methuselah”. For five years, the Nepalese had previously led the record list after standing on the highest mountain on earth at the age of 76 years and 340 days.

Old with “young courage”

Record holder Yuichiro Miura

Already shortly after Miura’s summit success, towards the end of the Everest spring season 2013, and then 2015 too, Min Bahadur had tried to get back the record. In 2013, however, the Nepalese had fallen above Everest Base Camp and suffered a rib injury. In addition, no weather window had opened at this late stage of season. Two years later, the devastating earthquake in Nepal with almost 9,000 deaths had led to the cancellation of all activities on Everest. Now the oldie is determined to do it again. “I may be old in terms of age but I still have a young courage,” Sherchan said. “I will reach the summit of Everest, whatever may come.”

Ex-Gurkha not in the Ghurka expedition

Sherchan after his Everest summit success in 2008

A strong team of six Sherpas including some Everest summiters is to help the senior up to the highest point. The expedition had been made possible by a donation campaign that had been launched by Nepalese people living in Great Britain. Earlier this year, British media reported that Sherchan, who had been a soldier in the Gurkha regiment of the British army as a young man, would be a member of the Gurkha Everest expedition 2017. It turned out to be a media hoax. “He is not part of the British Army Gurkha team. His venture is a separate private attempt,” the organizers of the British expedition wrote to me.

Still no age limit for old people

It is also due to the chronic drowsiness of the Nepali government that Sherchan is allowed to climb Everest this spring. Once again, the responsible people in Kathmandu have not managed to amend the “Mountaineering Expedition Regulation”, which is in force since 2002. Last year’s draft  included a ban on mountaineers older than 75 years. Perhaps the rule will be introduced when Min Bahadur Sherchan will have brought back the age record to Nepal.

Annapurna I (l.)

That was an exceptional weekend on Annapurna. According to the Nepalese newspaper “The Himalayan Times” a total of 30 climbers reached the 8091-meter-high summit. That makes 12 percent of the about 250 summit successes on Annapurna to date. The tenth highest mountain in the world is considered the most dangerous of the 14 eight-thousanders. Already 72 mountaineers have lost their lives on this mountain.

Kobusch’s first eight-thousander

Among the 14 foreign climbers, who reached the highest point last weekend, was German Jost Kobusch. For the 23-year-old, it was the first summit success on an eight-thousander. Kobusch had made headlines worldwide last year: with his video of the avalanche that had hit Everest Base Camp after the earthquake and killed 19 people. Compared with the young German, Spaniard Carlos Soria, who was also on top of Annapurna last weekend, is an “old hand” in two respects: It was his eigth-thousander number twelve – and Carlos has already 77 years under his belt. He is simply unstoppable.

As fit as a fiddle

Carlos Soria

Soria was a late bloomer on eight-thousanders. He climbed his first, Nanga Parbat, aged 51 – and picked up pace at an age when many retire. Carlos holds the age records at K 2 (65 years old), Broad Peak (68), Makalu (69, there he climbed solo and without bottled oxygen), Gasherbrum I (70), Manaslu (71), Lhotse (72), Kangchenjunga (75)  – and now on Annapurna (77) too. Theoretically, Soria, now well acclimatized, could even try to climb Dhaulagiri. The 8167-meter-high mountain is located only about 25 kilometers as the crow flies from Annapurna. The other eight-thousander which is still missing in the “best ager”’s list of summit successes is Shishapangma. If he does these two remaining jobs, Carlos will be by far the oldest man who stood on all 14 eight-thousanders. So far, this “record” is held by Polish climber Piotr Pustelnik, who scaled his last eight-thousander in 2010 at the age of 58.

Update 17 May: Carlos Soria has abandoned his attempt on Dhaulagiri and postponed the project to 2017. “The conditions are quite complicated,” Carlos was quoted on Twitter.