A Czech climber was rescued from Mount Everest's Camp III on Wednesday after developing altitude sickness on his way down from the summit. According to expedition operator 8K Expeditions, the unidentified climber, part of a group that made it to the summit, that morning began showing symptoms while descending, Outside Online reports. After reaching Camp III at about 24,000 feet, he was unable to go any further. Lakpa Sherpa, director of 8K Expeditions, said he requested a helicopter rescue at around 4pm.
Pilot Maurizio Folini flew a helicopter equipped with a longline winch system from Lukla, Nepal, to Everest, where he hovered over Camp III. Nepali law prevents helicopters from landing on Everest, so rescuers at the camp secured the climber to a rescue rope dangling from the helicopter. Folini then flew the climber back to Base Camp, suspended from the aircraft. Doctors at Base Camp diagnosed him with severe pulmonary edema. "We were very lucky today," Lakpa Sherpa said. "The doctors said his entire chest was swollen. He would not have survived the night."
Around 40 climbers reached the summit on Wednesday, and there was another rescue after a Sherpa slipped and fell, Outside reports. Eight people died on the mountain during climbing season last year. This year, two Sherpa support staff died after falling ill at Base Camp, the Himalayan Times reports. The first foreign climber to die this year, 45-year-old Filipino man Philipp II Santiago, died at Camp IV on Wednesday night as his group prepared for the summit push, per the Times. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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