mountain climbing

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A New Plan for 'World's Highest Garbage Dump'

Nepal nixes trash deposit for Everest climbers, now wants to impose nonrefundable $4K cleanup fee

(Newser) - Nepal is giving up on a carrot-and-stick experiment to clean up Mount Everest and moving instead to a straight fee. For the past 11 years, climbers have had to post a $4,000 deposit, refundable only if they brought down at least 18 pounds or so of garbage. The idea...

American Climber Falls to Death in Slovenian Alps

Unidentified man, 33, was attempting to climb Mount Triglav

(Newser) - An American man has died in Slovenia after falling off a climbing path in the Alps, police said on Tuesday. The climber, whose identity has not been revealed, was 33. His family said he set off on Monday morning toward Slovenia's highest peak, Mount Triglav, and disappeared, the STA...

Climber Charged After Partner Dies in Winter Ascent

Austrian prosecutors allege Thomas Plamberger's gross negligence led to death on Grossglockner

(Newser) - A mountain tragedy in Austria has taken a legal turn as climber Thomas Plamberger now faces grossly negligent homicide charges following the death of his partner, 33-year-old Kerstin Gurtner, on Grossglockner, the country's highest peak. Per Climbing.com , their winter ascent of the 12,461-foot mountain began on Jan....

2 Climbers Killed on New Zealand's Highest Peak

Aoraki has claimed more than 240 lives since start of 20th century

(Newser) - Two mountain climbers have died on Aoraki, New Zealand 's tallest peak, and two others from the same group were rescued, authorities said on Tuesday. The dead climbers' bodies have been found and specialist searchers were working to recover them "in a challenging alpine environment," Police Area...

Under New Mountain Ranking, Everest Falls to No. 46

Jut, which sees to measure grandeur, has Annapurna Fang as the most impressive peak

(Newser) - For centuries, the way we've ranked mountains has been all about elevation. But National Geographic reports on a new metric gaining traction, one that factors in a particular peak's sense of grandeur. It's called jut, the brainchild of a 23-year-old computer scientist. Kai Xu, now a...

Mountain Climber Reached the Summit, Then Fell 2K Feet

Argentine tech entrepreneur dies after falling more than 2K feet on Mount Shasta

(Newser) - An Argentine hiker managed to reach the peak of California's Mount Shasta, but slid more than 2,000 feet to his death on the way back down. Matias Augusto Travizano, a tech entrepreneur, set out to scale the mountain on Sept. 12, per People . He was descending the 14,...

Climber Who Broke Her Leg Atop Mountain Believed Dead

Natalia Nagovitsyna became stranded after breaking her leg on Kyrgyzstan peak on Aug. 12

(Newser) - An experienced Russian climber who broke her leg while descending a mountain in Kyrgyzstan more than two weeks ago is now presumed dead. CBS News reports Kyrgyzstan officials on Wednesday said they had detected no signs of life at the location where Natalia Nagovitsyna was believed to be. The 47-year-old...

Chinese Climber Dies on K2 After Reaching Summit

Teams are now on foot after weather halts helicopter recovery efforts

(Newser) - A recovery team set out on Thursday to retrieve the body of Guan Jing, a Chinese climber who died just a day after summiting K2, the world's second-highest mountain. According to a local official, Guan was killed by falling rocks on Tuesday while descending the perilous slopes of...

Olympic Gold Medalist Dies in Climbing Accident

German athlete Laura Dahlmeier, 31, was caught in a rockfall on Pakistan's Laila Peak

(Newser) - German biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier has died on a mountain peak in northern Pakistan following a climbing accident , and efforts are underway to retrieve her body, a local government spokesman said Wednesday. Dahlmeier, an Olympic gold medalist, was climbing Laila Peak in the Karakoram mountain range on Monday when she...

Boy, 14, Fell Into 'Altered Mental State,' Walked Off Mountain

Zane Wach is in medically induced coma after getting disoriented on Mount Whitney hike with dad

(Newser) - A teen is fighting for his life after he stepped off a ledge on California's highest peak during a hike with his dad. Ryan Wach tells SFGate he took son Zane, 14, on June 10 for what he says was the boy's first mountaineering expedition on Mount Whitney....

Seattle Climber Dies in 3K-Foot Fall on Denali

Rangers have recovered the body of Alex Chiu, 41, who was apparently unroped when he fell

(Newser) - A 41-year-old Seattle man died this week after falling 3,000 feet while ski mountaineering on Alaska's Denali, aka Mount McKinley. The National Park Service reports that Alex Chiu was unroped on Monday when he fell from the West Buttress route onto the Peters Glacier. Two members of...

They Used Xenon to Climb Everest at Warp Speed

It took 4 Brits less than 5 days, not weeks

(Newser) - Their history-making attempt on Everest was a success. The BBC reports four British men summited Everest early Wednesday, having completed the climb in roughly four days and 18 hours. They avoided the typical weekslong acclimatization period by using xenon gas two weeks prior to the climb. The attempt hinged on...

They Want to Climb Everest in a Week—With a Xenon Boost

Furtenbach Adventures plans to help 4 men aim for record ascent using noble gas

(Newser) - Four former military friends from the UK are taking an unconventional shot at summiting Mount Everest in under a week, a feat that typically takes climbers a minimum of six weeks. Their edge? Inhaling the noble gas xenon ahead of the expedition, a method they say could help them...

Helicopter Rescue Saves Climber High on Mount Everest

Climber was airlifted from 24K feet, suspended from helicopter

(Newser) - 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...

US Climber Dies on 5th-Highest Peak
US Climber Dies
on 5th-Highest Peak
May 6, 2025 12:40 PM CDT

US Climber Dies on 5th-Highest Peak

Alexander Pancoe, 39, was raising money to help kids with cancer

(Newser) - An American who set out to raise money for kids' cancer treatment while climbing the world's fifth-highest mountain has become the second person to die during Nepal's 2025 climbing season. Alexander Pancoe, 39, died Sunday evening in his sleeping bag at Mount Makalu's second-highest camp, at around...

Coming to the Aid of Everest's Sherpas: Drones

Organizers hope the devices delivering supplies, removing waste will cut down on climbing fatalities

(Newser) - Climbing season at Mount Everest kicks off in full force next month, but Sherpas won't be the only ones helping mountaineers try for the summit. The New York Times reports that companies running expeditions up the world's highest peak have been testing out drones that will be able...

Mountaineer Makes History, Dies During Descent

Climbing partner says Ondrej Huserka died in his arms after fall into Langtang Lirung crevasse

(Newser) - Two mountaineers completed the first-ever ascent of the east face of a notoriously treacherous peak in Nepal last week but only one returned. Slovak mountaineer Ondrej Huserka, 34, died Thursday after falling into a crevasse while descending the 23,734-foot Langtang Lirung peak, CBS News reports. Marek Holecek, his Czech...

A Century Later, Foot of Lost Everest Climber Provides a Clue

Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine tried, and possibly succeeded, at scaling the peak in 1924

(Newser) - The foot of a man who some believe may have been the first person to summit the world's highest peak has been discovered on Mount Everest. The discovery of the socked and booted foot on Central Rongbuk Glacier was made last month by a team filming a National Geographic...

Teen Just Took Record Held by 30-Year-Old Climber

Nima Rinji Sherpa sets world record at age 18

(Newser) - Climbing Earth's 14 highest peaks is an incredible feat that only a few dozen people have managed. Doing it in 740 days is doubly impressive. And achieving all that by age 18? Record-setting. The BBC reports Nepalese teen Nima Rinji Sherpa has become the youngest person to climb all...

On World's 7th-Highest Peak, Looks Like 'All 5 Fell Together'

Climbers who died on Nepal's Mount Dhaulagiri may have been attached to each other by rope

(Newser) - Five mountaineers have lost their lives on the world's 7th-highest peak. The Russian climbers were scaling Nepal's 26,795-foot high Mount Dhaulagiri on Sunday when they apparently slipped and fell, per AFP . Two had reached the summit, while the other three had turned back before reaching their goal....

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