The Hong Kong bar owner who climbed over 6 dead to reach top of Mount Everest

Raj Gurung joined an elite group of Hong Kong residents this month, after successfully reaching the top of Mount Everest.

Despite only taking up climbing three years ago, the 53-year-old bar owner summited the world’s highest mountain on May 18.

Gurung’s journey took two attempts spanning nine days, and forced him to pass six dead climbers, sometimes having to stand on their hair, during a “traffic jam” near the summit.

“I’ve been preparing for the last three years,” Gurung said. “During that time, before doing Everest, I did Europe’s highest peak [Mount Elbrus in Russia] and two mountains in Nepal, Yalung Ri and Lobuche.”

Gurung, who was born in India to Nepalese parents, returned to Nepal in the early 90s and opened his first restaurant in Kathmandu. He then moved to Hong Kong in 1996, becoming a permanent resident seven years later.

He returned to Nepal for the first time in almost 30 years during the pandemic, a visit which Gurung said changed his perspective.