Another American climber dies on Mount Everest, bringing death toll to 11 over past week

Colorado’s Christopher Kulish collapses on his descent despite reaching the peak after the ‘traffic jam’ crowds dissipated

His brother says Kulish died doing what he loved – ‘he saw his last sunrise from the highest peak on Earth’

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Christopher Kulish beneath Mount Everest. He died soon after getting to the top. Photo: Christopher Kulish/Mark Kulish

Published: 10:08am, 28 May 2019Updated: 1:45pm, 28 May 2019

A Colorado climber died soon after getting to the top of Mount Everest and achieving his dream of scaling the highest peaks on each of the seven continents, his brother said on Monday.

Christopher Kulish, 62, died on Monday at a camp below the summit during his descent. The cause is not yet known, said his brother, Mark Kulish of Denver. He had just reached the top of Everest with a small group after crowds of hundreds of climbers congested the 8,850-metre peak last week.

“He saw his last sunrise from the highest peak on Earth. At that instant, he became a member of the ‘Seven Summit Club’, having scaled the highest peak on each continent,” Mark Kulish said in a statement.

Ten other climbers have died in the last week, many of whom were stuck in a traffic jam for the peak, forcing them to spend too long in the ‘death zone’. Photo: Project Possible

He described his brother as a lawyer in his “day job” who was “an inveterate climber of peaks in Colorado, the West and the world over”.

“He passed away doing what he loved, after returning to the next camp below the peak,” Mark Kulish said.