According to reports, two people are dead after reaching the summit of Mount Everest earlier this month. The climbers, who have been identified as Sandeep Are and Arun Kumar Tiwari, summitted Everest on the morning of May 20. On the way down, their health rapidly deterioated.
Nepal’s Department of Tourism told reporters that both Are and Tiwari were clients with Pioneer Adventures, a Nepali guiding company. They are the first client climbers to die in the 2026 season, which has been a busy one.
Tiwari died on the evening of May 21, within sight of the summit ridge’s famous Hilary Step. Outside magazine reported that “four Sherpa guides were attempting to rescue Tiwari and bring him down to lower elevations at the time of his death.”
View this post on Instagram
Are died above Camp II, at some 21,000 feet of elevation. He is thought to have developed snow blindness as well as other health problems. Rescuers were with him at the time of his death, but sadly he succumbed to the rigors of the mountain.
The deaths, while the first among client climbers, are the fourth and fifth deaths on Everest this year. “Lakpa Dende Sherpa, 52, a climbing guide and high altitude worker died on May 3 while trekking to Base Camp,” Outside wrote. “Bijaya Ghimire Bishwakarma, 35, a high altitude worker from Nepal’s Dalit ethnic group, died on May 10 while climbing through the Khumbu Icefall. Phura Gyaljen Sherpa, 20, died on May 11 after slipping and falling on the Lhotse Face.”
