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Updated May 3, 2026 07:55PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Mount Everest\u2018s guiding industry has experienced its first fatality of the 2026 climbing season on the world\u2019s highest peak.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, May 3, a 52-year-old mountain guide named Lakpa Dende Sherpa died while trekking from the village of Gorak Shep to Mount Everest Base Camp. According to Seven Summits Treks, the outfitter that employed Lakpa Dende, he was returning to Base Camp to work for the season as a high altitude guide and mountain worker when he lost conscious and died along the two-mile route between Gorak Shep and Base Camp.<\/p>\n
Gorak Shep, the last village before Everest, sits at 16,942 feet above sea level, and Base Camp is at 17,500 feet.<\/p>\n
Lakpa Dende\u2019s death marks the first for Nepal\u2019s guiding industry during the 2026 climbing season on Mount Everest.<\/p>\nLakpa Dende Sherpa, 52, died near Mount Everest Base Camp<\/span> (Photo: Seven Summits Treks)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cLakpa Dende was a part of our family,\u201d Thaneswar Guragai, Managing Director of Seven Summit Treks told Outside<\/em>. \u201cHe\u2019s worked with us for well over a decade.\u201d<\/p>\nSources with the outfitter told\u00a0Outside<\/em> that Lakpa Dende appears to have died from natural causes, however the Nepal Police has begun an investigation. According to the website\u00a0Everest Chronicle,\u00a0<\/em>his body was flown down to Lukla on Sunday, May 3.<\/p>\nLakpa Dende\u2019s climbing resume is dotted with successful ascents of high peaks around Nepal. He participated in 30 expeditions to peaks across the country starting in 2001. He reached the top of Everest in 2017, his resume notes, and also climbed to the summit of 26,781-foot Manaslu in 2016, and the top of 27,838-foot Makalu on seven different occasions.<\/p>\n
As per Nepali law, Sherpa\u2019s family will receive a $15,000 USD insurance claim.<\/p>\n