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Kanchha Sherpa, the last surviving member of the mountaineering expedition team that first conquered Mount Everest, has died at the age of 92, according to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
Kanchha died early on Thursday at his home in Kapan, Kathmandu district, said Phur Gelje Sherpa, the association’s president.
“He passed away peacefully at his residence,” Phur Gelje said, explaining that Kanchha had been unwell for some time. “A chapter of the mountaineering history has vanished with him.”
Last rites will be held on Monday, he said.
Kanchha was among the 35 members of the team that put New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay atop the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) peak on 29 May 1953. He was one of three Sherpas to reach the final camp before the summit with Hillary and Tenzing.
Tenzing died in 1986; Hillary died in 2008.
Born in 1933 in Namche Bazar, the gateway to Mount Everest, Kanchha began mountaineering when he was 19 and remained active in the expedition sector until 50.
In an interview with the Associated Press in March 2024, he expressed concerns about overcrowding and filth at the world’s highest peak, exhorting the need for people to respect the mountain as a goddess.
“It would be better for the mountain to reduce the number of climbers,” he said.
Among the Sherpas Everest is revered as Qomolangma, or goddess mother of the world. Members of the community generally perform religious rituals before climbing the peak.
Kanchha is survived by his wife, four sons, two daughters and grandchildren.
