Grandson of Everest legend Ang Rita Sherpa dies in fall near Camp III
Phura Gyaljen Sherpa, 20, died during a load-carrying mission on Mount Everest’s Lhotse Face, taking this season’s death toll on the world’s highest peak to three.
A Sherpa climber died near Camp III on Mount Everest, taking this season’s death toll on the world’s highest peak to three, officials said on Tuesday.
Phura Gyaljen Sherpa, 20, from Thame in Solukhumbu district, died after falling below Camp III on the mountain’s Lhotse Face during a load-carrying mission for summit preparations, according to the Department of Tourism.
Phura Gyaljen was the grandson of celebrated climber Ang Rita Sherpa, famously known as the “Snow Leopard.” Ang Rita was the only man to summit Everest ten times without supplemental oxygen and remains the only person to have climbed Everest without supplemental oxygen during winter.
Phura Gyaljen was the son of Phura Nuru Sherpa, the youngest son of legendary climber Ang Rita Sherpa.
He was registered as a mountain guide for the Spring 2026 Everest expedition organised by Kaitu Expedition Pvt. Ltd.
Earlier this season, Bijay Ghimire, Nepal’s first climber from the Dalit community to scale Everest, died in the Khumbu Icefall. Weeks earlier, seasoned mountaineer Lakpa Dendi Sherpa died at an altitude of 5,200 metres while en route to Everest Base Camp, where hundreds of climbers are currently awaiting a summit push.
According to Nisha Thapa Raut, a director at the department, Phura Gyaljen left Camp II at around 7:00 pm on May 11 with a team of Sherpa climbers carrying supplies to higher camps ahead of a summit push.
About four hours later, at around 11:20 pm, he reportedly slipped and fell from a ridge below Camp III at an altitude of around 7,000 metres.
A search operation later found him approximately 400 metres below in a crevasse between Camps II and III on the Lhotse Face.
Fellow high-altitude workers and expedition guides retrieved him from the crevasse, but he had suffered severe head and body injuries and was declared dead following an external examination, Thapa said.
With the help of expedition guides, the body was brought to Camp II at around 2:00 am and placed at the camp’s helipad. A helicopter transported the body from Camp II to Lukla on Tuesday morning, officials said.
This news report has been updated to include additional information.
