Greek climber Antonis Sykaris dies in Dhaulagiri
SST Chairman Mingma Sherpa said that Antonis Sykaris breathed his last at an altitude of 7,400 meters early in the morning. Sykaris was with his guide, Pemba Sherpa, both of whom had successfully reached the summit around 12 hours earlier on Monday.
Nepal’s eight-thousanders on Tuesday recorded the first death of the ongoing spring climbing season as a well-known Greek alpinist died while descending from the summit of Mount Dhaulagiri, the Seven Summit Trek (SST) confirmed.
SST Chairman Mingma Sherpa said that Antonis Sykaris breathed his last at an altitude of 7,400 meters early in the morning. Sykaris was with his guide, Pemba Sherpa, both of whom had successfully reached the summit around 12 hours earlier on Monday.
STT officials said that the company has deployed five Sherpa to retrieve the climber's body and rescue the guide who is currently at Camp III.
“Five Sherpas are on their way to Camp 3 to bring back his body,” STT Chairman Sherpa told Everest Chronicle.
Antonis fell ill right below the summit while descending from a successful summit, according to STT managing director Tashi Lakhpa Sherpa.
Born in Greece in 1962, Antonis was the only Greek who has climbed 5 of 14 eight-thousander mountains including Everest, Kangchenjunga, Manaslu, Lhotse and Annapurna.
Antonis had also participated in the international winter mission 2020/21 in K2 (8,611m).
Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) is the seventh highest peak in the world and one of eight among 14 eight-thousander peaks in Nepal.
Earlier this week, the peak situated north west of Kathmandu had recorded the first summit of the season with successful ascent of 22 climbers.
