The search for missing British climber Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, and his Sherpa guide Pas Tenji Sherpa, 23, has been called off after days of fruitless efforts, expedition operators said.
Pemba Sherpa, managing director of Eight K Expedition, confirmed that all Sherpa guides involved in the search have been recalled to base camp. “We have stopped the search and informed the family, embassy, and officials. We are preparing to wrap up the expedition in the next few days,” he told Everest Chronicle, adding, “We looked everywhere that was reachable but couldn’t find them. We can’t risk the lives of guides by pressing them to go on a cliff 1000 meters down the main trail.”
Multiple Sherpas were employed in the search, each paid up to Rs 600,000 rupees for the task. “It is a costly affair and cannot be undertaken for too long,” Pemba added.
Paterson and his Sherpa guide went out of contact on May 21 while descending after successfully summiting Everest at 4:40 a.m., according to Khimlal Gautam, the officer heading the Department of Tourism’s base camp office. It is believed they fell down the cliff to the Kangshung Face of Everest.
The climbers were part of a 15-member fee-paying team with 8K Expeditions, led by Bolivian climber David Hugo Ayaviri Quispe. The halting of the search means the climbers are now presumed dead, joining dozens of others whose bodies have never been found on Everest.
The Department of Tourism has confirmed the deaths of at least five climbers on the Everest route this season, while three remain missing.
The confirmed dead, whose bodies have been found, include Nepali climber Binod Babu Bastakoti, 37, Mongolian climbers Usukhjargal Tsedendamba, 53, and Purevsuren Lkhagvajav, 31, Kenyan climber Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, 40, and Romanian climber Gabriel Viorel Tabara, 48. Tabara was attempting to climb Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest peak, which shares the same route with Everest.
Paterson and his guide have been listed as missing along with Nawang Sherpa, a 44 year old guide who has been missing since May 22.
