Pioneering guide in Everest conquest

KATHMANDU, Nepal Kanchha Sherpa, the only surviving member of the mountaineering expedition team that first conquered Mt. Everest, died early Thursday, according to the Nepal Mountaineering Assn.

- BY BINAJ GURUBACHARYA

LAST MEMBER OF 1953 TEAM He was one of three Sherpas to reach the final camp on Everest with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

Kanchha, 92, died at his home in Kapan, in Nepal's Kathmandu district, confirmed Phur Gelje Sherpa, the association president.

"He passed away peacefully at his residence," Phur Gelje Sherpa told the Associated Press, adding that he had been unwell for some time. "A chapter of the mountaineering history has vanished with him." Last rites will be held Monday, he said.

Kanchha Sherpa was among the 35 members of the team that put New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay atop the 29,032-foot peak on May 29, 1953. A mountain guide for most of his life, Kanchha was one of three Sherpas to reach the final camp before the summit with Hillary and Tenzing.

But he never climbed to the summit of Everest, as his wife considered it too risky, he said in a March 2024 interview. He forbade his children to become mountaineers.