“Upadhyay was returning from Camp 1 (5,700 meters) to the Base Camp (5,360 meters) when he suddenly fell ill and passed away,” Tilak Pandey, liaison officer of the Mountaineering Division, told Republica over the phone from the Base Camp. [break]
Upadhyay was waiting for an appropriate weather window to scale the peak and had planned to take rest for a few days at the Base Camp before launching his assault on the mountain, Pandey said.
“He had not abandoned his summit plan. Returning to Base Camp after climbing to Camp 1 was part of the preparation for the final push,” he added.
Born on September 17, 1929, Upadhyay had prepared for three years for the attempt. As part of the preparation, he successfully climbed the 6,189-meter Island Peak and the 6,480-meter Mera peak, apart from sticking to a strict fitness regime.
Upadhyay flew to Lukla in mid-April and had planned to reach the top between May 17 and May 25.
Ramjindaji Gurung, chairperson of Senior Citizen Mt Everest Expedition Nepal (SCMEE) that organized the expedition told us last month that Upadhyay was attempting the 8,848-meter peak to prove that the elderly aren´t just shadows. “There are elderly like Upadhyay who are well and alive,” Gurung had told us.
However, the Mountaineering Division was yet to issue a climbing permit to Upadhyay as the organizers had sought a cabinet decision to waive the climbing fees, according to Kamal Bhattarai, chief of the division.
Upadhyay was Nepal´s foreign minister from 1986 to 1990.
Nepali climber Min Bahadur Sherchan holds the record of the oldest man to climb the mountain. Sherchan, whose expedition was also organized by SCMEE, climbed Mt. Everest on May 25, 2008 when he was 76 years and 340 days old.
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