Mumbai-based mountaineer Narayanan Iyer, 52, died while ascending Mt Kanchenjunga in Nepal on Thursday. A federation of trekking groups in Maharashtra, on Friday, condoled his death and called it shocking.
Iyer died at 8,200 metre altitude, according to Nivesh Karki, executive director of Pioneer Adventure, the organiser of the expedition.
According to the preliminary report, he died due to high altitude sickness.
Iyer had started late but was an avid mountaineer, said Umesh Zirpe, president of the Akhil Maharashtra Giryarohan Mahasangh. He was active as mountaineer for more than 15 years and had recently successfully scaled two Himalayan peaks, namely, Island and Manaslu in Nepal, said Zirpe, adding that Iyer had also done a few treks and expeditions with his group.
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A resident of Ghatkopar in Mumbai, Iyer worked in a private company and was a bachelor; some of his close relatives live in Pune and Nagpur. They have learnt that Iyer’s body is expected to be retrieved from the mountain within two-three days, Zirpe said. His relatives were rushing to Nepal on Friday night, he added.
Kanchenjunga is one of the toughest eight-thousanders (peaks which are more than 8,000 metres in height) and has a very long summit push, said Zirpe, who himself has scaled the mountain which is located on the border of India and Nepal.
The climber refused to descend when the organisers “asked him to descend when he fell sick” while scaling the mountain, which led to his death, Karki said.
