Summit Murder Mystery Series

By   RAJNEESH BHANDARI MAY 6, 2017 Continue reading the main story Share This Page Share Tweet Email More Save Photo Min Bahadur Sherchan in Kathmandu, Nepal, in April, describing the trail to Mount Everest. Credit Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press KATHMANDU, Nepal — An octogenarian Nepalese mountaineer who was on a mission to reclaim his title as the oldest climber on Mount Everest died on Saturday afternoon at base camp, government officials said. The climber, Min Bahadur Sherchan, 85, died at 5:14 p.m., said Dinesh Bhattarai, the director general of the Nepal Department of Tourism. The cause of Mr. Sherchan’s death was not immediately clear, but Gyanendra Shrestha, a government mountaineering official at the Everest base camp, said it might have been a heart attack. Tilak Ram Pandey, a government liaison officer for Mr. Sherchan’s team who was near the base camp, said Mr. Sherchan’s body would be taken to Kathmandu for an autopsy on Sunday. M...

We’d hacked and slashed our way through the jungle, inch by inch, for the better part of three hours. Every step we’d taken had been earned, from the trailhead at the base of the Andes range where the Peruvian jeep convoy dropped off our thirty-man detachment alongside the Urubamba River, to where we stood now a few miles into the Amazon. Although not exactly technically challenging by a seasoned climbers standards, the combination of the slight incline, humidity and exertion of hiking through the dense bush over the last few miles had even the most hardened member of our escort dripping sweat and feeling it now. There was no other option thought. In order to maintain the element of surprise, it had been determined as the only acceptable route of approach.  “A few clicks out, if the Intel was good.” Alex said as he trudged along next to me, wiping the sweat from his brow and swatting the buzzing insects away with his shemagh.   “Hope we aren’t too late.” I said, som...