Records & People
Five climbers died on Mount Everest in 2026, against a record 1,008 summits. Here is every name, date and cause, and why a sixth man on most lists is…
By Dawa Sherpa · Jul 28, 2026
Five people died on Mount Everest in the 2026 season. That is the confirmed toll, and it sits against a record 1,008 summits from 495 permits — the busiest year the mountain has ever had, and by the ratio that matters one of its safest. Three of the five were…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
This is the full list for the season, in order. Where a cause was never formally stated we have left it blank rather than guess — on Everest the difference between exhaustion, altitude illness and a cardiac event is often never established, and inventing one…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Two of the three Nepalis who died were high-altitude workers — the men who fix the ropes, carry the loads and cross the icefall dozens of times so that a client crosses it four. Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, 51, from Gudel, died at around 5,200 m on the walk in, before…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Hillary Dawa Sherpa, 52, was reported missing near Camp 3 on 29 May after becoming separated from his client at around 7,500 m on the descent. He was written up as presumed dead, and he still appears in some 2026 death tallies for that reason. On 4 June a…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Five deaths is not a good year so much as an ordinary one that happened during an extraordinary crowd. 2023 remains the modern high at 18. What makes 2026 unusual is the denominator: more people stood on the summit than in any season on record, and fewer of…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Over the whole recorded history of the mountain, avalanche and falling account for almost half of all deaths between them, and altitude illness for another one in seven. Note what is not on this list: cold alone, or bad luck. The two big killers are terrain…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
None of the five people above died on the trek. They died climbing, above 5,200 m, on ground no trekker ever sets foot on — the Khumbu Icefall, the Lhotse Face, the summit ridge. Everest Base Camp is a walk to 5,364 m. It is a different activity with a…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Five. All five died on the Nepal side of the mountain between 3 and 22 May 2026. No fatality has been reported from the Tibetan north side this season.
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Because Hillary Dawa Sherpa, 52, was reported missing near Camp 3 on 29 May and written up as presumed dead. He was found alive in the Khumbu Icefall on 4 June, six days later, and survived. Lists compiled before that date carry him as a fatality.
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
No. It was the busiest season ever recorded and one of the least deadly per climber. Five deaths compares with 18 in 2023, 8 in 2024 and 5 in 2025, and 2026 produced more summits than any of them.
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
339 recorded deaths against 13,737 summits through the end of 2025. More than 200 bodies are believed to remain on the mountain, most of them above 8,000 m where recovery is close to impossible.
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
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