A German mountaineer fell about 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) to his death Monday, a day after reaching the summit of Ama Dablam mountain, according to the operator of a trekking company.
Wolfgang Waschiczek, 57, was reported missing from Camp 3, located at approximately 6,200 meters above sea level. He had been resting after reaching the 6,812 meter summit on Sunday, before his planned descent.
“After a successful summit, he spent a night at camp 3 on Sunday and on Monday morning his guide found him missing,” Gokul Thapa, director of the Real Himalaya trekking company, told AFP.
Thapa said Waschiczek’s personal hiking guide, Sonam Lama, left him in the tent for a few minutes to return borrowed gear, telling him to stay inside. When he returned, Waschiczek was missing.
Waschiczek’s body was spotted by another Sherpa at Camp 2 around 8 a.m. Monday, at an altitude of about 4,600 meters, Thapa said.
The body was recovered by helicopter in the afternoon and flown to Lukla, a town known as a gateway for climbers and trekkers heading to the Everest region.
He was then flown to the capital, Kathmandu, where an autopsy will be carried out at Tribhuvan Teaching Hospital.
“Once the autopsy is done, the body will be handed over to his family members through the embassy,” Thapa told AFP.
He said this was Waschiczek’s second visit to Nepal.
“He had come to Nepal in 2024 for a trip and his death saddened us,” he added.
Two Japanese climbers died last week on another peak in western Nepal, the Reuters news agency reported.
Ama Dablam is located in Nepal’s Khumbu region and is considered a technically difficult mountain with steep walls.
PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images 
This is the first death on the mountain this year.
Last October, two climbers, one French, aged 65, and the other South Korean, aged 66, died during expeditions there.
This climbing season, more than 300 climbers are attempting to climb Ama Dablam.
Climbers have died on other peaks this year.
In July, the famous British Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja and nine other climbers were killed after being swept away by an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan.
In May, two Indian climbers died on Mount Everest during a period of record ascents via Nepal’s southern route.
In May, American climber Shelley Johannesen has died in an avalanche on Mount Makalu in Nepal. Johannesen, co-founder of American outfitter Dash Adventures, had managed to reach the 27,838-foot summit before being hit by an avalanche at around 23,600 feet during her descent.
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