German Climber Dies in 1,500-Meter Fall From Nepal's Ama Dablam After Reaching Summit

A German climber has died on Nepal's Ama Dablam after falling about 1,500 meters, or nearly 5,000 feet, a day after he reached the summit. The trekking company that organized his expedition confirmed the death on Monday.

Wolfgang Waschiczek, 57, topped the 6,812-meter peak on Sunday and spent that night resting at Camp 3, which sits at roughly 6,200 meters. He was due to begin his descent afterward. "After a successful summit, he spent a night at Camp 3 on Sunday, and on Monday morning, his guide found him missing," Gokul Thapa, head of the trekking company Real Himalaya, told AFP.

According to Thapa, Waschiczek's personal guide, Sonam Lama, had stepped away from the tent for a few minutes to return borrowed equipment and had told the climber to stay inside. When the guide came back, Waschiczek was gone.

Another Sherpa spotted the body at Camp 2 at around 8 am on Monday, at an altitude of about 4,600 meters. A helicopter retrieved it in the afternoon and took it to Lukla, a town widely known as a gateway for mountaineers and trekkers heading to the Everest region. The body was then flown on to Kathmandu.

A postmortem examination will be carried out at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in the capital. "Once the postmortem is done, the body will be handed over to his family members through the embassy," Thapa said.

Thapa added that this was Waschiczek's second trip to Nepal. The climber had visited in 2024 for a trek. "His passing saddened us," Thapa said.

Ama Dablam is in Nepal's Khumbu region and is regarded as a technically demanding mountain with steep faces. Waschiczek's death is the first on the peak this year. In October last year, two climbers died there during expeditions: a 65-year-old French climber and a 66-year-old South Korean climber. More than 300 climbers are attempting the mountain this season.

The death comes during a hazardous period for mountaineering across the region. Reuters reported that two Japanese climbers died last week on another peak in western Nepal. Climbers have also died on other mountains earlier this year. In July, an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak swept away a famed British Nepali climber and nine others. In May, an avalanche struck American climber Johannesen, co-founder of the U.S.-based outfitter Dash Adventures, on Nepal's Mount Makalu. Johannesen had reached the 27,838-foot summit and was descending at around 23,600 feet when the avalanche hit.