Updated May 3, 2026 07:55PM
Mount Everest’s Guiding Industry Suffered the First Death of the 2026 Season
A 52-year-old guide and mountain worker died while hiking from Gorak Shep to Base Camp, marking the first 2026 fatality for the Everest industry
Hikers ascend from Gorak Shep to Base Camp along the Khumbu Glacier (Photo: Heath Holden / Getty Images)
Mount Everest‘s guiding industry has experienced its first fatality of the 2026 climbing season on the world’s highest peak.
On Sunday, May 3, a 52-year-old mountain guide named Lakpa Dende Sherpa died while trekking from the village of Gorak Shep to Mount Everest Base Camp. According to Seven Summits Treks, the outfitter that employed Lakpa Dende, he was returning to Base Camp to work for the season as a high altitude guide and mountain worker when he lost conscious and died along the two-mile route between Gorak Shep and Base Camp.
Gorak Shep, the last village before Everest, sits at 16,942 feet above sea level, and Base Camp is at 17,500 feet.
Lakpa Dende’s death marks the first for Nepal’s guiding industry during the 2026 climbing season on Mount Everest.
“Lakpa Dende was a part of our family,” Thaneswar Guragai, Managing Director of Seven Summit Treks told Outside. “He’s worked with us for well over a decade.”
Sources with the outfitter told Outside that Lakpa Dende appears to have died from natural causes, however the Nepal Police has begun an investigation. According to the website Everest Chronicle, his body was flown down to Lukla on Sunday, May 3.
Lakpa Dende’s climbing resume is dotted with successful ascents of high peaks around Nepal. He participated in 30 expeditions to peaks across the country starting in 2001. He reached the top of Everest in 2017, his resume notes, and also climbed to the summit of 26,781-foot Manaslu in 2016, and the top of 27,838-foot Makalu on seven different occasions.
ADVERTISEMENT
As per Nepali law, Sherpa’s family will receive a $15,000 USD insurance claim.
Every year, experts argue about how to tally the number of fatalities on Mount Everest—whether to only include those who died above Base Camp while ascending the mountain. In previous years, mountain workers have died of a variety of causes in Base Camp, or along the 40-mile trek to the mountain’s base.
In 2025, two mountain workers died in Base Camp: Lha Ngima Sherpa died from altitude sickness, and Ngima Dorje Sherpa died of a brain hemorrhage.
Here at Outside, we attempt to report on and acknowledge all of the climbers, guides, and mountain workers who lose their lives while working on Everest. Our sincerest condolences go out to Lakpa Dende Sherpa’s friends and family.
