A British climber and his guide are missing on Mount Everest after ice collapsed and fell on their expedition, according to local reports.
Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, and Pas Tenji Sherpa, 23, have not been heard from since they reached the summit at about 4.40am local time on Tuesday, Nepalese officials said.
‘A cornice broke off and washed down a few climbers including Daniel and his guide towards the Tibet side,’ a member of a team at Everest base camp told The Times.
The collapse is reported to have happened at Hillary Step, a nearly vertical rock face just beneath the summit of the world’s highest peak.
An expedition has been launched to find the men, but hopes are fading that anyone could survive more than a day in an area known as the ‘death zone’ due to its high altitude.
Missing Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, is pictured on May 11 ahead of his climb to the summit
Mr Paterson with his partner Beck Woodhead. She said yesterday that she had not heard from him
Mr Paterson’s partner Beck Woodhead said yesterday that she had not heard from her partner and was waiting for news with their families.
The fitness enthusiast had dedicated his climb to a late friend from Wakefield Crossfield Club, which he co-owns, and recently announced that members had raised £10,000 for her family.
A keen climber, he had trained in the Himalayas last year and said he was emotional when he saw the Everest summit, telling followers: ‘My dream will always be to conquer this.’Â
A Sherpa with Mr Paterson’s group said earlier today that the expedition had successfully reached the summit, before sharing the news the two men went missing during the climb.
‘Eyewitnesses reported the incident took place between Summit Ridge and South Summit and some climbers were swept away in Kangshung Face,’ he said.
‘Our dedicated search and rescue teams are deployed on the ground. They are working tirelessly to locate our missing climbers. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families during this challenging time.’Â
The missing men were part of a 15-strong team with 8K Expeditions, led by Bolivian climber David Hugo Ayaviri Quispe.Â
Mr Paterson previously said it had always been his dream to ‘conquer’ the Everest summit
Mr Paterson posted two weeks ago to say he was ‘waiting impatiently for a summit window’.Â
Officials reportedly said that a window of calm weather over the past few days has seen an influx of climbers heading to the summit, but that this would close by the end of the week.
It comes after Mongolian climbers Usukhjargal Tsedendamba, 53, and Purevsuren Lkhagvajav, 31, went missing on Everest on May 13.
The pair, who had not relied on sherpa guides, were found dead a week later at two different locations after summiting the peak.
Mr Paterson, who received the news along with the rest of his team as they prepared for their own expedition, shared a post to his story with the caption ‘very sad news’.
The British climber’s last post to his Instagram followers was six days ago, when he reshared a friend’s good luck post which said he would ‘be back down in 6 days ish’.
The fitness enthusiast had dedicated his climb to a late friend from Wakefield Crossfield Club, and recently announced the group had raised £10,000 for her family
A Foreign Office spokesperson said this afternoon: ‘We are supporting the family of a British man who is reported as missing in Nepal and are in touch with local authorities.’
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 metres (26,246 feet) and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring climbing season.
Everest is only climbable in the short windows of clear weather when the winds are calm.
This has led to long queues forming at challenging sections, leaving climbers waiting in the freezing cold and burning through their valuable oxygen supplies.
As climbers can only summit in small weather windows, queues can form on the mountain which substantially increases the risk of deathÂ
There have also been concerns that some companies are bringing inexperienced climbers up into the ‘death zone’, above 8,000m, creating serious risks for them and others.
Trackers have recently been introduced which authorities hoped would make finding and rescuing injured climbers easier.
Ahead of the season, specialised ‘icefall doctors’ set the climbing route of ropes and ladders, building a route across plunging crevasses and constantly shifting ice, including the treacherous Khumbu icefall.Â
Tragically, in April 2023, three Nepali climbers perished when a block of glacial ice fell and swept them into a crevasse as they were crossing the icefall on a supply mission.