{"id":262591,"date":"2025-10-31T09:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/262591\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T09:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:35:11","slug":"australian-man-dies-while-attempting-to-climb-himalayan-mountain-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/262591\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian man dies while attempting to climb Himalayan mountain | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Australian man has died after becoming ill 300 metres from the summit of a mountain in Nepal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chin Tark Chan died on Wednesday during an attempt to climb 7,100-metre high Himlung Himal after he was first reported ill on Monday.<\/p>\n

The Himalayan mountain near the Tibetan border is about 150km north-west of Nepal\u2019s capital Kathmandu.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Chan\u2019s evacuation provider, Global Rescue, said he became ill on Monday morning local time at a height of 6,800m. The spokesperson said sherpas employed by his expedition company, 8K Expeditions, communicated to them via WhatsApp that Chan showed symptoms consistent with snow blindness and mobility loss.<\/p>\n

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Global Rescue was asked to provide a helicopter for a hover or longline \u2013 or rope \u2013 rescue, but this was \u201cdetermined to be unsafe\u201d because Chan was located above the maximum operating altitude set by Nepali aviation regulations, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Two hours later, the expedition company\u2019s sherpas reported that Chan was nearly unconscious.<\/p>\n

Global Rescue said another helicopter operator made an unsuccessful hover rescue attempt four hours after Chan was first reported ill, which failed because of \u201cadverse weather conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n

The company said Chan was then carried to the lower camp on Monday, arriving in the evening, where it was confirmed he had frostbite on his fingers and toes. He remained there on Tuesday, with descent or a helicopter rescue \u201cimpossible due to snow\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Nepali aviation authorities imposed a temporary ground stop on all helicopter flights after an unrelated crash.<\/p>\n

The expedition company\u2019s sherpas began to carry him to a lower camp but Chan died not far into the descent.<\/p>\n

\u201cTragically, before a safe weather window presented, the client died below Camp 3 at approximately 6,500m,\u201d Global Rescue\u2019s spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Lakpa Sherpa, managing director at 8K Expeditions, said Chan was one of nine climbers in a group ascending the mountain, accompanied by 10 sherpas, one of whom was hired to work with Chan.<\/p>\n

Lakpa Sherpa said he had advised Chan to travel with two dedicated sherpas because of his level of experience, but Chan had gone ahead with just one.<\/p>\n

Lakpa Sherpa said Chan had unsuccessfully attempted to climb the mountain last year, and had travelled to Nepal to climb mountains \u201cseven or eight times\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know him personally very well \u2026 so I\u2019m very sad,\u201d he said. \u201cWe lost a good friend and a mountaineer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lakpa Sherpa said he had notified the Australian embassy as well as Chan\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Friday evening, he said Chan\u2019s body remained on the mountain because of continued bad weather, but he hoped his crew would be able to return when conditions improved so the climber could be repatriated.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it was providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who had died in Nepal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe had been set up in Chan\u2019s name on Friday to raise money for Nepal\u2019s sherpas, who often assist climbers from western countries in the Himalayas, \u201cto honour Chinny\u2019s adventurous spirit and give back to the people he deeply admired\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecently, our dear Chinny tragically passed away on Himlung Himal in Nepal,\u201d the description said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile no words can ease this loss, we choose to honour Chinny\u2019s memory by giving back to those who make high-altitude expeditions possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Australian man has died after becoming ill 300 metres from the summit of a mountain in Nepal.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-262591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}