Everest: Russian Climber Dies in Camp 2

Pavel Kostrikin, a member of Alex Abramov’s team, died in Everest’s Camp 2 yesterday evening, according to The Himalayan Times. There was no accident or fall reported. Kostrikin apparently fell sick with AMS, the paper said. The Russian climber was completing his final acclimatization trip before launching a summit push.

Team leader Alex Abramov has not yet commented on the incident. Earlier today, he noted on social media that his team had completed their last acclimatization round by staying a night at Camp 2 before climbing further up to Camp 3. He explained that his team is flying down to Namche Bazaar tomorrow to rest before their summit push.

Group of Russian climbers at Everest Base Camp

The large Russian team at Base Camp. Photo: Alex Abramov

 

Kostrikin had attempted Everest twice before. Both times, he aborted due to exhaustion, according to Alan Arnette.

Summit push strategy

Meanwhile, the massive summit push on Everest is slowly unfolding. According to sources in Base Camp, some small teams left for the upper mountain yesterday. Others will follow today. The general expectation is that summits will extend through several days.

In addition, most of the big outfitters consulted by ExplorersWeb have divided their clients into smaller groups whose members will climb at diffferent speeds or on different dates.

Angela Benavides

Angela Benavides graduated university in journalism and specializes in high-altitude mountaineering and expedition news. She has been writing about climbing and mountaineering, adventure and outdoor sports for 20+ years.

Prior to that, Angela Benavides spent time at/worked at a number of local and international media. She is also experienced in outdoor-sport consultancy for sponsoring corporations, press manager and communication executive, and a published author.