They search for dozens of deceased mountaineers in the 'Death Zone' of the Himalayas, above 8,000 meters

Himalayas

Sherpa Tshiring Jangbu confronts a haunting memory: a corpse he first saw over a decade ago near the summit of Mount Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world.

In May 2012, he was guiding a German mountaineer when they came across the body, believed to belong to a Czech climber who had died days earlier near the summit. Tshiring's curiosity about the circumstances of the death led him to discover that the climber was missing a glove, suggesting a possible loss of balance and fall.

Twelve years later, Tshiring was part of a team of 12 military personnel and 18 sherpas on a mission to clean up the Himalayas. This 54-day operation, concluding on June 5, focused on recovering five bodies from the "Death Zone" above 8,000 meters.

Initiated by the Nepalese government in 2019, the campaign aims to improve climber safety and address pollution from trash and bodies in the Himalayas. The effort faced extreme challenges due to severe weather conditions and the difficulty of transporting bodies from such high altitudes.

The recovered bodies and a skeleton are now undergoing identification tests at a hospital in Kathmandu. This work is crucial for closing the chapters on deceased mountaineers and providing closure to their families, who often wait years to perform final rites.

For Tshiring Jangbu and his team, this mission is a way to honor the Great Himalayas, which have played a pivotal role in their lives as mountaineers.