In a place where climbers are abundant but oxygen is scarce. Adventurers are stuck in a sluggish line waiting to summit mount Everest. Today after reaching the top, 62 year-old Chris Coolish of colorado died while descending. "We are heartbroken at this news," his family says. "He saw his last sunrise from the highest peak on earth." "At that instant he became a member of the seven summit club having scaled the highest peak on each continent." At least 13 climbers have died on Everest this year. Many experienced including Utah's Don Cash and British mountaineer Robin Haynes Fisher who also reached the summit.
"Surprisingly this is hard work." In his final Instagram post Fisher wrote, "with a single route to the summit delays caused by overcrowding could prove fatal." Experts say because of the long line climbers are spending too much time in the so-called death zone, where oxygen is limited. This year Nepal's government issued a record 381 permits. Critics worried too many are inexperienced. The solution is that we need to have much stricter requirements on who climbs mount Everest. Calls for change 29,000 feet high where every minute counts.