Don Cash, a 55-year-old American man, quit his job to climb the Seven Summits, a term given to the highest mountains on all seven continents. On May 22nd, he achieved his goal after a 12-hour push to the top of the highest of all: Mount Everest.
Then, during the descent, he lost consciousness, according to Outside. The Sherpas accompanying him performed CPR and revived him, but when the group was “forced to wait their turn for at least two hours” on the Hillary Step, Cash lost consciousness again and passed away.
The bottleneck on the rock formation, which is named after famed climber Sir Edmund Hillary, is a common occurrence when there are hundreds of climbers attempting to access it during window of good weather, writes Outside.
The death is the third at this Everest season, following that of Ravi Thakar of India and Seamus Lawless of Ireland.
The cause of death for Cash is not confirmed, but according to NBC News, “his family thinks he had a heart attack while descending from the peak of the world’s tallest mountain.”
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