'Something's wrong': Final words of Irish climber who died trying to conquer Mount Everest
“Something's wrong. I gotta turn back.”
These were the final last words of Irish climber Kevin Hynes who died on Mount Everest on Saturday, according to one of his companions.
Chris Dare, a Canadian army officer who was in the same party as Hynes, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the 56-year-old Irishman had said he couldn’t make the summit.
"On summit day, he moved 200 metres out of camp and said, 'You know what, this isn't going to happen. I'm not up for it. Something's wrong. I gotta turn back,'" Dare told CBC.
The Canadian said Hynes, an experienced climber who had summited Mount Everest in 2018, had returned to camp, where he ate, drank and went to sleep in his tent. The next morning he was found dead by sherpas.
At least 11 people have been killed while climbing Everest this season, and a photo of hundreds of climbers in a queue to reach the top went viral last week as many voiced concerns about dangerous overcrowding.
One climber, US doctor Ed Dohring, said he was shocked by what he saw on Everest when he reached the top a few days ago.
“It was scary,” he told the New York Times. “It was like a zoo.”
Mr Dohring said he had to step around the body of a woman who had just died on his way to the summit, where climbers waited hours in line
360 Expeditions, the climbing company which Hynes was attempting to scale the mountain with, praised him in a statement released at the weekend.
Read more:
Climber reveals Everest 'carnage' (The Telegraph)
Congestion leads to backlog of climbers in 'death zone' (The Guardian)
American becomes 11th person to die on mountain (The Independent)
"It is with the greatest sadness that we have to confirm that one of our Everest team has passed away.
"Kevin was one of the strongest and most experienced climbers on our team, and had previously summited Everest South and Lhotse,” the company added.
"His wonderful wife, Bernadette and two children, Erin and James are comforted by all the communication that Kevin sent out from his expedition, letting them know that, 'this was proving the most fun he had had on any one of his expeditions and the team was amazing and that he was loving being with (mountaineer) Rolfe Oostra'."
360 Exhibitions said “our heartfelt thoughts and condolences are with all Kevin's family and his friends. He really was a wonderful man and it was a great privilege to have him on our team."
He is the second Irish climber to die this season, after Trinity College professor Seamus Lawless fell during his descent from the summit.
