Slovak climber Vladimír Štrba (48) passed away on Sunday, May 21 early evening local time while attempting to summit Everest via South West face.
He fell ill near the Balcony and was brought back to the South Col. Immediately he succumbed to his illness and breathed his last.
He climbed the sixth tallest peak in the world, Cho Oyu (8,201m) in May 1997. He was part of expeditions to Aconcagua (6,962 m), Broad Peak (8,047 m), Makalu (8,463 m), two to Annapurna (8,091 m), and one each to Elbrus (5,642 m), Mera Peak (6,463m), Baruntse (7,129 m) and Dhaulagiri (8,163 m).
He tried to climb Mount Everest in 2016 with Zoltan Pal. They had to withdraw from the expedition after a dust avalanche crossed their path and during the descent, Pal got injured. Štrba planned to attempt the same route also in this season.
