Australian man Jason Kennison died after becoming unwell on Mt Everest. Photo / via Just Giving
Australian man Jason Kennison died after becoming unwell on Mt Everest. Photo / via Just Giving
An Australian man has died while climbing the world’s tallest mountain.
Jason Kennison, 40, from South Australia, became unwell on the summit of Mt Everest and died while descending the mountain on Friday, his father Jock Kennison confirmed to news.com.au.
It is the 10th death on the mountain this climbing season.
Dawa Steven Sherpa, the Asian Trekking boss who had been managing Kennison’s climb, said the Australian had become “unresponsive” at the summit. He died after being brought to an area known as The Balcony further down the world’s highest peak.
”Since the oxygen cylinders that they had with them were running out, they decided to descend to Camp 4 hoping to climb back again with oxygen cylinders to rescue him,” Dawa Steven Sherpa told AFP.
”It was high wind and bad weather that prevented them (from) going back to bring him down. He died at the Balcony area.”
Kennison had been raising money for charity during the climb. The fundraiser aimed to help Spinal Cord Injuries Australia.
Kennsion, who had been living in Perth, had his own spinal cord injury in a car crash in 2006 when he was 23 years old. He had been told he may never walk again.
On a page on Just Giving, Kennison said he wanted to “help people living with spinal cord injury to live their best life”.
“As a relatively fit and healthy lad at 23 at the time of my accident, with a great career and my life ahead of me, I found it hard to come to terms with things and fell into depression,” he wrote.
The last picture Jason Kennison uploaded to Instagram before his death. Photo / via Instagram
Three years ago, a routine spinal operation resulted in complications, he wrote.
“One leg was barely strong enough to stand, while the other leg was left with no strength, feeling paralysed,” he wrote.
”In 2023, I will head to Nepal, to see and be on Mount Everest, a long way from once battling traumatic injuries and the low and dark days of depression.
”An ambitious feat that I would never have dreamed of, or thought was possible after once being told that I would not be able to walk.”
Friends described Kennison as “the most courageous, adventurous human we knew.
“It is with absolute broken hearts that our dearly beloved brother, son, cousin, friend sadly passed away on Friday 19th climbing Mt Everest,” a post to Facebook read.
“He achieved his goal of reaching the peak … he stood on top of the world but sadly didn’t come home. He was the most courageous, adventurous human we knew and he will be forever missed. We love you so much.”
Another friend said she had never seen him happier during preparations for the epic climb.
“At 40 years old, he was the happiest I have ever seen him ‘Climbing the Mountain’ and he made it to the top of Mount Everest. His dream!” she wrote.
“But he didn’t make it back. He was one day into the journey down the mountain and sadly passed.”
The main climbing season on Mt Everest is April and May each year.
Two climbers are still missing above the high camps. Malaysian Hawari Bin Hashim, 33, went missing on May 18. Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya, 39, an Indian-Singaporean climber, went missing from 8500m. He reportedly fell on the Tibetan side of the mountain.
