A Filipino climber has been confirmed as the first death of the 2025 Mount Everest season, Nepalese authorities announced Thursday.
Philipp Santiago, 45, died Wednesday night at Camp 4—the final staging point before the summit of the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain. According to Himal Gautam of Nepal’s tourism department, Santiago showed signs of extreme exhaustion upon reaching the camp and died while resting.
The expedition company that organized his climb, Snowy Horizon Treks and Expedition, said efforts are underway to recover his body and return it to base camp.
The 2025 climbing season officially began on May 9, when eight Nepali climbers reached the summit. Since then, more than 50 climbers have summited, taking advantage of favorable weather conditions.
Nepal has issued 458 climbing permits this year, with each climber typically accompanied by at least one Nepali guide. The base camp is currently bustling with over a thousand people, including international climbers, guides, and support staff.
Concerns about overcrowding on Everest persist. In 2019, a bottleneck near the summit forced climbers to wait in frigid conditions, contributing to exhaustion and altitude-related deaths. That year, 11 climbers died, with at least four fatalities linked to congestion.
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s ten highest peaks, draws hundreds of climbers each spring. Favorable seasonal conditions make this the most popular time for expeditions.
In 2024, over 800 climbers successfully summited Everest, including 74 from the northern route via Tibet. Since the first ascent by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, Everest has remained a symbol of high-altitude adventure and a major driver of Nepal’s mountaineering tourism industry.
