Nepal UK
Kanchha Sherpa began mountaineering when he was 19 and was among the 35-member expedition that reached the summit of Mount Everest in May 1953. Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP
Kathmandu - Kanchha Sherpa, the last surviving member of the 1953 expedition that became the first to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest, has died, aged 92, his family said.
Born in 1933, Kanchha Sherpa was 19 when he joined the expedition as a porter.
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa became the first mountaineers to reach the highest peak of the world in 1953.
Kanchha Sherpa was the part of the team carrying food, tents and equipment to the Everest Base Camp.
"He was a living legend and an inspiration for all in mountaineering and those working in the industry," said Fur Gelje Sherpa, President of Nepal Mountaineering Association. "We've lost our guardian".
Kanchha Sherpa worked in the Himalayan mountains for two more decades after the expedition.
On top of the world
On 29 May, 1953, Edmund Hillary, and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest on the Nepal-Tibet border.
They reached the top of the world at 1130 local time after a gruelling climb up the southern face.
They hugged each other with relief and joy but only stayed on the summit for 15 minutes because they were low on oxygen, BBC reported.
Mr Hillary took several photographs of the scenery and of Sherpa Tenzing waving flags representing Britain, Nepal, the United Nations and India.
Sherpa Tenzing buried some sweets and biscuits in the snow as a Buddhist offering to the gods.
Mount Everest was named after Sir George Everest, the surveyor-general of India who was the first to produce detailed maps of the Indian subcontinent including the Himalayas.
