Mount Everest death toll rises to 11 this climbing season

An attorney from Colorado died Monday after summiting Mount Everest, becoming the 11th person to die there this climbing season.

Christopher John Kulish, 62, died suddenly after reaching the top of Everest on the Nepalese side of the mountain, CNN reports. Experts say the mountain is dangerously overcrowded and the Nepalese government is giving away too many permits; last week, climbers were stuck in a long line above 26,000 feet, waiting for their turn to reach the top. This is an area known as "the death zone," mountain guide Adrian Ballinger told CNN. Even with bottled and supplemental oxygen, people can only last a few hours there before their bodies start to shut down. "Humans just aren't really meant to exist there," he said.

Veteran mountaineers also say more and more amateur climbers are trying to tackle Mount Everest, and companies that don't understand the peak are organizing treks. "Everest is primarily a very complicated logistical puzzle, and I think when you have a lot of inexperienced operators as well as inexperienced climbers along with, particularly, the Nepal government not putting some limitations on the numbers of people, you have a prime recipe for these sorts of situations happening," climber David Morton told CNN.

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