Tributes have been flowing in following the death of Kenyan mountaineer, Cheruiyot Kirui, who lost his life while summiting Mt. Everest.
While others have been questioning his decision to scale the mountain without supplemental oxygen, others have been honouring him.
It is amidst the honours and other divided opinions that his impressive record in mountain climbing and athletics was brought to light.
On Thursday, a Facebook user shared Cheruiyot’s record revealing that he, at some point, scaled past 8,000 meters without supplemental oxygen.
According to the post, in September 2023, Cheruiyot summited Mt. Manaslu in Nepal without an oxygen tank making him the first African to summit a peak above 8,000 meters without supplemental oxygen.
He also scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro, whose elevation is 5,895 meters, and did several speed climbs up and down the mountain in 15 hours.
Elsewhere, Cheruiyot has summited Mt. Kenya over 20 times, and has done several speed climbs with course records on the three main routes.
The records are 2 hours 56 minutes on Sirimon route, Old Moses to Lenana Summit, and three back-to-back Lenana summits under 24 hours.
Additionally, Cheruiyot has summited Mt. Rwenzori, whose elevation is 5,109 meters, in an expedition-type climb that took six days.
He also transversed the Aberdare ranges using several routes with one being a self-supported South-North transverse.
Cheruiyot has also participated in several ultra-marathons including the Ultra Trail Chiang Mai in Thailand where he emerged second.
He did 160 kilometres at an elevation of 6,1000 meters.
Cheruiyot also participated in the Cappadocia Ultra Trail in Turkey in October 2021 and the Tour of the Giants in the Italian Alps in September 2019 which he wrote about in a book titled, AN ULTRAMARATHON STORY OF THE TOR DES GÉANTS.
He did 121 kilometres at an elevation of 3,600 meters and 356 kilometres at an elevation of 27,000 meters respectively for the ultra marathons.
Other ultra marathons Cheruiyot participated in are No Business 100 in the United States doing 166 kilometres at an elevation of 3,900 meters and Beskidy Ultra Trail in Poland where he did 96 kilometres at an elevation of 4,900 meters.
These revelations sparked reactions from other Facebook users who expressed their condolences following Cheruiyot’s death.
He was found dead in a zone dubbed, ‘Everest’s Death Zone’, above 8,000 metres.
Everest Today, which covers mountaineering over the Himalayas, announced his death in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “With profound sadness who share the news of Kenyan mountaineer Cheruiyot Kibet’s passing on Mt. Everest. His body was found a few meters below the summit point of Mt. Everest.”
Before this harrowing discovery, Cheruiyot and his guide were reported missing after they lost contact at Bishop Rock.
The news was shared by Mingma Sharpa, the CEO of Seven Summit Treks (SST), a mountaineering company based in Kathmandu, Nepal, which was in communication with the two.
The company immediately launched a search party which is believed to have led to the discovery of Cheruiyot’s body.
Before embarking on his quest to summit Mt. Everest, Cheruiyot had equipped himself with medicine and body warmers in case of emergencies.
Conditions he was likely to suffer from for immersing himself into the thin air on the path to the mountain’s summit include HAPE and HACE
For HAPE, the banker equipped himself with nifedipine, which works by relaxing the muscles of your heart and blood vessels.
On the other hand, Cheruiyot armed himself with dexamethasone which could be put to task in case he suffered from HACE.
He was also well aware that he was susceptible to frostbite due to lack of oxygen in high altitudes and so he equipped himself with several body warmers.
Cheruiyot had a pair of heated gloves, a pair of heated mittens and two spares of heated socks, both with spare batteries.
