One of Nepal's Tigers of the Snows Nawang Gombu dies age 79

The first man to scale Mount Everest twice, Nawang Gombu, one of the famed "Tigers of the Snows" has died at his home in Darjeeling, India. He was 79. Gombu, the youngest member of the Sherpa team that worked to put Sir Edmund Hillary on Mount Everest, died after a short illness, his family said.

Chris Curry/Peter Gillman

“We, the mountaineering community are very sad at hearing this news and his demise is a big loss for the mountaineering community,” Ang Tsering Sherpa, the former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told RFI.

Gombu, who was the nephew of head Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was only 21 when he joined the Norgay team on the Hillary expedition in 1953. Gombu did not reach the summit with Hillary that year, but made his mark in mountain climbing by reaching Mount Everest twice.

Gombu was hailed as an important figure in Nepali mountaineering, and Tsering Sherpa says that many dignitaries and the Sherpa community will be on hand when he is buried on Thursday 29 April.