The body of legendary Swiss climber Ueli Steck, who died on Mount Everest, was cremated at a Buddhist monastery that lies in the shadow of the world’s highest peak on Thursday. The climber’s body was flown by helicopter on Thursday to the Tengboche Monastery that lies on the trail to the peaks that claimed his life. Steck was famed for his record speed ascents in the Alps, which earned him the nickname the “Swiss Machine” — an epithet that he himself disliked. Steck was due to summit Everest via the West Ridge - a route that has recorded more fatalities than summits — before climbing Lhotse. Steck made global headlines in 2013 when he and two other Western climbers came to blows with a group of Nepali guides on Everest.

Source: Hindustan Times May 04, 2017 12:00 UTC