Kiwi mountaineer Lydia Bradey, who has just returned from scaling Everest for the sixth, says tour companies are taking too many risks following the 10 th death on the mountain in the last two months.
British man Robert Haynes Fisher, 44, died on Saturday after falling ill and collapsing while descending the summit and there are concerns that overcrowding is to blame.
Bradey, who became the first woman in the world to climb Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen in 1988 and still holds that title to this day, says there needs to be some degree of personal responsibility.
Climbers should be “prepared to give your heart but not necessarily your life”, Bradey said.
"I think some people really don’t know how to pass safely … and some people get summit fever," Ms Bradey told 1 NEWS.
Fellow mountaineer Peter Hilary, son of Sir Edmund Hilary, hopes that the recent problems on Everest won't stop people from exploring but says there needs to be “a little common sense”.
"Of course, when dad was there he had the mountain to himself, an incredible privilege ... and now we have got over 100 expeditions going for the top and all going for those little windows in the weather," he says.
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