Last moments of Kenyan climber Cheruiyot captured in his last IG post before he was found dead

Kenyans are still in shock following the untimely demise of famous Kenyan mountain climber Cheruiyot Kirui.

Kirui was reported missing while on a mission to climb Mt Everest without using supplemental oxygen. He went missing with his guide who is yet to be found. 

Kirui who had inspired many with his heroic attempt had made a last post on social media 5 days ago that detailed his plan for the final assault.

However, Everest Today confirmed that Kirui's body was found a few meters below the summit of Mt Everest.

"With profound sadness, we share the news of Kenyan mountaineer Cheruiyot Kirui's passing on Mt #Everest. His body was found a few meters below the summit point of Mt Everest," 

"He was accompanied by a Nepali climber Nawang Sherpa, whose fate is still unknown."

Here is what he said while climbing Mt Everest 

Finally. Tonight we head up. Summit Rotation.

After 10 Basecamp days.

But there were parties in honour of successful summits. Kazakh party was particularly lively celebrating the first Kazakh woman summiting Everest (powered by Kenyan armband)

My plan

A no-oxygen attempt comes with it's special preparations and risks, physically my body is ready. On the other risks, I'm taking the following measures;

Cold

Without oxygen one is much more susceptible to frostbite. So I have;

Hands: Pair of heated gloves, pair of heated mittens with a spare set of batteries.

Feet: Two pairs of heated socks with a spare set of batteries.

Meds

I'm susceptible to HAPE so I'm armed with Nifedipine. For HACE I have Dexamethasone. And Acetazolamide. Manaslu taught me well, having had an episode of HAPE and no meds.

Emergency oxygen

Nawang Sherpa will ferry an emergency bottle of oxygen to be used;

If I go lights out or if I go bananas

If I'm time barred

Unfavorable weather

Body limit reached: when I realize I'm no superman

Traffic jam: I'd planned to climb from the Tibet/North side to avoid traffic. But here we are, hopefully we get to avoid it.

And so after heavy investment physically, mentally, timewise (this expedition is taking more than a month from a regular 8 to 5 banker), financially (the amount of zeros needed to make this happen means I declare bankruptcy immediately I land back in Kenya)...it's now the moment of truth.

As usual we reconvene here in a few days to see how things will have turned out.

Summiting Everest requires a lot of experience in mountaineering elsewhere, a certificate of good health, equipment and trained Nepalese guide.

The snow and ice on the mountain create deadly hazards, such as avalanches and there is only a limited climbing season due to bad weather conditions.

At 8,849metres, Everest summit has approximately one-third the air pressure that exists at sea level.

This significantly reduces a climber’s ability to breathe in enough oxygen. Because of this, scientists have determined that the human body is not capable of remaining indefinitely above 6000metres.

Climbers who ascend higher than 8,000metres on Mount Everest enter the “death zone”.

In this area oxygen is so limited that the body cells start to die and judgement becomes impaired.