British man missing on Everest as family launch £150,000 fundraiser for search

A family are hoping to raise £150,000 in an effort to find a British man who has gone missing while climbing Mount Everest.

Dan Paterson, 40, from Wakefield and his Nepalese guide Pastenji Sherpa, 23, have not been heard from since they reached the mountain’s summit just before 5am on May 21.

It’s believed the pair, who were part of a group, fell down the side of the mountain after a cornice of ice and hardened snow collapsed just below the peak.

Four other climbers also fell but were attached to the group’s fixed line and managed to get back up to safety.

It’s feared both men could have died in the fall.

Dan’s partner, Becks Woodhead, has now set up an online crowdfunding page to raise £150,000 so a helicopter an specialised search teams can try to find him.

The GoFundMe page has raised around £108,000 so far.

She writes: ‘My name is Becks Woodhead and I am the partner of Dan “Pat” Paterson. Dan’s family and I, urgently need your help.

‘Tragically, during his descent, Daniel went missing, and there has been no contact or sighting of him since.

‘Time is of the essence in a situation like this, and we are mobilising every resource we can to locate Dan.

‘Conducting a search and rescue operation on Everest is an incredibly complex and costly endeavour. We are not experts in this, and there is no guarantee of success.’

Videos and photos on social media taken after the ice collapsed show large numbers of people on the Hillary Step, a nearly vertical rock face near the top of Everest.

Vinayak Malla, an International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) guide climbing Everest on the day it happened, wrote on Instagram: ‘After summiting, we crossed the Hillary Step, traffic was moving slowly then suddenly a cornice collapsed a few metres ahead of us. There was also a cornice under us.

‘As the cornice collapsed, four climbers nearly perished yet were clipped onto the rope and self-rescued.

‘Sadly, two climbers are still missing. We tried to traverse yet it was impossible due to the traffic on the fixed line.’

Vinayak said the group was stranded for a while, with oxygen running low, before a new route to descend was created.

The two men were part of a climbing group led by guiding company 8K Expeditions.

The founder of the company, Lakpa Sherpa, said: ‘Despite exhaustive search efforts, we regret to confirm that Daniel and Pastenji were unable to be recovered.’

On the GoFundMe page Dan was described as a ‘beloved son, brother, partner, friend and a proud joint owner of Wakefield Crossfit’.

Becks said he has a ‘passion for Leeds United’ and hopes that ‘in light of the upcoming play-off final’, she can bring him home.

Pastenji, meanwhile, was described by Lakpa as a ‘dedicated climber from his youth’ who had twice climbed Everest.

He added: ‘His warm spirit, kindness and outstanding expertise made him one of the premier guides at 8K Expeditions.’

Overcrowding on Everest in recent years, along with global warming, has been blamed for an increasing number of deaths on the world’s highest mountain.

Last year 12 people died climbing Everest, the fourth-highest amount ever recorded.

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