Aussie Man Jason Kennison Made To The Top Of Mount Everest, But Didn’t Come Back

Jason Kennison, a South Australian man living in Perth, has died while climbing  Mount Everest for charity on Friday morning. 

The 40-year-old had been in Nepal for six weeks to prepare for the climb to raise money for Spinal Cord Injuries Australia. 

His family shared the news of his death on Facebook “with absolute broken hearts”. 

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The travel agency Asian Trekking said Mr Kennison died after becoming unwell on Friday. 

Asian Trekking CEO Dawa Steven Sherpa told AFP Mr Kennison was brought down to the Balcony area below the peak after “becoming unresponsive”. 

“Since the oxygen cylinders that they had with them were running out, they decided to descend to Camp Four, hoping to climb back again with oxygen cylinders to rescue him,” Mr Sherpa said. 

“It was high wind and bad weather that prevented them (from) going back to bring him down. He died in the Balcony area.” 

Mr Kennison has become the sixth person among non-Nepails, while four Sherpas have lost their lives on Everest in this year’s climbing season. 

According to the JustGiving page, Mr Kennison suffered a serious motor vehicle accident in 2006, with traumatic injuries to his femur and shoulder. 

“My recovery journey was slow, but after a year of battling depression, countless hours of rehab and self-driven motivation, I started to see improvements both mentally and physically,” he wrote on the JustGiving page. 

“With the same mindset and resilience that I had adopted in the past, I again committed to rehab and physio, learning to walk again after an extended time off work.”  

Mr Kennison wrote on the page climbing Mount Everest was “an ambitious feat that he would never have dreamed of or thought about after once being told that he would not be able to walk”. 

His friend, Mahmud Khalili, talked to Mr Kennison before he went to the summit. 

“He was a very good guy with a kind heart,” Mr Khalili said. 

“I’m happy he made it to the top! He died doing something he was passionate about. Jason, we’ll see you again one day, my friend.” 

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