KATHMANDU: The spring climbing season recorded the first death today after an Italian climber perished near Camp III on Mt Dhaulagiri (8,167m), according to the expedition organiser.

The deceased has been identified as 37-year-old Simone La Terra. Damber Parajuli, Managing Director at Prestige Adventure told THT that Simone’s body was brought to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu for postmortem this afternoon.

According to him, Simone went missing since yesterday morning after a strong wind blew away his tent. An aerial search was also conducted to locate the missing climber, he said, adding that the search team retrieved his body at a height of 6,100m this morning.

Simone was part of a 15-member team led by Spanish female climber Catalina Quesada Castro. According to a climbing record, Simone has climbed five 8,000-metre peaks and has also organised over a dozen expeditions between Himalaya and Karakorum.

Earlier, Simone had abandoned his bid on Mt Dhaulagiri in 2013 after he along with Paweł Michalski were stopped at 7,200m due to blue ice and high winds.

According to the Department of Tourism, at least 26 climbers of two different teams have already headed to the base camp to attempt to climb the world’s seventh highest peak this season. Among them, Spanish climber Carlos Soria Fontan (79) is a part of another 11-member team led by Serbian climber Dargon Celkovic.