Climber Got To The Peak Before Death Photo Shows South African At Mount Everest’s Summit

Film from the camera of a dead South African climber proves that he reached the top of Mount Everest, a newspaper reported.

An American climbing expedition last month recovered the camera from the body of Bruce Herrod, who died last year while climbing the world’s highest mountain, The Sunday Times of Johannesburg reported.

A photograph on the front page of the newspaper shows Herrod laughing and bending over climbing artifacts other teams have left at the summit of the 29,028-foot Everest. It was taken hours before his fatal descent.

Herrod’s body was found last month by the Russian leader of an Indonesian expedition, Anatoli Boukreev, at the foot of the Hillary Step, a 75-foot rock face just below the summit.

Until the film was recovered, it wasn’t clear if Herrod died on the way up or the way down.

During South Africa’s first successful ascent of Mount Everest last May, Herrod kept going toward the top without a Sherpa guide or oxygen after passing colleagues Ian Woodall and Cathy O’Dowd on their descent.

Herrod apparently slipped on the Hillary Step and suffered a blow to the back of his head, Dave Brearshears, the head of the American mission that retrieved the camera in May, told the Times.

After removing Herrod’s backpack, the American team cut the body loose from the ropes holding it and let it slide down the southwest face of Everest.