Chris Kulish, a 62-year-old lawyer from Boulder, Colorado, died on his way down while climbing Mount Everest on Monday, making him the 11th victim this year and the second American this week. The circumstances of his death are unclear.

While many attempt to climb Mount Everest, very few end up doing so successfully. Each year, individuals climb Mount Everest either individually or in groups. This is mainly due to the massive crowdings that occur, especially near Hillary Step; in fact, last week climbers had to walk in single file.

Kulish was a member of the “7 Summit Club” and climbed with the small group. The weather for the day of his climb was ideal.

“He saw his last sunrise from the highest peak on Earth,” expressed his family during an ABC News interview.

According to his family, Kulish was an “”an inveterate climber of peaks in Colorado, the West and the world,” and “passed away doing what he loved.”

The 11 deaths in 2019 that happened during peak climbing on Mount Everest season make this year the most lethal year for climbers since 2012.

In addition to deaths, many climbers struggle greatly during their journey; in fact, some climbers even spend up to 20 hours above 8,000 meters because of exhaustion and/or wait times, which average between 10-12 hours, according to an ABC interview with Alan Arnette, a mountaineering expert who runs a Mount Everest blog.

“Anyone who is crazy enough to do it should do it because the challenge is important to them that many others wouldn’t understand,” stated Daniel Dicolo.

“I think that climbing Mount Everest is insane. This guy has a lot of bravery and I would say died a noble death because he was accomplishing his goal,” expressed Junior Melis Yazar.