Moscow:
Russian mountain climber Alexei Bolotov died while attempting to climb Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, the Russian Mountaineering Federation said.
A rope Bolotov was using snapped after it rubbed against a sharp rock, sending the climber into a 300-metre fall.
Bolotov, together with Kazakh climber Denis Urubko, was attempting to summit Everest by its southwest face, which is hitherto unconquered, the Russian Mountaineering Federation's spokesperson Anna Stolbova said.
The 50-year-old climber was the USSR Mountaineering Champion in 1987 and the Champion of Russia in 1999.
He had already conquered Mount Everest three times in his career.
Mount Everest, known to local people as Sagarmatha or Chomolungma, rises to 8,848 metres in the Himalayas. The mountain, on the border of Nepal and Tibet, annually attracts thousands of mountain lovers, climbers, and ordinary travellers.