An experienced Swiss climber died after he fell in the Everest region of Nepal during preparations to climb the world's highest mountain, officials said.
Ueli Steck, 40, died after falling to the foot of Mount Nuptse, a smaller peak in the area, said Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summits Treks company that organised his expedition.
Mr Steck was in the area acclimatising ahead of a bid to climb Everest through the less-climbed West Ridge route and traverse to Lhotse, the world's fourth highest peak - at 8,516 metres in May.
"His body has been retrieved and is being brought to Kathmandu," Sherpa told Reuters.
An official with Nepal's Department of Tourism, confirmed Mr Steck died while climbing Nuptse and that he had planned to attempt an Everest ascent.
He was well known for pioneering new mountaineering routes and setting speed records.
Hundreds of climbers are at Everest base camp as they prepare to climb the 8,850 metre Everest Summit in the current March-May climbing season.
A veteran climber of Mount Annapurna in western Nepal, the world's tenth highest mountain, and several other 8,000 metre peaks, Mr Steck had won several awards for his mountaineering feats.
Along with two other European climbers, he was involved in a brawl with sherpa guides over fixing ropes in 2013.
The altercation, which forced the climbers off the mountain, drew international headlines.
Last year, Mr Steck and a German climber discovered the bodies of two US climbers, Alex Lowe and David Bridges, who were swept away in 1999 by an avalanche during their attempt to scale the world's 14th highest peak, Shishapangma.
Born in the town of Langnau im Emmental, near the Swiss capital Bern in October 1976, Mr Steck was a devoted climber by the age of 12.
As an 18-year-old, he climbed Mont Blanc's Eiger massif, an achievement that attracted attention and later sponsors, setting him on a course to become a professional climber.
He soon became one of the most prominent names in mountaineering after scaling some of the world's most daunting peaks, often alone and without basic safety equipment such as fixed ropes or bottled oxygen.
But, in an interview with AFP nearly two years before his death, Mr Steck said he was never inspired by a quest for fame or "records".
"Personal pleasure alone dictates my approach", he said in an August 2015 interview in the French Alps town of Sigoyer.
He summarised his approach to climbing as a blend of "preparation, instinct and emotion".
He told AFP that he never wanted climbing to become a "business" and was content when his income exceeded what he previously made as a carpenter.
Mr Steck was however attacked by some in the mountaineering world for resisting the use of GPS to track his movements or refusing to record photographic evidence of his achievements, criticism that he dismissed as "jealousy".
