Friends and climbers mourn a Utah man who died on Mt. Everest

MOUNT EVEREST – A Sandy man who was well-known and well-loved in Utah’s climbing community is being mourned.  He passed away on Mount Everest after his friends say he was able to makes his final dream come true.

Even though he’s devastated at the loss of his dear friend, Dan Scoresby can’t help but smile when he thinks of Don Cash.

“We had a lot of tears this morning.  We had a lot of moments because we’re going to miss him like crazy,” Scoresby says.

Cash’s dream was to climb the “Seven Summits” of the world.  These are the tallest peaks in every continent, which include Denali in North America and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa.  Cash had already climbed the other six, and Everest was going to be his last.

Scoresby says Cash had always been extremely goal-oriented.

“He was always looking to accomplish whatever he put out in front of him.  So, for him to be able to say he’d done all seven was really big for him,” he says.

Scoresby says Cash was always a “bigger than life” kind of guy.

“He did everything in a big way.  He got big flashy cars, big trucks and propped them up, and a flashy boat with a Ute logo on the side,” according to Scoresby.

Cash was able to reach the top of Everest, but Scoresby says he collapsed as he was coming back down, presumably from a heart attack.  Gripped Magazine reports that people were able to revive Cash, briefly, but they hit a traffic jam of people near Hillary Step.

Officials from the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance say Cash died at a section of the mountain where it’s too dangerous for crews to recover a body, so, his remains will not come home to Utah.  However, Scoresby doesn’t believe his late friend would mind that.

“He will be a fixture there because they stay there for quite a long time.  I think he would be rather pleased with the fact that he will up there and be remembered for a long time to come.”