Mount Everest filmmaker David Breshears has been found dead inside his home in Massachusetts

US News

By Associated Press

published
March 17, 2024 at 3:08 AM ET

David Breshears, the mountaineer, author and director who co-directed and produced a 1998 IMAX documentary about climbing Mount Everest, has died, his manager confirmed Saturday.

He was 68 years old.

Breshears was found unconscious at his home in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on Thursday, Ellen Gulbranson said.

David Breshears during the filming of the IMAX documentary about climbing Mount Everest in 1996. AP

She said he died of natural causes, but “the exact cause of death remains unknown at the present time.”

Breshears has climbed Mount Everest five times, including using an IMAX camera in 1996, his family said.

“He combined his passion for climbing and photography to become one of the world's most admired adventure film directors,” the family said in a written statement.

In 2007, Breshears founded GlacierWorks, which describes itself on Facebook as a non-profit organization that “highlights changes to Himalayan glaciers through art, science and adventure.”

“With GlacierWorks, he used his climbing and photography expertise to create unique records that reveal the dramatic effects of climate change on the historic mountain range,” his family said.

Intruders outside his tent at Everest Base Camp. — Breshears sits outside his tent at Everest Base Camp.

In 1983, Breshears transmitted the first live television images from the summit of Everest, according to his website, which also states that in 1985 he became the first American citizen to reach the summit twice.

Breshears and his team were filming the Mount Everest documentary when a blizzard struck the mountain on May 10, 1996, killing eight climbers.

He and his team stopped filming to help the climbers.