Youngest of Hillary's sherpas dies

YOUNGEST MEMBER: Nawang Gombu, the youngest of Sir Edmund Hillary's Everest party, has died.

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The family of famed Sherpa mountaineer Nawang Gombu says the Everest veteran has died in his Indian home at the foot of the Himalayas. He was 79.

Gombu was the youngest member of Sir Edmund Hillary's climbing team that first scaled Mount Everest in 1953, though he himself did not make it to the top until 10 years later. 

He won fame as the first to scale the world's highest mountain twice after guiding an American team in 1963 and an Indian team two years later. 

Born in Tibet, Gombu was one of the last of the so-called ''Tigers of the Snow'' - a group of Sherpas who scaled the Himalayas to bring fame and prestige to their community. 

He died Sunday after a brief illness in Darjeeling, where a funeral is planned Thursday.

- Reuters