Canadian climber Shriya Shah-Klorfine dies on Mount Everest after jubilant ascent

Shriya Shah-Klorfine, 33, had been dreaming of an Everest ascent since she was 9 years old.

This weekend, after two years of diligent training, Shah-Klorfine saw that dream come true — and then died on the mountain.

"My wife was someone who lived life to its fullest, with irrepressible energy and vitality," her husband, Bruce Klorfine, wrote in a statement to The Canadian Press on Monday. "She died in the pursuit of her dreams, and with the satisfaction of having achieved them."

Shriya Shah-Klorfine grew up in Nepal before moving to India with her parents, then Toronto with her husband. To ensure her Everest dream came true, Shah-Klorfine and her husband remortgaged their house to help fund the expedition and even put off starting a family.

On Friday, Shah-Klorfine called friends in the Toronto area from the final camp before reaching Everest's peek, telling them of her excitement to erect a Canadian flag at its summit.

She did it.

And then, in one of the saddest Everest stories in recent memory, Shah-Klorfine and three other mountaineers perished in the snow on their descent.

The Globe and Mail reports that she and 61-year-old German doctor Eberhard Schaaf and 24-year-old South Korean Song Won-bin likely suffered exhaustion and altitude sickness.

Wang-yi Fa, 55, from China, also died. An unnamed Nepalese man is still missing.

Shah-Klorfine is believed to be the first Canadian to die in the "death zone," the steep, icy slope with a low oxygen level above the last camp.

Unanswered questions abound: Did the climbers have adequate oxygen? Was the summit too crowded? An estimated 150 climbers reached Everest's peak on Friday, all clamouring to take advantage of a brief window of good climbing weather.

"There was a traffic jam on the mountain on Saturday. Climbers were still heading to the summit as late as 2:30 p.m., which is quite dangerous," Gyanendra Shrestha of Nepal's Mountaineering Department told the Associated Press.

With a traffic jam, climbers would have to wait longer than anticipated for their chance to go up the trail, possibly using more oxygen than planned for.

Everest's deadliest day on record was May 10, 1996, when eight climbers were caught in a snowstorm.

Friends and family of Shah-Klorfine are mourning the loss of a woman who lived a full, vibrant life and who died fulfilling a dream.

Priya Ahuja, a close friend, told The Toronto Star that Shah-Klorfine lived by her motto:

"Life, you've just got one, just try to live it."