Navarran mountaineer Iñaki Ochoa de Olza died at 8.45am (CET) this morning (12.30pm in Nepal) after suffering what appears to have been a stroke five days ago at an advanced camp 7,400 metres up on the south face of Mt. Annapurna.

Ochoa was forced to turn back just 100 metres short of the summit with frostbite on the back of his left hand, but his condition worsened soon after arriving back at camp.

Unable to speak or walk and only semi-conscious, Ochoa seemed to rally yesterday after taking medicines brought up the mountain by the Swiss climber Ueli Steck.

Despite the severity of his condition, the Navarran managed to express his appreciation for the rescue attempts made to bring him down from the mountain, as well as for the many messages of support received from all over the world.

Ochoa, an advocate of climbing without the help of oxygen, managed to scale twelve of the world's fourteen 8,000m peaks, including a new route on Shisha Pangma.

Born in Pamplona on May 29th, 1967, Ochoa took part in over 30 Himalayan expeditions and also worked as a high altitude cameraman and guide.