Alex Pancoe Died on Makalu. Friends Say He Climbed With “An Incredible Sense of Purpose.”

On Sunday, May 4, American climber Alex Pancoe died on the slopes of Nepal’s 27,838-foot Makalu, the world’s fifth-highest mountain.

Pancoe was completing an acclimatization hike in preparation for a Makalu summit bid, and had recently returned to Camp II at 22,310 feet when he died, sources told Outside. His guide, Terray Sylvester of American climbing company Madison Mountaineering, told Outside that Pancoe died suddenly.

“We don’t yet know exactly what happened,” Sylvester said. “Just a few hours earlier, he’d told me how happy he was, and that he was feeling so strong at altitude. He moved well that day, and had a great appetite and attitude.”

Sylvester and Pancoe had eaten dinner and tucked into their sleeping bags, but while they were talking, Pancoe became unresponsive. An autopsy later revealed he’d suffered cardiac arrest. Despite several hours of resuscitation efforts from Sylveseter, other climbers, and Sherpas, Pancoe could not be revived.

Pancoe leaves behind a wife and two young children.

A Climber with a Higher Purpose

Friends and climbing partners spoke with Outside about Pancoe this week, sharing anecdotes and memories. “He was always focused on what he was up there to do,” says Andrew Hughes, a close friend, ” which was to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer.”

Pancoe began climbing mountains in 2016, but his dedication to cancer survival began more than a decade earlier. In 2005, Pancoe—then 19—was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He survived, with no complications, after undergoing surgery at Lurie Children’s Hospital in his hometown of Chicago.

Pancoe used his climbs to raise funds for Lurie Children’s Hospital In 2019, he completed a feat known as the “Explorer’s Grand Slam,” climbing the highest peaks on all seven continents and skiing to the North and South Poles. In the process, he raised over half a million dollars.

“When you face death early in life, I guess you see life differently,” Hughes said. “Having gone through his brain tumor, I think Alex saw every day as another opportunity to seize what might have been taken from him.”

After finishing the adventure, Pancoe continued to climb other peaks to raise money for charity. During a 2023 attempt to summit 22,349-foot Ama Dablam in Nepal, Pancoe fell ill, and was subsequently diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, a lifelong cancer of the bone marrow.

For his Makalu ascent, Pancoe was hoping to raise a symbolic $27,838—the mountain’s elevation in feet—for the pediatric blood cancer program at Lurie Children’s.

“He told me that when he stood up there, he was standing with everyone—every doctor, every person in his family, every friend—who helped support him over the years,” Huges said. “The people who had been there when he was sick, and been there when he was well. His community back in Chicago really lifted him up.”

Outgoing and Full of Energy

Hughes first met Pancoe in 2019, while both were attempting to summit Mount Everest. “He came to the mountains with an incredible sense of purpose,” Huges said. “He had his personal goals, sure, but he wasn’t trying to elevate himself. It was about bringing awareness to a cause that was deeply personal to him, one that had essentially saved his life.”

Hughes described Pancoe as outgoing and full of energy. He was also dedicated to training and preparation, even after his leukemia diagnosis. Pancoe came into his climbs fit and well-prepared, Hughes said, and was always more concerned with going home to his family than summiting.

“We both lived by the idea that the most important step is the one that gets you back home,” Hughes said.

In a text message exchange shared with Outside, Pancoe told Hughes—a soon-to-be father—that being a parent was an experience he was learning to value far more than any summit. “You won’t miss climbing like you think,” he wrote. “Being a dad is amazing. I just want to wind things down on my own terms, [not by] coming up short on Ama Dablam because of leukemia.”

Seth Timpano, a guide with American company Alpine Ascents, also noticed Pancoe’s dedication to his wife and children. During an ascent of Washington’s Mount Baker, he saw Pencoe follow his values. “We made a strong push to the summit and back in great style, grabbed deli sandwiches for the drive, and still got him to the airport with plenty of time to catch his red-eye flight to Chicago, just in time to spend the 4th of July with his family,” Timpano said. “Alex loved the mountains, but he loved his family even more.”

Pancoe befriended everyone he met in the mountains, Sylvester added. “On our rotation to Camp I and II , he joked that he was the official ‘greeter’ or ‘ambassador’ on that section of the mountain,” Sylvester said.

Pancoe spent most of his rest days sitting by the side of the trail on the edge of camp, chatting with other hikers. Even on the acclimatization hike before his death, “he talked with just about everyone we passed on the trail,” Sylvester said. Syvlester said that, shortly before his death, Pancoe befriended a stray dog at Makalu base camp.

“He gave it somewhere warmer to sleep, in the vestibule of his tent, and scraps from our dining tent,” Sylvester said. “He had a really good heart.”

Hughes said that Pancoe had been in good health going into his Makalu expedition. Sylvester echoed the sentiment. “I was thinking he’d have an excellent shot at the summit on our eventual summit push,” Sylvester said.

Pancoe’s death is the fourth fatality of the 2025 Himalayan season. In early April, two Nepali guides were killed in an avalanche on 26,545-foot Annapurna. In late April, an Austrian climber, Martin Hornegger, died while descending Ama Dablam.

A Legacy That Will Continue

In the day’s after Pancoe’s death, his wife, Nina Laski Pancoe, wrote in a tribute to him on social media. “The moment I received that call from a satellite number, I wanted to think it was nothing, but deep down I knew something was very wrong,” she wrote. “At first I thought you broke a bone, but to hear that your heart stopped and CPR was not working, my heart shattered into a million pieces … You lived each day to the fullest making an impact on the world around you. You are the kindest, sweetest, most passionate person I have ever met.”

Hughes said one of the most special things about his friendship with Pancoe was the support he always received from his friend, and the lack of competition between them. “In the outdoor world, especially in climbing, there are always so many people trying to outdo each other, with ‘firsts’ and records,” Hughes said. “Alex wasn’t like that. You could be vulnerable with him. We shared our goals and tried to find ways to make them work for each other.”

Hughes said Pancoe’s outgoing personality and dedication to climbing and cancer fundraising will ensure that his memory lives on.

“Despite the things that he was dealing with on a health level, Alex had so much life,” Hughes said. “His time was cut short, but he is going to far outlive the life that he was given, by how much impact he’s had on the world around him.”

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