One of First Americans on Everest Dies Lute Jerstad Suffers Heart Attack while Trekking in Nepal Monday, Nov. 2, 1998 Lute Jerstad on Everest in '63 [click to zoom] (photo: Barry Bishop © 1963 National Geographic Society) KATHMANDU (Nov. 1) -- Lute Jerstad, who participated in the first successful American Everest Expedition in 1963, died yesterday while trekking in the Everest Region. Jerstad, 61, apparently suffered a heart attack while in Tukla, below the village of Lobuche at 5000m. Jerstad registered his Everest conquest on 22 May, 1963, along with four other Americans and an Indian. Besides having the distinction of being part of the first successful American Everest expedition, his 1963 expedition was the first to climb via the West Ridge Route, and also the first to make an Everest traverse with another group. Jerstad, who arrived in Nepal last week, was trekking with his stepdaughter and grandson. —Jiban Ghimire, Mountain Zone Correspondent in Kathmandu [Mountain Zone Update: Brent Bishop of Bozeman, Montana, confirmed to the Mountain Zone that Jerstad's family in Eugene, Oregon, was notified on Saturday night. Bishop is the son of Barry Bishop, who was on Everest in 1963 with Jerstad. Bishop reported that Lute Jerstad's body will be cremated and the ashes will be spread over the Thyangboche Monastery on the Everest trekking route.]