Former Holland & Hart Partner Dies on Mount Everest

Colorado attorney and former Holland & Hart patent partner Christopher Kulish died Monday after reaching the summit of Mount Everest, the latest climber to perish in what’s become a deadly season on the mountain.

Kulish, 62, died early in the morning at a camp below the summit on its southeast ridge during his descent.

“He saw his last sunrise from the highest peak on Earth,” his brother, Mark Kulish said in a Monday statement to The Denver Post. “We are heartbroken at this news.”

There has been growing concern about overcrowding on Mount Everest as climbers have encountered dangerous “traffic jams” near the top of the world’s tallest mountain. A record 381 permits were issued to climb Everest this season, according to The Associated Press.

Another American climber, Don Cash of Utah, passed away May 22 after his ascent to the mountain’s summit.

An initial assessment of Kulish’s death indicates that he died of cardiac arrest, though the cause is not yet known, his brother said.

Mark Kulish described his brother Christopher as an attorney in his “day job.” He said his brother was an “inveterate climber of peaks in Colorado, the West and the world over” and a member of the “7 Summit Club,” as he had reached the summit of the highest peaks on every continent.

Kulish began his legal career over three decades ago. In 1997, he was a part of an intellectual property group that made the jump from Denver-based IP boutique Sheridan Ross & McIntosh to Holme Roberts & Owen, which merged with Bryan Cave—now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner— in January 2012.

In the summer of 2002 Kulish joined Holland & Hart where he was a patent partner its Boulder office. Kulish remained at the firm until the spring of 2009 when he launched his own solo practice in Denver.