In 1996 at age 68, he went to Everest together with his nephew, Klev Schoening. He stopped his ascent well short of the summit, at Camp Three, after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. The disastrous events of that week are recounted in several books, including "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer and "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev. In 2004, he died of bone cancer at his home in Kenmore, Washington at the age of 77.