Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive based in California, had been scaling Everest for the past three weeks with an expedition team through Jagged Globe, a U.K.-based tour company.
"It is with the greatest sorrow that we report the death of one of our Everest team members, Daniel Fredinburg. Two other team members have non-life threatening injuries, as a result of the avalanche that struck base camp during the earthquake and its aftershocks," Jagged Globe posted on its website. No other team members or sherpas were injured, the company added.
Fredinburg is the first American confirmed dead from Saturday's 7.8-magnitude quake and the Everest avalanche it triggered. It was not known whether other Americans are among the reported 1,100 deaths, which includes at least 10 deaths on Everest.
Fredinburg made headlines for dating actress Sophia Bush in 2013 and 2014, and was the head of privacy for innovation lab Google[x]. He described himself as an "Inventor, Adventurer, and Energetic Engineer" on his Google+ page.
In an eerie coincidence, Fredinburg had been on Everest during another avalanche — and survived. Bush tweeted last April after an avalanche killed 16 sherpas, "For all concerned, @danfredinburg & team are safe at Camp 1 on #Everest after the avalanche. Please keep the Sherpa's in your prayers."
Fredinburg's sister wrote on his Instagram account that he died of a head injury.
"We appreciate all of the love that has been sent our way thus far and know his soul and his spirit will live on in so many of us. All our love and thanks to those who shared this life with our favorite hilarious strong willed man. He was and is everything to us. Thank you," she wrote.
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