A SPANISH mountaineer was killed while descending a mountain neighbouring Mount Everest in the Himalayas in eastern Nepal, an official said overnight.

Guillermo Mateo Yeste successfully scaled the 6812-metre-high mountain, but lost his footing about 35 minutes after leaving the top, Ganesh Bahadur Neupane, a Nepalese mountaineering official associated with Mr Yeste's team, said.

"Yeste, who was the team leader among seven mountaineers, fell about 400 metres while descending the mountain on January 19," said Mr Neupane of the Nepalese Monte Rosa Treks and Expedition.

"His fall from the altitude of nearly 6300 metres was seen by his team-mates," said Mr Neupane.

"There is no possibility of searching for the missing mountaineer due to bad weather conditions."

Other members of Mr Yeste's team members had descended safely and were staying at the base camp, Mr Neupane said.

Nepal has eight of the world's 14 peaks over 8000m, including the highest, Mount Everest, at 8848m.