Woman who was climbing Everest in bid to prove 'vegans can do anything' is named as one of four dead on the mountain 

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A 34-year-old Australian woman who attempted to climb Mount Everest to prove that vegans are not 'malnourished and weak' has died. 

University lecturer Maria Strydom perished from a lack of oxygen in Nepal on Saturday afternoon after having to turn back from the final leg of her expedition because she felt unwell.

She, along with her husband Robert Gropel, challenged themselves to overcome Everest to show that 'vegans can do anything'. 

Dr Strydom had said that climbing Everest while adhering to a strict vegan diet was their 'own personal Everest.'

Weeks before her death Dr Strydom told how she and her husband wanted to dispel the belief that vegans were 'weak' or 'malnourished' by taking on the climb (Pictured with husband Robert Gropel)

A live GPS map (right) tracked the movements of Dr Strydom (left) and gave her family updates on her

The Australian national (above during a previous expedition) was an experienced climber who previously conquered Kilimanjaro

According to The Washington Post, on an university blog she said: 'It seems that people have this warped idea of vegans being malnourished and weak.' 

'By climbing the seven summits we want to prove that vegans can do anything and more.'

Dr Strydom, who worked at Monash University, decided to turned back from her attempt to reach thesummit and was assisted down to the South Col by Mr Gropel. 

After spending the night there, shewalked out of her tent to continue the descent, only to collapseon the Geneva Spur, two hours from Camp 3 where helicopterevacuations are possible.

The expedition leader said Mr Gropel, who himself suffered highaltitude pulmonary oedema on the descent, tried unsuccessfullyto carry his wife's body down the mountain. 

He was taken byhelicopter to Kathmandu on Monday. For the past two years the mountain has been untouched by climbers because avalanches and safety fears.

But the couple used that time to climb several peaks including Denali in Alaska, Mount Ararat in Turkey and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

May is one of the most popular months to scale Everestbefore the peak is shrouded by rain, cold and cloud brought onby the monsoon in June. 

Dr Strydom, a university finance lecturer, took on the seven summit challenge with her husband 

Mount Everest was the latest peak in the couple's 'seven summit' climbing challenge. Above, Dr Strydom at the top of Denali, the highest mountain in North America 

The Melbourne woman's sister, Aletta Newman, said she found out the experienced climber had perished on the mountain after looking her name up online and finding a news article revealing her identity in the Himalayan Times.

Her family were very aware of the risk she was taking by climbing Everest and kept track of her movements via GPS.  

They became concerned when they stopped receiving 'pings' from the device she was carrying on Friday, but did not think the worst until coming across the news article.

'We all knew that it came with a degree of risks, we looked up statistics and saw that there was about a three per cent fatality rate,' she said.

'So every time we had contact with her we thought `You know this could potentially be the last time', but you don't really think you're going to be that three per cent,' she said.

'She was very giving, very caring, always interested in family and always there to support her friends and family,' she said. 

A total of four people have now died in the past week attempting to climb Mount Everest.

Subash Paul, 43, from India, who climbed the 29,035 feet on Saturday, perished the next day due to exhaustion.

Hiking officials and climbing veterans say the deaths raisequestions about the preparations and safety standards of someclimbing operators, with cut-price local companies competing forbusiness as international outfits scale back operations. 

Above, a spokesman for the trekking company pointed out where Maria and Eric died on a map on Sunday 

It was Mr Arnold's fifth attempt at the mountain. He reached the summit on Friday, informing friends online of the accomplishment 

Expedition organisers were assembling a rescue team onMonday to retrieve the bodies of Dr Strydom and Dutch climber Eric Ary Arnold. 

At least 18 people died a year ago when an earthquake sent amassive snow slide careening into Base Camp, while an avalanchein the treacherous Khumbu Icefall killed 16 guides in 2014.

'It is a difficult and challenging climb and many peoplehave died,' Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop toldreporters in Brisbane, adding that the government was assistingwith the repatriation of Strydom's body.

Arnold Coster, the owner of Arnold Coster Expeditions whichled the group containing both Strydom and Eric Ary Arnold, saidboth climbers became ill very quickly on the descent.

The Dutch climber was assisted down to the South Col camp,the final camp before the summit, where he was given oxygen andmedicine but 'unexpectedly passed away that evening in histent,' Mr Coster said in a Facebook post.

The first of the four to die was Phurba Sherpa, 25, who fell to his death on Thursday, according to CNN. 

He had been working to fix a route for climbers about 150 metres from the summit.