An Australian man has died after a falling rock severed his climbing ropes as he descended a peak near Mount Everest in eastern Nepal.

Michael Davis, from Newcastle, was with a group of 15 climbers on Thursday when the freak accident happened on the 6812-metre Ama Dablam mountain in the Himalayas.

Michael Davis died after a falling rock severed his climbing ropes in eastern Nepal.

It was the 33-year-old's first trip to the world’s highest mountain range, but he had climbed two other peaks earlier in the five-week expedition.

The Himalayan Times quoted expedition organiser Tshering Pande Bhote, the managing director at Top Himalaya Guides, as saying Mr Davis had fallen to his death below the highest camp on the mountain.