K2 update: Wilco and Cas in Skardu facing threat of amputation - next stop northern Spain?
08:39 pm CDT Aug 04, 2008
(K2Climb.net) Earlier today Askari Aviation reported that Wilco, Cas and Nabeen were urgently evacuated to the Skardu hospital.
This is the same hospital that cared for the convoy of Chinese/Tibetan climbers, originally intended for the Olympic torch team, caught in a rockslide on the infamous Karakoram Highway enroute to Gasherbrum 1.
Skardu and Rawalpindi docs save the neck of Tibetan Olympic torch team
The 2005 expedition comprised China's biggest pride in mountaineering - Tibetan Rena and Bianba Zaxi - both with only GI and Broad Peak to go for the full list of the 14x8000er summits. While Bianba lay injured with a broken neck, Rena, 39, was hit directly on his head and passed away.
The 2005 team was evacuated to Skardu by Army Aviation helicopter the very evening of the accident. Doctors at the District Hospital in Skardu worked hard and managed to stabilize Bianba, but only an immediate evacuation to Rawalpindi could save his life. The Pakistan Air Force came to the rescue with a C-130 and flew the expedition back to Rawalpindi from Skardu on the very next day.
At Rawalpindi, the staff at the Combined Military Hospital went out of its way to provide life saving treatment to Bianba, while storing the body of late Rena in the Mortuary until cremation at Shimshan Ghat, Rawalpindi with full religious rituals.
Unfortunately, Doctors in Skardu reportedly told media that one of the Dutch climbers runs a risk of amputations.
Doctor Morandeira: frostbite specialist - for personal reasons
Many international mountaineers in this condition choose a stop-over in northern Spain enroute to their homes. Basque and Spanish Himalaya climbers are tough cookies. Upfront, skilled, smart and proud - when they are spotted around a dining table in Kathmandu, other climbers whisper and point. These guys walk the line right to the edge, and when the hills have been too rough on them, they have a favorite doc: Dr. Jose Ramon Morandeira.
Veteran climber and Head of Research at Zaragoza’s University Hospital, Morandeira decided to specialize in treatment of frostbite and emergency mountain medicine for personal reasons.
"My Doctor wanted to amputate”
“When I came home with frostbitten fingers after a climb, my Doctor wanted to amputate,” Morandeira told ExplorersWeb. “Without a doubt the physician had the best of intentions – among other things, he was my father.”
“But I refused to have my fingertips cut. I had the wounds treated and my fingers were eventually saved. Ever since then, I've specialized in frostbite treatment and research, to protect injured climbers from excessive amputations.”
Trouble in the mountains? Visit Zaragoza
Over the years, the doc has become an international authority in mountain medicine. Carlos Pauner and Juan Oiarzabal (holding the world record in climbed 8000ers) are among his patients, but also an increasing number of climbers from other countries change their plane tickets when something goes wrong and make a stop over in Zaragoza (northern Spain), hoping to be treated by the Doctor before returning home.
Jose Ramon is also Director of the Masters Program of Emergency Mountain Medicine at Zaragoza University, and has written nearly a dozen books on the subject.
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