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Everest and Himalaya daily wrap-up: Avalanche buries Camp 1 tents
May 4, 2005 18: 30 EST
The news hit at 4 am EST this morning: Big avalanche on Everest south side! Confusion overtook the climbers on the mountain, who were trying to find updates about friends and team mates in high camps.
Adventure Consultants, the Mallorca expedition, the Leipzigers and Alpine Ascents were first to get word out and provide some answers.
Silver lining
The good news about the Camp 1 avalanche is that, so far, there have been no reports of fatalities. Injuries range from scrapes and contusions, to a bruised liver and a broken ankle. One Sherpa from an American team suffered serious injuries.
Some teams got lucky, though. The Iranian women’s team (which was further away from the main camp) was completely untouched by the avalanche. According to an Alpine Ascents report, the Iranian women’s team departed for Camp 2 without even knowing that the rest of the camp was buried. See separate ExWeb stories for full details on the avalanche and injuries.
The tough side of Everest
Everest South has had some difficult days lately; two deaths in three days and now the avalanche. Everest North has fared better, celebrating the fact with a big party last night.
The action hasn’t been limited to Everest however. There are currently summit pushes on Annapurna North and Dhaulagiri. Climbers have fixed the ropes on Annapurna South up to C2, and there was a breathless moment on Kangchenjunga as one of the climbers fell 20 meters while pushing up to Camp 2.
Everest Weather – Plenty of moisture
Showers are likely to continue in the Everest area below 7500m (24,606 ft), until this weekend when dry air moves into the region. Snow could be heavy from tomorrow through the rest of the week. Right now, the wind is fairly calm 5-10 m/s (11-22 mph). But just when the showers leave, the jet stream will be moving in, cranking the winds up to 25-35 m/s (56-78 mph) at the summit level.
Everest South
Alpine Ascents – safe and sound in BC
The Seattle office posted the following report about the avalanche, “Just a quick dispatch to let everyone know that the entire team arrived safely back at Base Camp yesterday and today.” Check out the separate Exweb story that includes avalanche details from guide Vern Tejas.
Brazilians – Waldemar praises Benegas
Waldemar Niclevicz reports: “The Avalanche hit C1 by 5:15 am. People in BC knew immediately of it thanks to radio reports from teams there. However, even now (at evening) there is no confirmed news of the exact consequences of it. Apparently there are 7 injured, two of them serious. Willie Benegas, from Mountain Madness, had a major role coordinating the rescue parties. At eight in the morning he ran through BC looking for a stretcher, and he ran up the icefall carrying it.”
“The location of camp 1, placed between 6.050m and 6.100m of altitude, is in fact very exposed to avalanches. When we scaled Lhotse in 2002, we had many problems with avalanches by this serac. On our first ascent, our tent was buried by an avalanche, thus we moved our gear about 150m from the West face, in the direction of Nuptse, thinking that we would be safe there.”
“A week later, a new avalanche wiped out our tent completely. Inside it we had two oxygen bottles, a hundred meters of rope, gas and some cartridges - absolutely nothing, not even the tent, was found. Everything was swept away by the shock wave of the avalanche. After that experience, we have spent as little time in camp 1 as possible this year.”
Leipzigers w/o O2 – View of the site
Team member Olaf reports what he saw after descending to the avalanche site from Camp 2: “I will never forget this view. In the place where the colorful tents of Camp 1 stood, there was just a flat surface of ice rubble and stones.” Check a separate story today with Olaf’s report.
International Mountain Guides – status OK
“The primary purpose of this update is to reconfirm the OK status of all IMG team members and IMG Singapore team climbers as well,” the team reported. According to team member Mark Tucker, "The Everest climbing community did not dodge a bullet today, it dodged a bomb."
The IMG Sherpa team has returned to Advance Base Camp after making several carries to Camp 4 (over 26,000 ft) on the South Col. Scott Kanter, of IMG, plans to head up to C1 with Kami Sherpa to help with the reconstruction project. The expedition has an image of this mornings avalanche on their website (links section).
Everest Traverse – notes on the avalanche
The Everest traverse team confirms that a rescue effort is underway for climbers caught in the C1 avalanche. Since they were at C2, the traverse team was not affected by the avalanche, and they plan to head to C3 tomorrow.
Gabriel Filippi (Peak Freak)
Was reported yesterday to leave for camp 2 today, to complete his acclimatizing and sleep at camp 2 for at least one night.
Everest North
No major news today in the team’s dispatches, except for a big party last night. Check in for separate story later today.
Dhaulagiri – Summit bid
Iñaki and Christian departed from BC this morning with one goal in mind: A non-stop push to the summit of Dhaulagiri. See separate Exweb story for details.
Everest Traverse’s dispatches | Alpine Ascents Cybercasts | International Mountain Guides dispatches | Leipzig expedition´s news | Waldemar Niclevicz’s dispatches (Portuguese) | Inaki’s website | Gabriel Filippi’s reports through Peak Freak
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