Hundreds of climbers trapped on Everest after Nepal quake
Date April 26, 2015 - 4:12PM
Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter
Hundreds of mountain climbers are trapped and 17 are confirmed dead at Mount Everest following avalanches triggered by the Nepalese earthquake, making it the deadliest disaster in the history of mountaineering on the world's highest peak.
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck near the Nepalese capital, sparking an avalanche that rumbled down a treacherous icefall and slammed into part of the mountaineering base camp.
The scene after an avalanche triggered by a massive earthquake swept across Everest Base Camp, Nepal on Saturday. Photo: Azim Afif
Sixty-one people were injured when part of the base camp was engulfed by the snowslide, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering Sherpa said.
The first helicopter took off from Kathmandu on Sunday morning to airlift the injured after flights were delayed by cloudy weather, Sherpa said.
The death toll for the quake has risen to 1805 on Sunday morning, with more than 4710 injured across the region.
People approach the scene after an avalanche triggered by a massive earthquake swept across Everest Base Camp. Photo: Azim Afif
Tourism ministry officials estimated that at least 1,000 climbers, including about 400 foreigners, had been at base camp or on Everest when the earthquake struck.
American Google executive Dan Fredinburg is among the dead, his family has confirmed.
Alex Gavan, one of Romania's top mountain climbers, sent desperate tweets from the base camp at Everest, begging for assistance.
Google executive Dan Fredinburg is among the dead at Everest.
Google executive Dan Fredinburg is among the dead at Everest. Photo: Instagram/DanFredinburg
In another tweet, he described his terror as the quake hit.
Nick Farr, an Australian climber of The Everest Academy and Trek Climb Ski Nepal, said efforts to find out the situation at base camp were being hindered by poor phone coverage.
"Nothing is being received out of there at the moment," he said.
Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, a Danish climber, said about 40 people were being treated in a makeshift hospital at a tent at base camp. He said many of those injured had back injuries from being hit by rocks and ice when running from the avalanche.
The poor visibility after the first avalanche meant it was "difficult to see the following avalanches, and there are so many - maybe one every 5 min. - that I have stopped counting", Pedersen said on Facebook.
The family of Google executive Dan Fredinburg confirmed he died after suffering a head injury in the avalanche.
"I regret to inform all who loved him that during the avalanche on Everest early this morning our Dan suffered from a major head injury and didn't make it," they said in a statement.
"We appreciate all of the love that has been sent our way thus far and know his soul and his spirit will live on in so many of us. All our love and thanks to those who shared this life with our favorite hilarious strong willed man. He was and is everything to us. Thank you."
Mr Fredinburg's LinkedIn profile describes him as the head of privacy for GoogleX and a Google adventurer.
Mohan Krishna Sapkota, joint secretary in the Nepalese tourism ministry, said the government was struggling to assess the damage on Everest because of poor phone coverage.
"The trekkers are scattered all around the base camp and some had even trekked further up," Sapkota said. "It is almost impossible to get in touch with anyone."
Nima Namgyal Sherpa, a tour guide also at the base camp, described the avalanche Saturday as "huge," and said it had caused many injuries.
"Many camps have been destroyed by the shake and wind from the avalanche," Sherpa, the base camp manager for Asian Trekking, wrote in a post on Facebook. "All the doctors here are doing our best to treat and save lives."
Choti Sherpa, who works at the Everest Summiteers Association, said she had been unable to call her family and colleagues on the mountain. "Everyone is trying to contact each other, but we can't," she said. "We are all very worried.
Arjun Vajpai, a professional mountaineer, was on Makalu, a mountain in the Himalayas southeast of Everest, near the Nepal-China border, when the earthquake struck.
"We've had a lot of disturbance here due to the earthquake," he said in a video he posted to Facebook from his campsite.
Ang Sherpa, a climbing guide, said on Saturday that some 800 people were in residence at the Everest base camp. A helicopter rescue operation to base camp was planned for Sunday morning, he said, when a full tally of the dead and injured should become available.
March-June marks one of the peak climbing times in the Himalayas. About 700 climbers are in the Solukhumbu region that includes Everest and about 300 of them are understood to be at base camp.
Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association said that the avalanche apparently happened near the Khumbu Icefall, on the Nepali slopes of Mount Everest not far above base camp.
"We are trying to reach them to see if they are safe, but the phones are not working," deputy superintendent of police Chandra Dev Rai told Sky News.
Tempting death has always been part of the treacherous Everest experience, but these past two years have been particularly deadly.
Last year, about 30 men were crossing a notorious area known by some local residents as the Golden Gate because of the shape of its ice formations when a huge chunk of ice cascaded down the mountain's south side around 6.30am and engulfed them, killing 16.
In that accident, no foreign climbers were killed in part because of the early hour. The climbers were Sherpas, members of an ethnic group known for their climbing acumen, and who often use Sherpa as a surname. But Saturday's quake struck just before noon local time, making almost anyone in the area potentially vulnerable.
- with the New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters