Nine dead in Everest avalanche

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

At least nine local guides have been killed after an avalanche on the slopes of Mount Everest, Nepal officials say.

The avalanche struck around 06:45 local time (01:00 GMT) in an area known as the "popcorn field", just above Everest base camp at 5,800m (19,000ft).

A spokesman for Nepal's tourism ministry told the BBC some missing climbers had been rescued, but about five still remained missing.

It is thought to be the deadliest climbing tragedy on the mountain.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27075638

[dipsydoodle]

1. Reuters reporting 12 dead

At least 12 Nepali guides killed in Everest avalanche.

(Reuters) - An avalanche swept down a slope of Mount Everest on Friday killing 12 Nepali mountaineering guides at the beginning of the main climbing season, a Tourism Ministry official said.

The avalanche, the deadliest in eight years, hit the most popular route to the mountain's peak. Three Nepali guides were injured and up to five people were missing, said Dipendra Paudel at the Tourism Ministry's mountaineering department.

It was the first major avalanche on Mount Everest this climbing season, when hundreds of foreign and Nepali climbers flock to the mountain to attempt to reach its 8,850 meter (29,035 feet) peak.

The avalanche hit the sherpa guides relatively low on the mountain, between base camp and camp 1, early on Friday, ministry officials said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/18/us-nepal-everest-idUSBREA3H06L20140418

[jimlup]

9. The death toll will likely climb to 15 or 16

because several of the Sherpa guides are still unaccounted for.

I'm a climber and this is a tough day for the climbing community. We are heart sick. The company who taught me mountaineering (Alpine Ascents) lost 5 Sherpa guides:

Nima Sherpa from Thak Sindu

Mingma Nuru Sherpa from Phurte

Ang Tshering Sherpa from Thamo

Tenzing Chottar Sherpa from Yelajung

Dorje Sherpa from Tarnag

http://www.alpineascents.com/everest-cybercast.asp

There is a fund for the Sherpa children's education through Alpine. I'll give the link when I know more.

[Electric Monk]

11. 13 confirmed dead now, 3 still missing - Reuters

Officials said that one body had been recovered in Saturday's rescue effort, leaving three sherpas still missing.

(snip)

The fatal incident was the result, some climbers said, of a so-called ice release and not a more typical snow avalanche.

"When the serac hovering off the West Shoulder of Everest collapsed, it sent house-sized ice blocks all over the route," Alan Arnette, a climber and motivational speaker, wrote in an updated blog post from Base Camp.

"With hanging ice, it may stay there for decades or fall tomorrow - there is no way of knowing or predicting."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/19/us-nepal-everest-idUSBREA3H06L20140419

[Earth_First]

2. The Nepalese government really ought to issue an Everest summit moratorium

For a period of time in order for the eco system to recover.

The effort is largely a wealthy individuals' event costing between $40,000-$70,000 per attempt.

There are literally TONS of trash on the world's highest peak. Estimated by the government, each climber deposits 18 pounds of trash between Camp 1 and Everest's summit.

The $4,000 deposit to the government to ensure leave no trace is largely left unchecked by authorities which collecs millions annually from climbing-related tourism.

Nearly all the deaths associated with summit attempts are attributed to outfitters who lack the proper equipment, knowledge and staff to protect aspiring mountaineers.

I'd venture to guess that this tragedy was probably attributed to one of the less experienced, uncertified guide services.

True my a tragedy that may have been avoided.

My sympathies to the families affected by this...

[toby jo]

3. Good ideas. The cans of oxygen left up there are pretty appalling.

If you can't do it can-free, don't do it.

[TorchTheWitch]

7. I've often though that only allowing oxgen tank free

climbing is really the best idea.

Nepal would never go for that though. They make a ton of money off the climbers.

[frylock]

4. There are literally TONS of trash on the world's highest peak.

not to mention all the corpses up there.

[Blue_Tires]

5. I didn't even know it was still such a big business

I thought the "Badge of honor for hyper-wealthy amateurs" for climbing Everest had become passé after Krakauer's book...

[TorchTheWitch]

6. they were all Sherpas

Locals that have years and years of experience and why they're the ones sent out to do the hard work... and the most dangerous work.

You're right though about a lot of the guide companies are unfit, make bad decisions based more on their bottom line than the life and health of their clients and their guides, and many do it just so they have a cheaper shot at summiting themselves.

After reading Jon Krakauer's book, Into the Wind, I had no idea how much trash, dead bodies, incompetents, and self interested guide companies were involved not to mention how ridiculously crowded the Nepalese government has allowed it to get.

[Electric Monk]

8. The book you're thinking of is Into Thin Air. Krakauer also wrote another, Into The Wild, but

it was a rather different subject matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Thin_Air
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118949/

...disastrous events that took place during the Mount Everest climb on May 10, 1996. It also follows Krakauer and portrays what he was going through while climbing the mountain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_%28book%29
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/

After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness.

[TorchTheWitch]

10. oh, geez, that's right

For some reason the title just wasn't coming to me, and I must have read the book a dozen times. It's even sitting on a shelf right the heck next to me. I never read Into the Wild, but I saw the movie... gads, how sad that was.

[dipsydoodle]

12. Search ends for missing on Everest, some Sherpas call for shutdown

(Reuters) - Rescuers have given up searching for three sherpa guides missing two days after the deadliest ever accident on Nepal's Mount Everest killed at least 13 and shocked the mountaineering world.

>

The accident focused attention on the risks sherpas take and on overcrowding on Everest, where the number of fatal accidents has risen in recent decades, although it dropped last year.

The government has issued 334 permits this season, up from 328 last year, with a similar number of guides assisting - and often doing precarious work fixing ropes and ladders to make the mountain safer for their clients.

Shocked and demoralized by the accident, several sherpa guides have called for the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) mountain to be closed to expeditions during the popular climbing season that runs through May this year as a mark of respect for the dead.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/20/uk-nepal-everest-avalanche-idUKBREA3J0C420140420