This morning at 5:24 o'clock, a huge avalanche destroyed camp 1 almost completely. The camp consisted of about 60 to 70 tents and only five of them were unaffected, among them that of our expedition.
Per hazard, I (Olaf) went down from camp 2 to the basecamp this morning. So I, along with 5 Sherpas was one of the first at the catastrophe site, about one and a half hour after the disaster. And 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. First we came to the 5 intact tents that were built farther uphill, luckily the one of our expedition among them. There were three people there trying to stablish radio contact with BC, and they told us what had happened. It takes about 5- 10 minutes from this point to get to the main camp 1. When setting our camp 1, we thought that this more advanced site would be more secure, which turned to be true. When we reached the main camp 1, there was a horror view: Complete destruction.
We found two injured under ruins. They had provisionally rebuilt a tent and were waiting for aid there. Two sherpas already cared for them. Among the debris we found three injured climbers. They have sought shelter inside a half destroyed tent, waiting for help. Two Sherpas were already helping them. Three other injured climbers cried at us for help. One Sherpa and I tried to reach them very carefully, as the broken terrain through the tents was not safe anymore. We asked them what injuries they have and to what expedition they belong. All of them could answer and one of them wanted to descend of his own power. They told us that they were part of a big commercial team, and asked us to go back to BC as fast as possible and get some help.
We had no first aid kit, so we ran back to BC. 45 minutes later, as we were in the Icefall, we met the first people going to the rescue. News of the accident had spread, but at this moment nobody knows for sure how many people had spent the night in C1.
At the moment, nobody knows how many people have spent the night in camp 1. Eight persons at three different tent sites have survived the catastrophe. Because most expeditions use camp 1 only as an interim and depot camp, these 8 persons could be the only ones there when the avalanche came down.
[update by the webmaster: 5th of May, at 13.30 o'clock CET, when I phoned with Olaf last time, it still seems that, there were indeed no fatalities.]
Beside this drama, there are some good news regarding our expedition. Thomas is on the mend and thinks about ascending the day after tomorrow. We have set camp 3 at 7250 m elevation. Lakpa, Nuri, Kami and me were there yesterday. It was a heavy work to carry the equipment the 800 meters difference in altitude up the Lhotse face.
Our camp 3
Olaf: knackered after ascent to camp 3. |
