With the good weather, things have happened with lightning speed on Baruntse, and it’s all good news.
“Today we descended 1,100m in terrible avalanche snow,” reported Marek Holecek, whose satphone still had enough juice to convey the latest. “We are into good terrain now.”
As early as tomorrow, they expect to fly by helicopter to Lukla and from there to Kathmandu. “Our friends have probably taken everything from Base Camp, including food,” Holecek added. “Another frozen night ahead of us.”
It is unclear whether everyone else has already left Base Camp, but their support team did add this report:
“Tomorrow at five o’clock the helicopter will leave from Lukla and pick up the guys. They are exhausted but alive. Because of the amount of snowfall, it is not possible to leave Base Camp in the usual way. All expeditions in this area are canceled due to the large amount of snow that fell in a short time.”
UPDATE: This morning, May 30, Holecek and Groh were airlifted from Base Camp to Kathmandu.
