Two avalanches struck Annapurna yesterday between Camp 2 and Camp 3, hitting Mattia Conte of Italy and the five Sherpas. The slide resulted in no fatalities, but prompted the climbers to abort their winter attempt.
The six men were working on the ropes when they narrowly escaped a first avalanche in the iced-up gully below Camp 3, journalist Alessandro Filippini reported.
They quickly exited the gully and reached a plateau. But when they were 200m away from Camp 3, a second avalanche came down. All climbers were secured to the ropes, which saved their lives, but three of them were injured.
“Pursang Sherpa is now in the hospital to have his back checked, Mattia Conte suffered a subluxation of his left shoulder, and Chhepal Sherpa, whose fall was stopped by other team members, has cut his face,” Filippini wrote.
Lakpa Sherpa, Gelu Sherpa, and Tashi Sherpa were unharmed.
As a result, the team turned around and have called off the expedition.
