A climber from India and another from Nepal were injured this morning when an avalanche hit Everest’s Khumbu Icefall.
“A large serac broke off, and a chunk of ice approximately 20m below it collapsed onto the path, striking members of the passing group,” The Tourism Times reported.
Injured were Pemba Tenduk Sherpa, a worker with Seven Summit Treks, and Nimish Kumar Singh of India, a client with Pioneer Adventure. The two were partly buried, but luckily, nearby Sherpas ran to help them.
Pastemba Sherpa has published a video of the rescue on Instagram:
Both victims were airlifted to the hospital in Kathmandu and are receiving treatment, The Tourism Times noted. Neither has life-threatening injuries.
Increasingly unstable
The incident occurred shortly before 6 am, during rush hour for Sherpas and porters carrying loads to higher camps. Camp 2 is ready and welcoming its first foreign climbers, while a large Sherpa team led by the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal has just finished fixing the route to Camp 3, on the Lhotse Wall.
For years, those who crossed the Khumbu Icefall avoided the warmest time of day, hoping to find stable ice conditions during the cooler hours, but climate change has made the seracs and snow bridges even more unstable than they used to be.
Dead and missing
There is also sad news affecting local workers near Everest: A Sherpa died on his way to Base Camp yesterday. Lakpa Tendi Sherpa, a guide working with Seven Summit Treks, had a fatal fall at 5,200m above Gorak Shep, shortly before reaching Base Camp. While high and rough, that path winds mainly across moraine, with no exposed sections. Lakpa Tendi was also an experienced climber. We have no further details about how he fell.
Another Nepalese working for trekking groups, Pramish Rai, 18, has been missing since May 30 near Mera Peak. After accompanying a group of trekkers, he never made it back home.
