View source for Death Toll Climbs On Mount Everest After Avalanche Wipes Out 13

The moment deadly avalanche swept down Everest and killed 13 guides in worst-ever tragedy on mountain as American climber tells how narrowly escaped deathSherpa: 'A big piece of ice suddenly came off the mountain'A 'big chunk of snow that fell over us and swept us away.<br><br>It looked like clouds,' said another SherpaOne of just a handful of Westerners on the mountains said, 'Things started happening in slow motion. Big blocks of snow and ice started coming down all around'No decision made on whether to go ahead with the climb, says trek organizerThere are now 13 people confirmed dead and three missing, an official saysThis is the single deadliest accident on Mount Everest; the deadliest year was 1996A government report obtained by MailOnline lists two of the guides as being part of the NBC Everest ExpeditionNBC's Peacock Productions was producing the live jump show for the Discovery Channel which will air a live jump so crews were at the mountain <br> By [/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Associated+Press Associated Press] <br>  Published:  18:41 GMT, 19 April 2014   |  Updated:  07:58 GMT, 20 April 2014   <br>   <br><br><br><br><br><br>[ ]   [ ]   [ ]  </a>   [/news/article-2608478/Death-toll-climbs-worst-tragedy-Mount-Everest-avalanche-wipes-13-Nepalese-Sherpas.html#comments  80<br>View <br>comments]   <br><br>Survivors have described the moment a deadly avalanche descended with little warning on a group of Sherpa guides making their way up Mount Everest, killing 13.<br><br><br>The avalanche slammed into the guides at about 6:30 a.m.<br><br>Friday near the 'popcorn field,' a section of the Khumbu known for its bulging chunks of ice. <br><br><br>'There was a big chunk of snow that fell over us and swept us away. It looked like clouds, all white,' said Ang Kami Sherpa, 25, in a hospital intensive care unit where he was being treated for a blood clot on his leg and facial injuries.<br><br><br>Scroll down for video...<br>        Witness: Jon Reiter (right) and Jim Geiger (left) in a photo taken during their climbing expieition at Mount Everest<br> <br> <br>        Narrow escape: A Photo of fellow climbers taken by Jon Reiter at the Kumbu Icefall on Mt.<br><br>Everest a few days before Friday's deadly avalanche<br><br>'We were tied on a rope and carrying gas to camp when there was a sudden hrrrr sound,' he said. <br><br><br>Ang Kami Sherpa is one of at least three survivors flown by helicopter to Kathmandu.<br><br>'We knew it was an avalanche but we couldn't run away or do anything.<br><br>Search teams recovered a 13th body Saturday from the snow and ice covering a dangerous climbing pass on Mount Everest, where an avalanche a day earlier swept over the guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak.<br><br>A California man said he was on Mount Everest when the avalanche struck.<br><br>Contractor Jon Reiter said his Sherpa guide pushed him behind some ice blocks and out of harm's way after the avalanche struck.<br><br>Reiter, who said he was climbing the mountain with an Australian partner, talked to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat in an interview by satellite phone from base camp in Nepal, where he wrote a blog entry to let family and friends know he was OK.<br><br>'We were moving up to Camp 1 just after dawn when we heard that "crack,"' said Reiter, 49.<br><br>'My first thought was to film it, and I reached for my camera. But the Sherpa yelled to get down. Things started happening in slow motion. Big blocks of snow and ice started coming down all around.'<br> <br> <br>        Deadly force: The avalanche that killed at least thirteen sherpas is pictured as it barrels down Mount Everest<br>        No hope of survival: Rescuers on Mount Everest found the body of a 13th Nepalese guide buried under snow as authorities ruled out hope of finding any more survivors from the deadliest accident ever on the world's highest peak<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br>It's not clear how close Reiter was to the avalanche when it killed the Sherpa guides.<br><br>But in response to questions, Reiter wrote on his blog Saturday: 'There were very few western climbers in the area and all of us had our climbing Sherpa by our sides and they all survived.'<br><br>Mount Everest is the last challenge in Reiter's goal of [http://www.paramuspost.com/search.php?query=climbing&type=all&mode=search&results=25 climbing] the highest peak on each continent.<br><br>It was his second attempt to climb the 29,035-foot mountain. Last year, he was forced to turn back around the same spot when an ice bridge collapsed and cut off his team's climbing route.<br><br><br>Friday's avalanche slammed a group of about 25 Sherpa guides who were hauling gear to the higher camps that their foreign clients would use in attempting to reach the summit.<br><br>'We are shaken but OK,' Reiter wrote on his blog.<br><br>'One thought is that we were so lucky. But the overwhelming feelings are for the poor families of the people that didn't make it.'<br><br>Another three guides remained missing, and searchers were working quickly to find them in case weather conditions deteriorated, said Maddhu Sunan Burlakoti, head of the Nepalese government's mountaineering department.<br>       Mother of Nepalese mountaineer Ang Kaji Sherpa, killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest, cries while she waits for his body at Sherpa Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal, Saturday, April 19, 2014.<br><br>Rescuers were searching through piles of snow and ice on the slopes of Mount Everest on Saturday for four Sherpa guides who were buried by an avalanche that killed 12 other Nepalese guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak. The Sherpa people are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal's alpine region, and many make their living as climbing guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks.<br><br>(AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)<br> <br> <br>        Nepalese mountain rescue workers lifting an injured climber after an avalanche came down on Mt.<br><br>Everest. Authorities called off the rescue operation for survivors after 13 Nepali climbing guides were killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest, as bad weather closed in<br>        Final resting place: Group of family members of the Nepalese mountaineer carry the body of Ang Kaji Sherpa, who died on Mt.<br><br>Everest Avalanche upon its arrival at Sherpa Monastry in Kathmandu<br><br>But the painstaking effort involved testing the strength of newly fallen snow and using extra ropes, clamps and aluminum ladders to navigate the treacherous Khumbu icefall, a maze of immense ice chunks and crevasses.<br><br>The avalanche slammed into the guides at about 6:30 a.m.<br><br>Friday near the "popcorn field," a section of the Khumbu known for its bulging chunks of ice. <br><br><br>The group of about 25 Sherpa guides were among the first people making their way up the mountain this climbing season. <br><br><br>They were hauling gear to the higher camps that their foreign clients would use in attempting to reach the summit next month.<br><br>One of the survivors told his relatives that the path had been unstable just before the snow slide hit at an elevation near 5,800 meters (19,000 feet).<br><br><br><br>   RELATED ARTICLES  [# Previous] [# 1] [# Next]     [/news/article-2608393/Shes-Dead-I-Have-The-Last-Laugh-Man-strangled-girlfriend-callously-texted-parents-tell-killed-her.html  'She's dead. I have the last laugh': Man who didn't want his...] [/sciencetech/article-2608420/The-thing-preventing-catastrophe-city-killer-size-asteroid-blind-luck-Nasa-astronauts-reveal-evidence-10-times-large-scale-asteroids-hit-earth-decade-previously-thought.html  ‘The only thing preventing a catastrophe from a city-killer...]    <br><br><br><br>Share this article<br>Share<br><br><br><br>As first reported by MailOnline, five of the guides who died were part of the team employed by NBC for an upcoming live jump special. <br><br><br>A member of the surviving NBC News crew confirmed what a government list obtained by MailOnline first revealed as the local crew were a part of the prep team hired ahead of an live jump that NBC's Peacock Productions is shooting for Discovery Channel which will air in May.<br><br><br><br><br>'Some of the sherpas were working for us. We lost five members of our team this morning,' Ed Wardle told [ Channel 4].  <br><br><br>'It's absolutely devastating.<br><br>The atmosphere here at base camp is one of shock and now of grieving. <br><br><br>'I believe it's the worst disaster in Everest history if not all mountaineering.'<br> <br> <br> <br> <br>        The daughter of Mount Everest avalanche victim Ang Kazi Sherpa cries while consoled by a relative as the body is brought to the Sherpa Monastery<br> <br> <br>       Grieving: Ed Wardle, a Scottish filmmaker working on the Peacock Productions' live jump crew, said Friday night that they lost five members of their team in the avalanche<br>  <br> <br>        Highest peak on Earth: A group of more than a dozen sherpas had gone up on the mountain early Friday morning to fix some ropes that would be used by trekkers later in the day, but one survivor recalled feeling that the route was unstable<br> <br> <br>        Documentation: A Nepal government report names the victims of the tragedy and reveals they were on an 'NBC Everest Expedition'<br> <br> <br><br>Climbers declared a four-day halt to efforts to scale the 8,848-metre (29,029-ft) summit and, while some decided to abandon their mission, others said they would go ahead after talking to their guides.<br><br>All of the victims were sherpa mountain guides.<br><br>'Everyone is shaken here at Base Camp. Some climbers are packing up and calling it quits, they want nothing to do with this,' Tim Rippel of Peak Freaks Expeditions wrote in a blog.<br><br>Shocked relatives wondered how they would cope without the men who take huge risks to earn up to $5,000 for a two-month expedition - around 10 times average annual pay in Nepal.<br><br>'He was the only breadwinner in the family,' said 17-year-old Phinjum Sherpa, as she waited for the body of her uncle, Tenji Sherpa, at a Buddhist monastery in Kathmandu.<br><br>'We have no one to take care of us.'<br><br>Although relatively low on the mountain, climbers say the icefall is one of the most dangerous places on Mount Everest. There are, however, no safer paths along the famous South Col route scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.<br><br>Around 100 climbers and guides had already passed beyond the Khumbu Icefall to prepare their attempts on the summit.<br><br>They are safe, but a new path will have to be made to make it possible to continue the expeditions.<br> [ ]                 Earlier on Friday morning, Wardle (right), standing alongside fellow NBC News employee Jonathan Fierro (left), told The Today Show that he did not know the names of any of the sherpas who had died but that later changed<br> <br> <br>        Relatives of a Mount Everest avalanche victim grieve as bodies arrive at the Sherpa Monastery in Kathmandu<br> <br> <br>        Relative await news: Seven climbers were rescued,  [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/blog/kinh-nghiem-kham-pha-shangri-la-vung-dat-cua-tinh-yeu.html tour Lệ Giang] including two airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment.<br><br>The avalanche hit at a site known as the Khumbu icefall at more than 5,000 m altitude, as the climbers were ascending from the base camp to camp one<br> <br> <br><br>The area is considered particularly dangerous due to its steep slope and deep crevasses that cut through the snow and ice covering the pass year round.<br><br>As soon as the avalanche occurred, rescuers, guides and climbers rushed to help, and all other climbing was suspended.<br><br>Seven of the 12 bodies pulled out and brought down Friday were handed over to their families in the Everest region, while the other five were taken to Katmandu, Nepal's capital.<br><br>Four survivors were conscious and being treated in the intensive care units of several Katmandu hospitals for broken ribs, fractured limbs, punctured lungs and skin abrasions, according to Dr.<br><br>C.R. Pandey from Grande Hospital. <br><br><br>Others were treated for less serious injuries at the Everest base camp.<br><br>Hundreds of climbers, guides and support crews had been at Everest's base camp preparing to climb the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak when weather conditions are most favorable next month.<br><br> As with each year, the Sherpa guides from each of the expedition teams had been working together to [http://search.un.org/search?ie=utf8&site=un_org&output=xml_no_dtd&client=UN_Website_en&num=10&lr=lang_en&proxystylesheet=UN_Website_en&oe=utf8&q=prepare&Submit=Go prepare] the path by carving routes through the ice, fixing ropes on the slopes and setting up camps at higher altitudes.<br>        Daughter of Nepalese mountaineer Ang Kaji Sherpa, killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest, cries as her father's body is brought to the Sherpa Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal<br> <br> <br> <br> <br>JUST TRYING TO HELP OTHERS: THE SHERPAS WHO DIED WHEN THEY WENT UP EARLY TO FIX LOOSE ROPES <br> <br>When the Nepalese government released this list, only 12 were dead and four were missing.<br><br>The latest reports have the number of fatalities up to 13 but they have not disclosed who is the new fatality. <br><br><br>Name of expedition<br><br>NBC Everest Expedition<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Adventurist Everest Expedition<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>AAI Everest Expeditions<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>AC Everest Expeditions<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Jagged Globe Everest Exped.<br><br><br><br><br>Himalayan Ecstasy Lhotse <br><br><br><br><br>Everest Chinese Dream<br><br><br> <br><br>Name of Trekking Company<br><br>[https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/blog/kinh-nghiem-kham-pha-shangri-la-vung-dat-cua-tinh-yeu.html tour shangrila] Nepal Pvt.<br><br>Ltd.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Himalayan Guides Nepal Treks <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>[https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/blog/kinh-nghiem-kham-pha-shangri-la-vung-dat-cua-tinh-yeu.html tour lệ giang shangrila] Nepal Pvt. Ltd.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Himalayan Guides Nepal Treks<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Summit Nepal Trekking<br><br><br><br><br>Himalayan Ecstasy Treks<br><br><br><br><br>Seven Summit Treks Pvt.<br><br>Ltd.<br><br><br><br><br><br>Names of sherpas<br><br>Mingma Nuru Sherpa- dead <br><br><br>Derji Sherpa- dead  <br><br><br><br><br><br>Dorjee Khatri- dead<br><br><br>Then Dorjee Sherpa- dead  <br><br><br>Phur Temba Sherpa- dead<br><br><br><br><br>Ang Tshiri Sherpa- dead<br><br>Nima Sherpa- dead<br><br>Tenzng Chottar- missing<br><br><br><br><br>Phurba Ongyal Sherpa- dead<br><br>Lakpa Tenjing Sherpa- dead<br><br>Chhring Ongchu Sherpa- dead<br><br>Pasang Karma Sherpa- dead<br><br><br><br><br>Asman Tamang- dead <br><br><br><br><br><br>Ankaji Sherpa- missing<br><br>Pem Tenji Sherpa- missing<br><br>AAsh Bahadur Gurung- missing<br><br>  <br> <br>         Survivor: Dawa Tashi Sherpa, pictured, is one of several guides who were rescued from the mountain<br> <br> <br>        Waiting to help: Staffers at Grandy Hospital in Katmandu were ready on the helipad Friday but communication isn't clear between who hired which guide groups who were on the mountain in the avalanche<br> <br> <br>          <br>Sherpas often make 20-25 round trips to carry kit and supplies to advanced camps, exposing them to greater risk.<br><br>The most endangered are the so-called Icefall Doctors - a team that maintains and fixes the route.<br><br>'It's always the most dangerous part of the mountain to climb, because the ice is constantly moving, there are so many crevasses and seracs where you need to use ladders and ropes to get through the very technical terrain,' Californian climber Adrian Ballinger, of Alpenglow Expeditions, told Reuters.<br><br>It was first major avalanche of this year's climbing season on Everest, which has been scaled by more than 4,000 climbers.<br>       The Sherpa people are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal's alpine region, and many make their living as climbing guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks<br> <br> <br>        Authorities ruled out hope of finding any more survivors from the deadliest accident ever on the world's highest peak<br> <br> <br><br>One of the injured guides, Dawa Tashi, said the Sherpas were delayed on their way up the slope because the path was unsteady.<br><br><br><br><br>With little warning, a wall of snow crashed down on the group and buried many of them, according to Tashi's sister-in-law, Dawa Yanju. Doctors said Tashi, who was partially buried in the avalanche, suffered several broken ribs.<br><br>The Sherpa people are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal's alpine region, and many make their living as climbing guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks.<br><br>More than 4,000 climbers have summited Everest since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.<br><br>Hundreds have died trying.<br><br>The worst recorded disaster on Everest had been a fierce blizzard on May 11, 1996, that caused the deaths of eight climbers, including famed mountaineer Rob Hall, and was later memorialized in a book, 'Into Thin Air,' by Jon Krakauer.<br><br>Six Nepalese guides were killed in an avalanche in 1970.<br><br>Earlier this year, Nepal announced several steps to better manage the heavy flow of climbers and speed up rescue operations. The steps included the dispatch of officials and security personnel to the base camp at (5,300 meters) 17,380 feet, where they will stay throughout the spring climbing season, which ends in May.<br> <br> <br>       Star of the show: The Discovery Channel live jump was going to be done by Joby Ogwyn, an experienced wingsuiter, and the special was announced in February<br> <br>Some 250 mountaineers have died on the mountain, which is on the border between Nepal and the Chinese region of Tibet and can be climbed from both sides in a season that is cut short in late May by rainy-season clouds cloaking the Himalayas.<br><br>Expedition leaders reported that there was anger among some guides after the government announced immediate payments of $400 to the victims' families to cover funeral costs.<br><br>Dependents of guides killed in the past said compensation did not nearly cover loss of income from the main family breadwinner.<br><br>'The government doesn't do anything for the welfare of sherpas,' said Chhechi Sherpa, a sister of 37-year-old Ang Kaji Sherpa, who was killed on Friday and leaves elderly parents and a family with six children.<br><br>'It makes good money from tourists and climbers but doesn't care about the sherpas who struggle to support their families.<br><br>The government must look after the kids and old parents of those sherpas who died in the avalanche.'<br>       Expectations: Joby Ogywn is the wingsuit jumper that is scheduled to make the live jump in May on the Discovery Channel and he posted on Thursday about his upcoming trek<br> <br> <br>        Busy season: Avalanches like the one that occurred Friday morning are common in the area but in addition to the 13 who died this morning, it may cause further problems because this is the 'high season' in the area when many tours go through (pictured in May 2013)<br> <br> <br><br>Four of the survivors were airlifted to Grandy Hospital in Katmandu while other survivors were being treated at base camp for less serious injuries.<br><br><br><br><br>The Discovery Channel has not put out any statements about the future of the special, and Mr Wardle hinted that he is just one of the adventurers at Base Camp who are not looking to stay. <br><br><br>'I'd think that many of the expeditions here will pack up and go home.<br><br>For this number of people to die at the very beginning of the season is completely unacceptable,' he told Channel 4. <br><br><br>'We came here looking for adventure, to celebrate Everest, but for something like this to happen makes the whole thing seem pointless to me and I believe that will be the same for many people here.<br><br><br><br><br>'People come here partly to take the risk of climbing a mountain like this at high altitude and they understand those risks, but still, when something this large happens, I think we all have to question what we're doing here.'<br><br>