IGX

My guide on the Everest Base Camp walk. He's 23. Summited Everest at 21. Tasked to take 4 oxygen tanks to Camp 4, he took 5, kept one for himself and summited alone without "permission." Strong, brave, competent and blessed with a great sense of humor. He was in the recent deadly avalanche and sends this message to his American friends who have been worried about him for days:


I just got home yesterday
A tragic avalanche took lives of 16 Sherpas on Khumbu Icefall.It was the day of 18th April.I was heading towards Icefall with my Client from XXX, XXX. We started at about 4 am from EBC.There were lots of Sherpas hauling upto camp 1 and 2 with loads.I heard some friend of mine on the walkie talkie talking about the ladder below camp 1 broken.So lots of sherpas were stucked there.But later sherpas fixed it and startred further.Most Sherpas of our group,XXX had already crossed camp 1 before 6am.I got to the place called football field on the way to camp1,in Khumbu Icefall at around 6:15am.That was our final point for that day.We were resting there.A very strong wind hit us.Now I realize that it was a sign alerting sherpas about the avalanche.Five minutes after that wind I saw a big block of ice ,large as a big house came apart from Lola Face towards Icefall.It created a big cloud moving towards camp1 but turned around and moved towards us.I was very scared.My client and I runned little down and hid behinnd a big Ice.The cloud of snow covered us and made dark for a while.After few minutes it cleared up slowly.Our body was covered with snow all over.
I was very happie to be safe.Then we radioed down to EBC and started lowering down.I had doubt that there must be some sherpas on Avalanche but I had to take my client down.Later after 10 minutes I heard a sherpa friend of me lowering from Camp1 saying that the are countless bodies buried under snow,some just legs and some just hands.I was so scared to hear that.I just kept chanting prayers till I got to Base camp.My client was very scared too since it was his first day on Icefall.
Later that day 12 bodies were recovered and four victims rescued to Ktm.Still four were missing.One was found yesterday.Still they are searching for other three.
I got lots of calls from home.My parents were crying on phone and wanted me to quit and get home.So 13 Sherpas from our group together,we quitted,asked for leave and returned home.
My mom and dad was very worried about me since I am their only eyes.They were into tears to call me back home.
On 11 th of April too,me and other three sherpas were on the mouth of an avalanche.But luckily there was a big crevesse and the avalanche stopped covering the crevesse.So it was already twice that I got my life back.So I thought in third time I may not have the luck to get back home and see my family so i decided to return.
Now we all are happy here at XXX.
Life in mountain is very uncertain,A day before I was kidding and seeing those friends and the next day they were gone.
It was very painful to see our sherpa brother hanged on a helicopter and dropped to the base camp.And at the base camp their bodies were covered by their own sleeping bags and packed for their family.
Its the most tragic accident which took such a massive lives.

I hope that I will be able to do some new work or start new to see that smile on my parents face everyday.

How awful for him. Survivors guilt can be awful.

All that risk to help a bunch of westerners get their Walter Mitty on and get dragged up a summit.

seeahill what does your friend think of the strike?

Jezzy Bell wrote:seeahill what does your friend think of the strike?

Don't know. He's young and, like most young Sherpas, listens to his elders. As you can see, he just went home. (For him, a day's walk from Base Camp). And he needs to think of a new business.

Which is tough. As a "climbing" Sherpa, he could make about $7000 a season. Average wage in Nepal is @ $700 a year. I think about it: if I could make 10x my yearly income in one year, I could make enough for a lifetime in 5 seasons. There are people who will strike and there are probably those who will see the $$$. Or perhaps it will be a matter of near shunning if you break the strike. Hard to say and I don't know enough about the culture.

I do know the Rai people, an ethnic tribe, Hindu not Buddhist, who live just below the Sherpa, would probably try to take up the slack. A lot of Rai are porters. The Rai are strong and used to steep trails but not the kind of altitude the Sherpa handle.

Let's be honest. It's dumbass white people like you getting them killed.

Dumbass white people for the most part.

But, as you know --- it cost you money --- I went to Base Camp. No further. Like your parents.

seeahill wrote:Dumbass white people for the most part.

But, as you know --- it cost you money --- I went to Base Camp. No further. Like your parents.

bazinga!

Many people the world over have very dangerous jobs - if we look at Sherpa deaths over time while guiding and/ ferrying loads/ setting routes through the ice fall / and setting the fixed lines higher up - how historically dangerous has it been when comparing Sherpas to clients? The ice fall and the very high altitude work is of course the most dangerous but also the highest paying of the jobs done by them. The Khumbu region survives almost entirely on trekkers and climbers - not only on Everest but throughout the region - taking Everest away will not stop that flow of income but will severely impact it - it is the big daddy of destinations. It is a very poor region of the planet by any standards and the Everest climbing guides are some of the most wealthy people there. I do believe that the numbers have gotten out of hand lately increasing the danger. But objective dangers like avalanche - ice and rock fall etc will always be beyond human control - this event would have still be as bad in years prior as the Sherpa's have always been the people who set most of the ice fall route. I feel the Sherpas will likely return - and if not other less experienced indigenous people will fill their places due to the money involved. The Sherpa's I met there were wonderful people, and unbelievable tough at altitude - if they do not return there will be a time period of adjustment while others gain the hard earned experience of the high altitude Sherpa population currently doing this work - and this will be even more dangerous than the present. A side benefit that many don't know about will be medical - the clinic there gets many of their drugs from expeditions leaving their unused expedition supplies there. I know we left hundreds of dollars worth just on our small little trekking peak climbs - the big expeditions might be leaving thousands worth of medical supplies that are left over. It's a tradition over the years.

seeahill wrote:Dumbass white people for the most part.

But, as you know --- it cost you money --- I went to Base Camp. No further. Like your parents.

The avalanche did not happen in base camp. Did I strike a nerve?

Fat Cat wrote:Did I strike a nerve?

No, but apparently I did.

Oh stop sulking. I'm not the guy who called his parents "a couple of Sherpa snuffing nincompoops."

Was fatcat conceived in a base camp tent? I seem to be missing something from this dialog.

When I was talking about going to Base Camp a couple of years ago, FC said that his parents had made that walk. I don't know where he was conceived.

seeahill wrote:When I was talking about going to Base Camp a couple of years ago, FC said that his parents had made that walk. I don't know where he was conceived.

What else is there to do in basecamp? Cue oxygen-starved grunting noises.

FC is part sherpa???

FC is part goat?

buckethead wrote:FC is part goat?

And I shit snapping turtles.

buckethead wrote:FC is part goat?

Oh shit.
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