At this point, the upper portion of Base Camp looks like the natural disaster area that it is. Sleeping tents have been blown away, chairs and tables scattered across the moraine, and the tattered skeletons of mess tents stand stripped bare of their fabric by the hurricane-force winds that raced ahead of the avalanche.
According to an email from a New Zealand–based Adventure Consultants staffer, all patients were initially shuttled to Pheriche, at 14,000 feet, and then by a larger Russian cargo helicopter to Lukla or Kathmandu.
“We know our injured Sherpa are in both the Kathmandu Medical College and another clinic in Kathmandu,” wrote Adventure Consultants operations manager Caroline Blaikie. “We have also heard reports from our Mera Peak group of the Lukla hospital taking patients from Everest Base Camp.”
Cienski
confirmed that the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) took a direct hit
and was completely wiped out. The HRA camp houses the legendary Icefall
Doctors who set and maintain the route through the Khumbu Icefall.
Three of the Icefall Doctors were killed, and more were injured. Since
no thorough, camp-wide count has yet been conducted, the total number of
dead and missing has not been firmly established. It’s still possible
that there are climbers buried at Base Camp and in the Icefall.
According to International Mountain Guides founder Eric Simonson, who is
in contact with his team on the mountain, a helicopter pilot was
scheduled to make a careful inspection of the route through the Icefall
Sunday morning. A more accurate count of the missing should emerge
within the next 12 hours.
The news that the Icefall Doctors are
out of commission also makes the situation more tenuous for the climbers
trapped in Camps I and II, who until now had planned to descend under
their own power. I don’t have an exact count of who is above Base Camp,
but the list includes groups from Alpine Ascents International (AAI),
Madison Mountaineering, Adventure Consultants, International Mountain
Guides, and Rainier Mountaineering. Madison has posted an accounting of
the whereabouts of its climbers. Madison Mountaineering’s Base Camp
manager Kurt Hunter estimated that the number of climbers above Base
Camp was between 100 and 120. https://www.outsideonline.com/1972696/aftermath-everest
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