Everest Has First Deadly Week: Avalanche Rescue, Fatality, and Geopolitical Drama with Drones and US Special Envoy Visiting Base Camp

Five forty-five this morning. A serac let go. And this is what it looked like. The tourism Times reported that a large serac broke off and a chunk of ice approximately 20 meters below it collapsed onto the path where climbers were moving up the mountain, striking members of a passing group. 

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EVEREST SUMMIT: 
Matthew Kleinlein

CAMP FOUR:
Barbedwire 
Henriette Pi
Mike Nicholson
Tom McLeod
Geoff (mountain climber)
Ursula Dimberger
Noelle Dud13y

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:03

At 5 45 this morning, a sarak in the Kumbu ice fall let go, and this is what it looked like. It's been reported that a large sarak broke off and a chunk of ice approximately 20 meters below it collapsed onto the path where climbers were moving up the mountain. Striking members of a passing group injured were Pemba Tenduk Shirpa, a worker with seven summit trucks, and Nimish Kumar Singh of India, a client with Pioneer Adventure. This footage is absolutely heartstopping. The climber is partially buried, and other workers are struggling to free him from the grasp of the freezing ice. What many people don't understand is that when an avalanche or an ice avalanche stops moving, it freezes very quickly like concrete. And that gentleman stuck in the ice is not out of trouble, although his main extremities are above the ice. He was removed shortly after both victims were airlifted to the hospital in Kathmandu and are receiving treatment. Apparently, neither has life-threatening injuries, and so Everest is a dangerous place, and we knew that the risks were higher given the severe danger of that monster Sarac that stopped the ice fall doctors from working for almost three weeks up until several days ago. It's only just the last 24 to 48 hours that teams have been moving up into the ice fall, moving up to camps one, camps two, and a recent report says that ropes have been fixed now all the way to camp three. And so when they're fixed to camp three, of course, next is camp four, and then all eyes will be fixed on the summit above that. A rumor was spreading through base camp. Kenton Cool recently made a post expressing his hope that this rumor was true. This footage that we have been seeing of the climber being chipped out of the ice was filmed by Pastemba Summitter. This is his Instagram profile. Exceptional footage, and he was in the right place to capture this drama. And then also in this article by Angela Benavidez of Explorers Web, she included this footage filmed by Chris Barnes. And now this news of the ice or Sarak avalanche that took place this morning in the Kumbu Ice Fall comes on the heels of some devastating news. I can't find any certified uh reasons for his death. It just says that he fell. Now, keeping in mind that there are no dangerous sections between Gorek Shep and Everest Basecamp. So a fall would possibly mean that it was from a heart attack or an injury or some kind of sickness that he had high-altitude pulmonary edema. Certainly a devastating bit of news for the family as we endeavor to highlight the plight and the case of mountain workers throughout the Mount Everest region who oftentimes are the sole breadwinner for the families, and they go off to work and are exposed to immense dangers, especially being the ones who go up into the ice fall. I don't know if this one was going to many times, and that's where the drones came in, these heavy lift cargo drones, which were such an important part of the story over the last year, especially this year, lifting ladders up for the ice fall doctors, some coils of rope and even oxygen cylinders. And as I reported in a short just a couple of days ago, I'll cut to it right here. The mechanical bridge to camp one has vanished. 10,000 kilograms of garbage and hundreds of oxygen cylinders are now essentially stranded at base camp. Just as the Kumbu Ice Fall finally opened, local authorities just revoked the licenses for the heavy lifting drones and the reason security sensitivities. The government of Nepal had revoked the permit for the use of this drone in base camp. There are many and nuanced reasons behind this, and I'm gonna let the political analysts figure it out. Suffice it to say, a United States manufactured drone was brought to base camp just the other day, and they endeavored to show off that it was a new drone compared to the DJI Flycart 100 that had been being used previously. This was a new drone, and shortly after that, the government of Nepal revoked the licenses of airlift technology to use their drone in base camp. But today, May 5th, it seems like a lot is happening today, as reported in the Kathmandu post by a friend of the channel, Sangam Prasan. He said that that heavy lift drone ban had been lifted. He has this exceptional article. I'll put a link to it in this video here. Apparently, there is a lot going on in the back that I am not in the pay scale to discuss, but I will say that because of this drone thing that has been going on at Basecamp, I have to admit I had never seen the name of a United States president included in a headline about Mount Everest until this drone thing happened. Let me just suffice it to say that there's a drone made in the United States. And well, if you look at a map of Nepal, it's not hard to understand who is just on the other side of that ridge that goes right up and over the summit of Mount Everest. I'm happy to say that the drones operated by Airlift have been put back into use if it will be of any help to the Ice Fall Doctors and the Expedition Operators of Nepal team that is endeavoring to fix the ropes up to the summit. You saw Kenton Cool with his rumor that it might be May 14th when we see those ropes fixed, but it's a crapshoot. Anything can happen if the weather doesn't hold, a many, many different things can happen that can delay that. Of course, it could happen faster. We just know that there are a lot of people in Base Camp. And now this is also reportedly going to be almost a record year for permits given to climb the mountain nearing 470 or so permits. So that mountain's going to be very, very busy no matter how well things go. However, given the speed of which things have been taking place over the last several days, the mountain and the season is only a few days behind schedule. So that's a really good thing. And now I wanted to update you on the remains that had been found near Everest Base Camp during the delay. I reported on this uh about a week or so ago that some remains were found and they were obviously not brand new to me. These human remains had been retrieved from the ice fall on the day of, and I was sent a release from the Department of Tourism. A kind gentleman there was kind enough to send me a press release saying that those remains were flown via helicopter first down to Luca, where bad weather prevented them from being transferred all the way to Kathmandu. But now those remains are in Kathmandu. They will be conducting DNA tests. And we know sometimes these DNA tests, as I've reported in the the case of Sandy Irvin's foot being found in October, September, October of 2024 on the north side. We still don't have results from that, but at least somewhere along the line, there will be a family notified that their loved one has been found. In the meantime, I want to know what you think. Do you have any thoughts on the Porter death near Everest Base Camp or the Sarak, the small avalanche that injured these two climbers? Love to hear your thoughts. Be sure to post those in the comments below. And if you're still watching and are not yet subscribed, please be sure to subscribe now. It means a lot to the channel. And also, if you're interested in learning more about Mount Everest, I have tons of exclusive content in the members section. There's also some free exclusive content over on patreon.com slash Everest Mystery. And also don't forget to check out EverestMystery.com, the merch page, great organic cotton t-shirts, hats, also hoodies and sun shirts. And in the meantime, do a good deed. Don't ask for anything in return. Make the world a better place, one tiny step at a time. Peace be with you.