Update: Another Body Recovered on Everest

Another victim of the avalanche on Everest has been found, the death toll is now at 13.

Update on Monday April 21: Search operations called off for the three remaining Sherpa.  Lakpa Sherpa of the Himalayan Rescue Operation announced from Everest Base Camp, “We have called off the search operation. It not possible to find the three missing persons, dead or alive.”

Early in the morning on April 18, an avalanche swept down the Popcorn Field and buried a number of Sherpa guides. Another three sherpas remained missing after the avalanche that struck early on a lower slope on Friday morning, killing 13 and leaving five in critical condition.

Ang Kami Sherpa, a 25-year-old guide, survived the avalanche and was transferred to Kathmandu, “We were tied on a rope and carrying gas to camp when there was a sudden hrrrr sound. We knew it was an avalanche but we couldn’t run away or do anything, there was a big chunk of snow that fell over us and swept us away. It looked like clouds, all white.”

Climbers declared a four-day halt to expeditions on the 8,848 -metre summit. Some said they were calling off their ascents for the season,the tragedy brought home the dangers faced daily by the Sherpas who make their living on the mountain. “Everyone is shaken here at Base Camp. Some climbers are packing up and calling it quits, they want nothing to do with this. Reality has set in,” Tim Rippel of Peak Freaks Expeditions wrote in a blog.

“Our sport carries a very high price. With empathy to the families and a tear for my good friend Ang Kaji Sherpa. We miss you. So very sad.” – Conrad Anker

More than 200 people, at least 80 of them sherpas, have died on Everest since it was first scaled by by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

For more on the story see here.

For an interview with Simone Moro on Planet Mountain see here.

The American Alpine Club has established the Sherpa Support Fund to lend aid and support to the families of these fallen climbers and the communities affected by this tragedy.

Visit the Sherpa Support Fund page for more information. Gifts can be given at the donate page. Make sure to select “Sherpa Support Fund.”