Nepali climber rescued after crevasse fall on Everest
Nepali climber survives 50-metre crevasse fall below Camp II as unstable conditions in the Khumbu Icefall continue to imperil the spring climbing season
As hundreds of climbers moved higher up Mount Everest on Monday, a Nepali mountaineer on a summit push slipped into a crevasse below Camp II, underscoring the dangers that continue to stalk the mountain’s southern route.
“This is a section where there is no fixed rope to clip into,” said Pemba Sherpa, whose company organised the expedition. The fall, he added, was unexpected: the climber had successfully ascended Lobuche East only last month.
This season the Khumbu Icefall has proved especially volatile. Towering seracs initially blocked the route through the icefall, the most perilous stretch of the climb. Even after a combined team of “icefall doctors” and commercial expedition climbers opened the passage, conditions remained unstable. One Indian climber was buried when an ice column collapsed, while a Nepali guide sustained minor injuries.
The climber fell around 50 metres into the crevasse at an altitude of roughly 6,300 metres while moving from Camp I towards the South Col on May 18. Rescue teams deployed immediately. Five Sherpa rescuers hauled her out within an hour.
“We have rescuers stationed at every camp and helicopters on standby in case of emergency,” Sherpa told Everest Chronicle.
The climber, identified as Upasana Gurung, suffered only minor injuries. She was flown to a hospital in Lukla later that evening and transferred to Kathmandu early on Tuesday for further treatment. She had climbed Lobuche East on April 17 alongside Mingma Thendu Sherpa and had planned to attempt Everest’s summit this spring.
It is the second fatal or near-fatal crevasse incident on Everest’s southern slope this season. On May 12 Phura Gyaljen Sherpa, a 20-year-old from Thame, died after falling below Camp III on the mountain’s Lhotse Face. He was the grandson of Ang Rita Sherpa, the famed climber known for scaling Everest ten times without supplemental oxygen.
Officials say roughly 150 climbers have already summited the world’s highest mountain this season. As of May 15 the government had issued 494 permits for Everest alone.
