INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SOLUKHUMBU, MAY 9Climbing guides Pasang Rinji Sherpa and Khudam Bir Tamang were on their way to the Lhotse base camp
from a higher camp on Sunday evening when a huge avalanche struck the rarely used route.
Guide of Lhotse South Face
expedition missing in avalanche below Camp I
Alpinists Giampaolo Corona,
Tim Bogdanov lose contact with Annapurna base camp yet again
Khudam was buried under the avalanche in front of Pasang's eyes when they were crossing a crevasse using a ladder at a height of
around 6,000m, just below Camp I of the Lhotse South Face.
"It was a nightmarish experience
I was five to six metres behind Khudam when the avalanche struck
A cloud of ice blanketed the area and I had fainted for over 10 minutes
I consider myself fortunate to have survived
It is like a second lease of life," Pasang told THT over phone after returning from Camp 1
Other climbers came from the base camp and Camp I to carry out search in the area, he added.Expedition organiser said the likelihood of
finding Khudam were diminishing as the searches carried out so far had concluded without substantial progress.Khudam was part the
eight-member expedition led by renowned Korean climber Sung-Taek Hong, according to Mingma Sherpa, the chairman of Seven Summit Treks that
had organised the expedition.Hong is making seventh attempt to climb the Lhotse South Face, one of the toughest climbs in the world, this
season.Seven Summit Treks had sent a helicopter to expedite the search, besides conducting ground searches, but to no avail, Sherpa told
THT.Rescuers spotted big crevasses in the area, he added.Pasang was airlifted this afternoon from Camp I and sent to Kathmandu, where he
will undergo check-up at a hospital, Sherpa added.This season, two climbers, including a foreigner, have already died in the Everest
region.A version of this article appears in the print on May 10, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com