On 18 April 2014,
seracs on the western spur of
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
failed, resulting in an
ice avalanche that killed sixteen climbing
Sherpas
The Sherpa are one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, Tingri County in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Himalayas. The term ''sherpa'' or ''sherwa'' derives from the Sherpa language words ("east") ...
in the
Khumbu Icefall
The Khumbu Icefall is located at the head of the Khumbu Glacier and the foot of the Western Cwm, which lies at an elevation of on the Nepali slopes of Mount Everest, not far above Base Camp and southwest of the summit. The icefall is considered ...
. This was the same
icefall
An icefall is a portion of certain glaciers characterized by relatively rapid flow and chaotic crevassed surface, caused in part by gravity. The term ''icefall'' is formed by analogy with the word ''waterfall'', which is a similar phenomenon of t ...
where the
1970 Mount Everest disaster had taken place. Thirteen bodies were recovered within two days, while the remaining three were never recovered due to the great danger of performing such an expedition. Many
Sherpas
The Sherpa are one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, Tingri County in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Himalayas. The term ''sherpa'' or ''sherwa'' derives from the Sherpa language words ("east") ...
were angered by what they saw as the Nepalese government's meager offer of compensation to victims' families, and threatened a protest or
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
. On 22 April, the Sherpas announced they would not work on Everest for the remainder of 2014 as a mark of respect for the victims.
Background
Guide employment on Mount Everest
A Sherpa who works as a porter specialised in high-altitude work including rope fixing on Mount Everest typically earns about US$125/day per climb. Most come from climbing families, are raised on stories of wealth from climbs, with relatively few other economic opportunities. Between 350 and 450 such people, mostly from the Sherpa ethnic group, work each year's climbing season.
(They are all referred to as "Sherpas" regardless of specific ethnicity.) As such, they can earn up to $5,000 a year, compared with Nepal's average annual salary of $700.
In the years prior to the disaster, foreigners began bringing their own guides, causing tension with locals.
Eight people, including one of the most experienced Sherpa guides, died on Mount Everest in 2013.
Concerns over Khumbu Icefall route
![Khumbu glacier in relation to everest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Khumbu_glacier_in_relation_to_everest.jpg)
The presence of numerous unstable blocks of ice (called
serac
A serac (from Swiss French ''sérac'') is a block or column of glacial ice, often formed by intersecting crevasses on a glacier. Commonly house-sized or larger, they are dangerous to mountaineers, since they may topple with little warning. Even ...
s) in and above the
Khumbu Icefall
The Khumbu Icefall is located at the head of the Khumbu Glacier and the foot of the Western Cwm, which lies at an elevation of on the Nepali slopes of Mount Everest, not far above Base Camp and southwest of the summit. The icefall is considered ...
encourages climbers to try to pass through as quickly as possible, usually in the very early morning before temperatures rise and loosen the ice.
In the spring of 2012
Russell Brice Russell Reginald Brice (born 3 July 1952) is a New Zealand mountaineer. He was the owner/manager of Himex (Himalayan Experience Ltd.), a climbing expedition company. He has summited Cho Oyu seven times, Himal Chuli and Mount Everest twice, as well ...
, of the guiding company
Himex
Himex is a Mount Everest guiding company. It was founded in 1996 by New Zealander Russell Brice. The name is a truncated version of the full name "Himalayan Experience". ''National Geographic'' said Himex was the "largest and most sophisticated ...
, called off guided ascents run by his company due to safety concerns. He was worried about the stability of a wide ice cliff, or ice bulge, on Mount Everest's western shoulder that could endanger the route through the Khumbu Icefall, if it collapsed. "When I see around 50 people moving underneath the cliff at one time," he commented, "it scares me."
[ However, Brice and Himex returned to the south side of Everest for the 2014 climbing season. Mountaineer Alan Arnette reported that this ice bulge had been a known hazard for years and had discharged ice into the Khumbu Icefall almost every season. He added that, "In 2012 it narrowly missed many climbers."] According to writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer (born April 12, 1954) is an American writer and mountaineer. He is the author of bestselling non-fiction books—'' Into the Wild''; ''Into Thin Air''; ''Under the Banner of Heaven''; and '' Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat ...
, the 2014 ice avalanche was triggered when a block of ice "the size of a Beverly Hills mansion" broke off from the bulge.[
Conditions change regularly with the glacier's shifting ice, so climbing guides must find and maintain a new route through the icefall each season.]
Ice avalanche
At approximately 06:45 local time
Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...
(01:00 UTC,18 April 2014), an ice avalanche occurred on the southern side of Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
, at an elevation of approximately . Twenty-five men, mostly Sherpas, were buried in the avalanche. The group was fixing ropes and preparing the South Col
The South Col is a sharp-edged col between Mount Everest and Lhotse, the highest and fourth-highest mountains in the world, respectively. The South Col is typically swept by high winds, leaving it free of significant snow accumulation. Since 195 ...
route for fee-paying climbers during the upcoming climbing season. The accident zone, locally known as "the Golden Gate" or "Popcorn Field", lies within the Khumbu Icefall.
The ice avalanche came from a large serac breaking off on the slopes of Mount Everest's western shoulder. Despite most reporting, this was not an avalanche in the usual sense of the word as there was little snow involved and the large blocks of serac ice behave much more like a rockfall. The serac was estimated to have been 34.5 meters (113 ft) thick and to have had a mass of 14,300 tonnes (31.5 million pounds). Though there have been calls for construction of defensive structures, they are impossible on the scale necessary.
Victims
Sixteen people died in the disaster. Thirteen bodies were recovered within 48 hours, when search and rescue operations were called off due to "too much risk". Three victims are still buried in roughly of snow and ice. Nine other guides were also injured, including three who required intensive-care hospitalisation.
Four fatalities were Sherpas from Nepal's Solukhumbu District
Solukhumbu District ( ne, सोलुखुम्बु जिल्ला , Sherpa: , Wylie: shar khum bu dzong) is one of 14 districts of Province No. 1 of eastern Nepal. As the name suggests, it consists of the subregions Solu and Khumbu. ...
. Five were working for Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
, preparing for an upcoming special in which Joby Ogwyn
Joby Ogwyn ( ; born August 25, 1974) is an American mountain climber, BASE jumper and Wingsuit flyer.
Early life
Ogwyn grew up in Louisiana and studied business administration at the Centenary College of Louisiana. was planning to attempt a BASE jump from the mountain. No foreigners were killed. According to mountaineer Tim Rippel, the victims were moving slowly and carrying large "loads of equipment, tents, stoves, oxygen and so on up to stock camps" when the avalanche occurred. The Sherpas had started out in early morning but were delayed by poor climbing conditions. The second unit crew of disaster movie ''Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heigh ...
'' (2015) were filming nearby, but suffered no injuries or fatalities; Sherpas involved with the film's production gave assistance after the avalanche. In total, the search and rescue team included nine Sherpas and three foreigners.
The 2014 disaster is the second-deadliest disaster in Everest's history, only superseded by avalanches that struck the southern side of the mountain the following year, on 25 April 2015, triggered by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal.
Reactions
Rippel reported "everyone is shaken here at base camp". Some of the climbers immediately packed up their belongings and left.
In addition to mandatory insurance policies paying US$10,000 to guides' families, the Nepalese government announced compensation of Nepali Rs. 40,000 ($400) each as immediate relief to the victims' next of kin.[ This government offering, which only covers funeral costs, angered Sherpas and was dismissed by the ]Nepal Mountaineering Association The Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) is the national mountaineering association of Nepal. The NMA was founded in 1973 with the goals of promoting mountaineering activities in the Himalaya, providing safety awareness and mountaineering skills t ...
(NMA).[ The NMA announced they would stop work in seven days' time if compensation of US$10,000 were not paid to families of the dead, injured and missing. They further demanded a ]memorial
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
to the dead, the doubling of insurance coverage to $20,000 and government payment of medical bills. According to unverified reports, 350 guides voted to suspend operations on Everest. Other reports said the guides agreed to unspecified "strong protests".
On 21 April, eight of the dead were ceremoniously driven through Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
and then cremated
Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...
in a Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
religious ceremony. On 22 April, the Sherpas announced they would not work on Everest for the rest of 2014 out of respect for the victims. Tulsi Gurung said: "We had a long meeting this afternoon and we decided to stop our climbing this year to honour our fallen brothers. All Sherpas are united in this."[ The fate of 334 climbing permits sold at $10,000 each is uncertain.] By 24 April, almost all expeditions had decided to abandon their climbing plans; the 600 mountaineers who were at Base Camp before the avalanche was down to 40 or 50.[
On 23 April, the Nepalese government announced it would give an additional 500,000 Nepali Rs. (approx. US$5,100) to the families of the dead climbers. Although these funds started to be paid in December 2014, it was reported in January 2015 that the bereaved Sherpa families were further angered because the money could only be obtained if they presented documentation in Kathmandu, which is impossible for many of those who live in the Khumbu region.
Discovery cancelled Ogwyn's planned BASE jump shortly after the ice avalanche struck, and announced it would broadcast a documentary about the tragedy.] Entitled ''Everest Avalanche Tragedy'', the 90-minute programme was shown on 4 May. The company also said it would make a donation to the American Himalayan Foundation Sherpa Family Fund, a charity supporting the families of those who died in the disaster.
Following the accident, the NMA president Ang Tsering Sherpa proposed installing avalanche-prevention barriers similar to those found above European ski resorts.[ He said: "We should ... adopt some precautionary measure – learning from owmountains re managedin developed countries where they adopt measures to avoid avalanches by putting some kind of wood or some concrete so that it helps make it safe."][ It is very doubtful however if any defensive structures are feasible for events of this size.
The 2015 documentary '']Sherpa Sherpa may refer to:
Ethnography
* Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal
* Sherpa language
Organizations and companies
* Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility
* ...
'' explores reactions to the avalanche after filmmakers were on location when it occurred.
Effects and aftermath
Post-disaster ascents in 2014
The first post-avalanche ascent of Mount Everest via the South Col route was on 23 May 2014, by Chinese businesswoman Wang Jing, together with five sherpas. Her ascent sparked controversy, as she bypassed the Khumbu Icefall
The Khumbu Icefall is located at the head of the Khumbu Glacier and the foot of the Western Cwm, which lies at an elevation of on the Nepali slopes of Mount Everest, not far above Base Camp and southwest of the summit. The icefall is considered ...
by helicopter, which took her to ;[ this decision was made because the 2014 ropes and ladders had been removed.] She made her ascent without new rope lines, and beyond the usual 14:00 cut-off time, and made her descent in the dark. Tamding Sherpa, the leader of the team that Wang was planning to use before her original expedition was called off as a result of the disaster, stated that he considered her ascent to be "cheating".[
]
Changes in 2015
As a result of the dangers of the normal route
A normal route or normal way (french: voie normale; german: Normalweg) is the most frequently used route for ascending and descending a mountain peak. It is usually the simplest route.
Overview
In the Alps, routes are classed in the following way ...
up the left side of the icefall, the Nepali authorities announced in February 2015 that a new route, up the centre of the icefall, would be followed instead. According to the director of the Nepali government’s Department of Tourism, Tulasi Prasad Gautam, "In response to the last year’s avalanche we are trying to make Everest climbing a little safer by avoiding the old route."[
In addition, the insurance for each Sherpa in 2015 was raised to $15,000 from $11,000.]
See also
* List of deaths on eight-thousanders
The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains that rise more than above sea level; they are all in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges.
This is a list of mountaineers who have died on these mountains.
Mount Everest
Mount Everest, E ...
* List of people who died climbing Mount Everest
At least 310 people have died attempting to reach the summit of Mount Everest which, at , is Earth's highest mountain and a particularly desirable peak for mountaineers. The most recent years without known deaths on the mountain are 1977, in whic ...
* 1970 Mount Everest disaster
* ''Sherpa'' (film)
References
External links
EverestAvalancheTragedy.com
is Discovery's site on the disaster and donations to victims of it.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Everest ice avalanche, 2014
2014 in Nepal
2014 natural disasters
Mount Everest
Mountaineering disasters
Natural disasters in Nepal
April 2014 events in Asia
Avalanches in Nepal
2010s avalanches