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A fleet of helicopters is rescuing mountaineers stuck on Mount Everest with diminishing food and fuel supplies, after the earthquake destroyed routes leading back to the base camp. And it is now unlikely anyone will be able to climb the mountain for the rest of the year, according to expedition leaders.
Saturday's devastating earthquake and further tremors on Sunday pulled apart ice on the Khumbu Icefall that separates the base camp from the route up to the summit. While there were fewer injuries among those climbers higher up in camps one and two, they were left struggling to find a way back down the mountain.
The earthquake also knocked loose a huge block of ice above base camp, which triggered an avalanche that killed 19 people, reportedly including one Australian, three Americans and five Nepalese. Casualties and severely injured climbers were transported by helicopter from base camp to nearby towns.
Early on Monday morning a flurry of helicopters carried hundreds of climbers, guides and sherpas over the Khumbu crossing and back to base camp. Operations co-ordinator Steve Moffat, of New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants, said several helicopters were already at base camp when the earthquake struck.
"I believe they are doing a pretty good job today and hoping they will get everybody off the mountain," he said on Monday afternoon. Flying conditions had been good in the morning but worse in the afternoon, he said.
"As of 9.30am Nepal-time we have all of our team down from camp one and they are all now safe and sound at Everest base camp." Sadly five local sherpas working for Adventure Consultants were killed when the avalanche hit the base camp.
Hundreds of people were now at base camp sharing supplies after many tents were destroyed in the avalanche, Mr Moffat said. They would probably start walking to Lukla in coming days, from where they could catch a domestic flight to Kathmandu airport.
Meanwhile, the general manager of Intrepid Travel, Steve Wroe, said it was now unlikely that anyone would climb Mount Everest this year.
"I would be very surprised if any expeditions went ahead at this stage," he said. Without a safe path across the Khumbu crossing it would be impossible for anyone to get beyond base camp.
Intrepid had 166 customers in Nepal when the earthquake struck, including 80 Australians, but all were safe. Mr Wroe said he was concerned about hundreds of sherpas who usually spend April preparing the camps above base camp for climbers, but said the latest news was that the people at camps one and two were safe.
A climber who survived the deadly avalanche at Mount Everest base camp said dozens of people were trapped on the side of the mountain as rescuers battled dangerous conditions. Veteran Himalayan guide Gyan Tamang spoke via satellite phone to his brother, Tika Tamang.
Tika Tamang said his brother told him rescuers were evacuating the dead and injured in helicopters but that up to 50 people remained trapped at the two camps above where the avalanche fell. Climbers were unable to make their way back down the mountain because the main crossing had been destroyed.
"They can't get through Khumbu Icefall because the route is collapsed," he said. "It's like a moving river, everything has broken down."
Mr Tamang, who co-founded Australian company The Everest Academy with Melbourne man Nick Farr, said most companies would cancel their expeditions due to poor conditions on the mountain.
He said his brother and others at base camp had enough food and water and were hopeful they would make it back to Kathmandu in the next few days.
"He said he was OK but that so many people died there," Mr Tamang said. "Everybody is trying to finish the expedition ... to come back down."
Staff from United States-based International Mountain Guides surveyed the Khumbu glacier from the air at the weekend but could not see a safe path. Aftershocks made it dangerous to try crossing the Icefall, which has deep crevices and large ice cliffs and requires ropes and ladders.
"Bottom line is that the route is badly broken up, many ladders are lost, and ropes buried," expedition leader Eric Simonson reported on the company's blog. IMG was also hoping to evacuate its climbers using helicopters.
