Heli evacuating climbers from Camps I & II

As of this morning, the ~170 climbers stranded in Camps I and II are being heli evac’ed to the relative safety of base camp via completely private efforts of the expeditions funding these flights flown by Fishtail Air and Simrek.

Avalanches continue to shower down from Lo La Pass, Pumori, and Nuptse, keeping anxiety high. The Kathmandu airport has shut down to commercial flights, only allowing humanitarian and military flights for the time-being, which is understandable given the extensive devastation. That likely means that we’ll remain here for the foreseeable future. The villages down valley have been heavily impacted, so staying put with all of our supplies makes the most sense currently.

Given the widespread destruction, the Sherpas need to return to their villages and families as soon as possible, of course with our blessing, so all expeditions are considering their limited extraction options.

As for how folks back home can help, which I have been asked a lot, please visit http://www.himalayan-foundation.org and donate to the American Himalayan Foundation, where 100% of donations go straight to recovery efforts.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-IRTB-29157

We are safe in Everest base camp. Tragic scene after yesterday’s events. The earthquake and many aftershocks caused many severe avalanches that left 19 dead with another 65+ seriously injured at base camp alone. My team is OK and helped with triage for many of the injured. It was clear enough this AM that all injured were flown down valley, but there is really nowhere to send them. Kathmandu hospitals are so overwhelmed that they are treating people in the street and trying to fly many injured to Delhi.

Our plan, for now, is to hang tight here in base camp where we are relatively safe. We hope to fly via heli as a team directly to Kathmandu and connect to a flight out of the country without having to leave the airport. That could take days or weeks. Highly uncertain at this point.

We have plenty of supplies, are in good health and are in a safe camp. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and fallen, and their families, from base camp, the Khumbu, Nepal and the rest of the affected region. More to follow as we know more.