UKC

From Tim Mosedale, Lukla, Nepal.

I regret to report that there was a very unfortunate incident a couple of days ago on Ama Dablam when part of the right hand side of the Dablam collapsed and basically destroyed Camp 3. It happened on the morning that I was leaving Base Camp (13th) with my clients and we knew that there was a very strong possibility that there were fatalities involved. Our suspicions were realised the following morning when we were able to see the mountain from near Namche Bazaar from where it became clear what had happened.

I have waited for the news to be reported elsewhere (headlines are now on everestnews and explorersweb) before coming forward - and I also wanted to make sure that the next of kin had been informed (which I presume will have happened by now).

I am due back in to Kathmandu tomorrow and hope to be able to put a full report with photos on to my website.

Thankfully all my group are fine although saddened by the tragedy. 6 summitted and 3 had been at Camp 3 the night before the incident.

My sincere condolances to those who have lost friends or relatives.

In reply to timmy m:

Oh god, that's terrible news

Amongst those missing are two from Adventure Peaks: Duncan Williams who I met on a pre expedition training weekend and Mingma Sherpa who was one of our Sherpas on Everest this year.

Very sad news.

In reply to Conan: 4 french climbers also missing
Depuis 48 heures la grande famille de l'alpinisme est plongée dans l'inquiétude. On est en effet sans nouvelle de quatre alpinistes français, partis de Grenoble, pour conquérir un sommet de 6000 mètres dans l'Himalaya. Les disparitions de Stéfan Cieslar, Jean-Baptiste Moreau, Raphael Perrissin et Vincent Villedieu, âgés de 28 à 36 ans, ont été signalés à l'ambassade de France de Katmandou (Népal) le 8 novembre.
Vincent Villedieu, un des quatre alpinistes est originaire de Chalon-sur-Saône. Avec ses trois compères, ils étaient partis le 12 octobre à l'assaut du sommet Paldor, situé à 70 kilomètres au nord de Katmandou. Ils devaient retrouver deux amies, le 5 novembre, au terme de leur ascension. Ces sont ces amies qui ont donné l'alerte.

http://www.kairn.com/montagne/news.html

In reply to timmy m: Shocking and very sad news. I have a friend who is due to be on the mountain around this time - Chris Goddard - anyone know if he's ok?

In reply to timmy m:

That's terrible news. My condolences to all involved.

In reply to timmy m:


Sounds like you and your group had luck on your side with leaving at the right time.

That really is sad and terrible news. My thoughts are with their families and friends. Condolences to everyone involved also.

In reply to michael lawrence:

Hi Michael,


I know chris - he is a client of mine (and what a nice guy to boot).

Anyway I saw Chris this morning and he is on the way in to the mountain as we speak. He's on the Jagged Globe trip and I was on the look out for them. I have had a chat with their leader (Neal Short - another friend of mine) and have tried to help him where possible.

I don't know whether they will still try and climb (the authorities MAY close the mountain for a while or then again the group (or their Sherpas) may decide they don't want to risk it).

Anyway Neal knows about it and I have offered him unlimited use of my store of gear at Pangboche if they need to use it.

In reply to timmy m: Cheers Tim, I was bloody worried!! Still terribly sad that others have been less fortunate and condolences to all those concerned.

I knew Chris had climbed with you; he had a lot of work to do to get up to the required grade for Ama Dablam but he'd said how good you'd been with him. Let's hope he does get a crack at the mountain but more than anything that he gets it done safe and sound.

Regards,

Michael.

In reply to michael lawrence:

Yep - fingers crossed. If I hear anything else I'll let you know.

In reply to timmy m: are the three guys that were limpeted on to your permit ok? I bumped into them on the way to our hill in late october.

In reply to alasdair19:
Yep they are fine too. Scott and Jason both summited but Kingsley had a chest infection that wouldn't clear up and he left a few days early.

In reply to michael lawrence: Chris is fine, we're still three days away from base camp. Saw the scene today from Everest View hotel. too early to tell yet what it means for climbers on their way to the mountain. We'll know soon enough.
Angus (in NB with JG)

In reply to Angus Macdonald: Hey chief, stay safe out there!

In reply to timmy m:

For those who haven't seen the other thread I have posted, I have put an incident report along with a photo of the devastation caused to Camp 3 on my website.

Go to http://www.timmosedale.co.uk where there is a link on the front page.

In reply to timmy m:

tim - thanks for the effort - especially the tabbed-up photograph.
it really puts this tragic event into scale.

In reply to mattjames:

No probs. Just trying to put things in perspective and stop the gossip spreading with rumours.

Talking of which ... I have seen another thread on explorersweb and there is a certain amount of speculation about bad tent positioning and numbers. Well all I can say is that when we were there we didn't have any problems with tent spaces and by the time we were doing the business on the mountain there were only about 6 other expeditions around.

As to whether the tent platforms were sited in a dodgy position - I would say that is absolute tosh. They were in roughly the same position as they have been in the passed 4 years. They definitely were not too far to the left and they certainly could not have been positioned any further right as the slope angled off too much (one of the guys speculating about bad tent sites didn't even get to Camp 3!!).

The last thing to bear in mind is that the WHOLE of Camp 3 was affected in some way - either by the serac fall / avalanche or the fact that part of Camp 3 literally fell off the mountain (see photo on my website). I can't see that anywhere would have escaped a disaster of this magnitude.

In reply to timmy m: Having been up there, I'd agree with Tim; the whole site was hit.

An avalanche coming round the right of the Dablam just missed my Sherpa and I ay 1315hrs. The only evidence that there had ever been anything there were two small sections of fixed rope (nowhere near the route) and a metal spoon.

A very sad day.

Steve Gandy

In reply to timmy m:

Hi Tim

I'm wondering how Ken M got on?

He's a mate. Relieved to see that your group weren't involved.

Cheers

Rob

In reply to Anonymous:

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the concern ! I summited (at the second attempt) and got back down safely. Now in Kathmandu buying souvenirs & flying home this afternoon. I'll be in touch when I get back.

A great trip to a brilliant mountain, but such a terrible end to it with the avalanche.

Ken

In reply to Ken in Kathmandu: Good effort! I'm just a bit jealous!! See u when u get back. Rob

Thanks Tim for the effort you have gone to on here.

Found out at college (Newton Rigg) this morning and my heart jumped in to my throat as chris was teaching me canoeing only 3 weeks ago!!

My thoughts are with all those affected.

Sarah