This video shows the earthquake/avalanche hitting the outskirts of base camp. Sorry I haven’t written for a while and thanks for all the wishes and prayers when it hit, I took a break from blogging and training over the Summer months though have still been doing some talks in the UK and US.
The 25th April was a rest day for us, we had been up and stayed at Camp 1 and we were due to go up to Camp 1 and then 2 that very night. We were relaxing in base camp, I was resting in my tent late morning with one thin layer of clothes on as inside the tents it’s quite warm during the day.
Then the earth started violently shaking. Earthquakes are unusual things, when you have never been in one it takes a little while for the brain to register exactly what is happening. Having been in one previously I knew immediately what it was. I expected it to stop and nothing to happen but I heard a “crack” and thought I should check just in case. One of my tent mates asked what was happening and I shouted earthquake. I looked out of my tent door and saw the familiar mountains with one difference, there was a 2-300m high tsunami of snow and ice coming towards base camp at a high speed. Instead of a normal avalanche which would fall harmlessly to the base of the valley mountains the earthquake shook what was probably years of glacier off the top of the mountain which fell a couple of km and smashed into the ground creating what was essentially a bomb blast. Scientists believe it was travelling at up to 300km/hr. Three thoughts went through my head, that I couldn’t outrun this but I could try and get to lower ground to minimise the impact, that this seemed unfair as base camp is typically a very safe place with danger on the mountain, and that this was something way bigger than I could control and I might well die.
I ran past 8 of our tents and past the rocks to the lower ground towards the icefall when the blast hit me. It was such a force I don’t know whether it carried me or smashed me to the ground straight away but everything was white as the air filled with snow and ice and other projectiles. I forced myself to my feet as in conventional avalanches the biggest risk is suffocation, it was difficult to breathe and I was knocked to the ground again. I forced myself back up and slowly it became easier to breathe as the world stopped moving. As things settled it became clear there was only a foot or so of extra snow, had I known it would be more of a blast than a deep avalanche I would have sheltered behind a big rock but the benefit of hindsight... Items such as our gas oven (brought up by yak) and ice axes etc. were found between one and five hundred metres away so I was lucky not to be hit by any of these! I was covered in cuts from head to toe with one layer of thin thermals covered in blood and ice. (One newspaper amusingly reported that I was making a run for it in my socks which conjures up a different image and whilst technically true forgot to mention my thermals!); Selina a team mate shouted for help to get Paul who was in a bad way onto a mat, I did the little I could to help her move him before the doctor came.
I then realised that hypothermia was beginning to set in and I was also in quite a lot of pain, it was snowing and being covered in ice wasn’t helping. I looked to where my tent should be and most of our tents were just gone, including ironically our strong mess tent designed for disasters! I went and scavenged in the icefall and very luckily found a down suit which we go to the top in- unfortunately it was my team mate Gavins’ and quite short on me but helped me begin to warm my core. I told some of my mobile team mates that I was beginning to show signs of hypothermia and asked if they could help, Michele kindly gave me a pair of gloves and Chris and others helped with a hat, sleeping bag and other layers. We had one tent semi standing which I got into. It took me a few hours to stop shivering and overcome the initial stages of hypothermia. During this time the film crew Mike and Sierra came up from the village they were staying in and they were shocked by what they saw. I was thankful they weren’t staying with us in base camp as it also meant David our team leader and Gavin were out with them too so avoiding the main avalanche. Some of the team were fine as they had been closer to a more sheltered position at the bottom of camp, another had similar injuries to me. Unfortunately we did however lose the larger than life member of our team Dan Fredinburg who died instantly. Dan was a constant source of high energy and humour throughout the expedition. RIP Dan.
It became harder for me to breathe and I could feel liquid in one of my lungs which made me cough which was agonising. Those fully mobile had found and put up a couple of tents on the icefall which were to be used higher on the mountain and some snacks and liquid. Avalanches kept going off around us along with small tremors. Those mobile and in my tent kept running out. I thought I could just about crawl out but not do much more than that and it would involve a lot of pain so mainly stayed still. Logically I knew that everything significant should have come off the mountains but there was still that small doubt in my head. The Sherpa recommended everyone go down to the nearest village Gorak Shep. There was disagreement on the best strategy as no-one knew how it was down there and at least there was now shelter and some food in base camp. Mike and Sierra were torn whether to stay or not, I said they should leave as there was no point all of us being in danger but it was sad to see them go. I knew I was in too bad a way to make it down whilst still daylight, compounded much further by a lack of footwear, jacket, gloves etc. Some of us did however move down to one of the less affected camps about 1km away at the bottom of base camp. It took a long time and my team mates were great in helping me navigate what were the most slippery bits of ice as the last thing I wanted to do was fall as each breath hurt. I then saw a couple of doctors in a hospital tent who thankfully confirmed by head wound was ok but that I had broken ribs. They emphasised it was important for me to keep clearing my lung under the ribs or there was danger of pneumonia. Every cough was agony even with the painkillers I was given. I had the choice of sleeping in a communal tent with my friends or a hospital tent and I chose the communal tent. It was a cold long night with zero sleep, the odd tremor and avalanche and mainly pain from my ribs. The camp was however example of how everyone pulls together in emergency offering food and shelter to all who came.
There were no helicopters that day because of the snow falling and no visibility. Thankfully the morning brought a break in the weather and helicopters who started to evacuate the severely wounded. I was analysed by a few more doctors and put with the walking wounded. I was lucky enough to get evacuated out and down to a makeshift hospital at a lower altitude. It was a relief to go down in altitude as you know that things always improve lower down with more oxygen. I only spent an hour there before being put on another helicopter to Lukla. I was assessed again there by two doctors and told I’d probably be there a week before I got lucky and the army put me on a helicopter down to Kathmandu. There some ambulances picked us up, they dropped me at the entrance to the airport saying there was a Gurkha medic there I could see (we had a co-team of Gurkhas). As it transpired there wasn’t so I was stuck with no money, no cards, no phone at the airport. Since I knew my injuries were flesh wounds and broken ribs which no doctor could help with other than provide painkillers I decided to go to a hotel which had my passport. I convinced a taxi driver to take me to the hotel, hoping I could convince the hotel to pay the taxi driver! It was in Kathmandu I realised the earthquake had hit the whole of Nepal and wasn’t an Everest incident, we had had no communications before that.
I called my parents when I got to the hotel and for the first time in my adult life had to ask for some cash as mine was all taken by the avalanche, despite everything, it did amuse me that here I was 39 years of age asking mum and dad to bail me out!! Good to have help you can rely on though and they also did their best to push to get me on a flight out though in the end we had to wait for a further 5 days. It was surreal looking at twitter and emails and seeing how events had unfolded in the 30 hours I had been offline... The UK and US media went a bit crazy, I hadn’t slept for 36 hours but said I was happy to do interviews provided they mentioned the CF Trust which I was trying to raise money and profile for. www.virginmoneygiving.com/CFvs.Everest. My dad and friend Sandy were great in helping out with all of this.
The hotel kept shaking from tremors and it didn’t help being on the 3rd floor but at least I had a bed and was becoming better at the crab like manoeuvres needed to get out of bed as painlessly as possible. You could see the impact of the earthquake with limited supplies and water getting through. I had a hospital visit to check out my injuries and was lucky enough to get out of Nepal quite quickly.
I went back to work immediately not because of any expectation from RICS who were great and would let me have whatever time I needed but because I figured I might as well be at work doing something constructive whilst in pain as at home doing nothing in pain! My injuries were painful for a period of time but I was running again within a couple of months and I am now back to a better fitness level than this time last year.
Over 9,000 people died in Nepal, you can help by giving to one of the aid agencies helping them rebuild or by going on a trek. Many of the Nepalese rely on tourism and it’s important for the survival of many that it returns. In the same way that people go back to Thailand and Indonesia I hope that people will return to Nepal. If you do go on a trek, make sure you use an ethical company which looks after its’ staff, and not one of the ones that cuts costs and corners...
