My heart is in Nepal

Although a few teams still stay at the Base Camp on the Nepalese side of Mount Everest, the spring climbing season in Nepal seems to be de facto as good as finished. Whether on Everest or the eight-thousanders Makalu, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri, the majority of climbers have packed up and made their way back. In Tibet, where the Chinese authorities forbade any further mountain activities on the eight-thousanders, the expedition leaders are organizing the return home of their climbers via Lhasa and Beijing instead of the otherwise usual way back via Kathmandu. The departure by land to Nepal is currently not possible.

The road via the border town of Kodari will potentially be impassible for years, Dominik Mueller reported. The expedition leader and head of the German operator Amical alpin, has ensured that his members return via Lhasa. Ralf Dujmovits and the Canadian Nancy Hansen who had already stayed at Advanced Base Camp at 6,400 meters, meanwhile also returned to „Chinese Base Camp“ at 5,150 meters.

More than 6,200 dead in Nepal

According to the Nepalese Association of Trekking Agencies (TAAN), about 450 injured were rescued from different parts of the country yesterday. 29 helicopters were in use, more than 100 flights were made. Hundreds of trekking tourists and climbers in Khumbu, Langtang and Annapurna region are still waiting for an opportunity to return to Kathmandu. The Nepalese government has shifted commercial flights to nighttime to make sure that the capital’s airport is not congested during daytime for rescue flights. Furthermore, many regions are cut off. More than 6,200 dead and about 14,000 injured have been registered, the number of victims is rising every hour. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged. The Nepalese government has created a website where all the information about the earthquake (including rescue operations, missing persons, number of victims) are bundled.

P. S. I will be now two days offline. On Sunday I’ll be back.