Everest Rescue Underway

[LetsGoHigher]

It's not a risky rescue and there aren't high mountain logistics to deal with but I can't imagine the enormity of this project. Thank God no one seems to be hurt.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/07/world/asi ... ?hpt=hp_t2

[Jim Davies]

2200 people stuck at a small-town airport by weather. Not a catastrophe by most standards. Also, the elevation there is only about 9400'. But "thousands stranded on Mount Everest" makes such a delicious headline...

[TravelingMatt]

If those folks are "stranded near Everest", then the Occupy Denver protestors are hanging from the side of Longs.

[14erFred]

Jim's right -- the journalist's definition of the term "near" is questionable. It's roughly 40 miles and 8,200 vertical feet from Lukla to the Everest base camp. Such distorted journalistic sensationalism attracts readers, but undermines credibility. The news article's author seems to adhere to Mark Twain's 1894 prescription, "Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it." Still, hoping that all are rescued safely.

[cheeseburglar]

I hope they don't run out of chang and momos!
When I was there it was understood that you could get stuck in Lucla for a week. I wonder if people forgot that?

[Robzilla]

Yeah, the travel guide books I have are pretty clear about how spotty air travel is due to weather and how common being stuck can be. I believe they quoted a pilot as saying something to the effect of "we don't fly in bad weather because up here the clouds have rocks in them".

[coloradokevin]

Gotta love the media. If there's one thing I've learned through my years in law enforcement, it is simply that the media usually won't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

[Kevo]

Some of the comments on the news story are gold. People really have no idea or understanding of geography.

Worst case scenario...hike to Jiri and get on a bus.

...or bribe the right person (knowing who to bribe is key) with a few dollars and get flown out first thing the next day.

Been there, done that...will be back there to do it again.

[Scott P]

When I was there it was understood that you could get stuck in Lucla for a week. I wonder if people forgot that?

I would guess that they did understand that they could wait a week and that was part of the problem.

I assume the "rescue" was because there were an unusual amount of people in Lukla. 2200 people is a lot of extra people to be waiting at a tiny village of a few hundred people, especially a village that is short on resources, has no roads and which relies on air travel for supplies. That many people expecting to wait around the week probably stretched the resources pretty thin. A few hundred people waiting around might be OK, but a few thousand is an aweful lot. It's a lot of people to walk out of Jiri and try to find a bus too!

[jrbren_vt]

The top of Everest is indisputable, where is the bottom is debatable. To me Lukla is not "on Everest" by any definition of Everest I agree with. There is no rescue here. It is just trekkers stuck at an airport due to weather. They are in a town and are in no danger. As stated, worst case you walk back. It's all down hill to Kathmandu (other then the uphill parts ).

[peter303]

Were there any successful Everest summits during the smaller autumn season this year?
I checked the two main news sites everestnews and explorersweb and didnt see any.
There were several 8000m autumn expeditions elsewhere and a major Korean climbing tragedy.
These sites depend on blog self-reporting for news, so we get a lot of commercial noise.

[Shawnee Bob]

Gotta love the media. If there's one thing I've learned through my years in law enforcement, it is simply that the media usually won't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Part of what I do for a living is write headlines. What I wrote for an update on this was, "Fog lifts, stranded Everest trekkers clear out".

I think that was accurate, because the bulk of the people there were trekkers heading out to Everest base camp, or returning from it. The story, from AP, wrote that they were in "the Mount Everest region." I'd take that to mean they were in the Himalayan foothills within the vicinity of Everest. Not sure how you'd quantify that.

Over the years, I've worked with a lot of law enforcement. Can't say any of them ever complained about the accuracy of what I wrote. But we're easy targets.