COMMENDABLE EARTHQUAKE RELIEF WORK BY SAMIR PATHAM SON OF ADMIRAL PATHAM

Adventure Pulse - Avalanche account > The details of their account is as follows: > > Samir Patham, age 32 and Sauraj Jhingan age 30, both of whom are directors of Adventure Pulse are the only team from Pune to run and organise their own expedition to the summit of Mount Everest this year. Samir is son of a retired Admiral of the Indian Navy and Sauraj's father is a retired Major General from te Indian army. They are both professional mountaineers, in addition to holding MBA degrees, and have completed the Advanced mountaineering courses from the prestigious Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi and have climbed a number of peaks Mount Kilimajaro, Africa, Island peak, Lobouche peak and Mera peak in Nepal and Stok kangri and Mount Nun in Ladakh. The boys are currently on an expedition to summit Mount Everest and have chosen to stay and help with the rescue efforts for the climbers and support teams there in an effort to help those who need it the most. > > Their tents are located at the mouth of the Khumbu icefall, which is roughly in the middle of base camp. > > They were able to recover 75% of their equipment and material and their food rations as well. The avalanche destroyed a lot of the other camps and many climbers and Sherpas lost their tents, sleeping bags, rations and equipment and since these two are running their own expedition and have the experience and ability to help, they felt that they needed to stay back to provide whatever assistance they could in the aftermath of this tragedy. Therefore their plan is to hold strong and provide logistic support for those stranded there until they are able to recover and sustain themselves. > > The sequence of events: > > Both were at Everest base camp, having returned from high camp on Mount Pumori (the mountain from which the avalanche took place) as part of their acclimatisation schedule only the previous day. > > It was a regular day on the glacier. They were a little disappointed to see that the weather had taken a turn for the worse, having spent close to four weeks in very snowy conditions and had only enjoyed a few clear days that week during which they made their way through the Khumbhu Icefall up to camp 1 as per plan. They had climbed up to Pumori high camp the previous day and were resting at base camp intending to resume their rotations on Everest. They were sitting in their dining tent when they felt the earthquake. The tremors were followed almost immediately by the sound of avalanches so they stepped out quickly to try and spot the source and see which mountain it was coming down. Their immediate concern was the infamous LoLa glacier so they were busy scouting the slopes of Mount Lohtse and Mount Nupse little realising that danger was speeding down the slopes of Pumori behind them. It took them a few moments to orient themselves and locate the source of the avalanche by which time of course the avalanche was almost upon them! They immediately dove into their tents - Samir jumped into the dining tent and Sauraj went into the kitchen tent (which were the closest to them). They didn't have time to think or react and they had barely made it into the tents when the avalanche hit them. It hit their campsite and tore through the kitchen tent and since they could not close the tent flap in time, flowed through it ripping the canvas open from the top and then proceeded to level their entire camp. It all happened so quickly. Before they knew it, their tents were flattened completely and covered in about 6-8 inches of snow! Despite that however they stayed protected in the relative shelter of their camp and their entire team escaped with only minor injuries. They got out of their tents once they were sure that the danger had passed to take stock of their team and the damage and were shocked to see that all the tents that were 150 m below them(closer to Pumpori) had been entirely destroyed. The icefall was scattered with equipment and the skeletal structures of various tents. They spared a minute to thank God and the various powers for keeping them safe and then began to attempt to recover their supplies and equipment and offer whatever assistance they could to the other camps. > > Relief and first aid facilities available at their campsite: > > The Himalayan Rescue Association has a fully equipped medical station that it sets up at base camp for the climbing season every year. Unfortunately since they were closer to Pumori, their camp too got caught in the avalanche and they sustained heavy material losses. The Indian Army team also had a medical tent set up as well and, in true army style immediately went to the task of assisting the injured and locating missing climbers from the various other contingents. Two other well established companies, International mountain guides and Asian Trekking had set up their camps close to the entrance of base camp and were spared the worst of the avalanche so they converted their dining tents into makeshift medical camps as well. > > Now what:.... > > This is a difficult time for everyone and while avalanches are not uncommon in the Khumbu, earthquakes of this magnitude are quite rare. This particular one set off multiple avalanches in the area and in addition to the one down Pumori that hit base camp, it also triggered avalanches down the Lhotse and Nupse faces of the mountain. On Mount Everest, the quake caused hanging glaciers to fracture and release. The most significant of these fell from a hanging glacier on the northern shoulder of 23,494-foot Pumori, a prominent peak on the west side of Everest whose flanks form the basin where Base Camp sits. (If you're in Base Camp looking at Everest, it is directly behind you.) Typically, Base Camp is insulated from avalanches by distance—camps are set back several hundred yards from any avalanche path—and by a series of sand-trap-like moraine lakes and hillocks that cut short any falling debris. > > The boys chose to run their own expedition to the summit of Mount Everest and have organised it entirely by themselves in an effort to support the Sherpas, an incredible community of people who form the backbone of this profession and whom they have come to know very intimately over the last 5 years that they have been working with them. Our collective hearts go out to all the people who have been hit by this disaster both in India and in Nepal and our prayers and thoughts are with each of them. >