Jamie Clarke’s Expedition Hanesbrands Everest Dispatch
April 19, 2010 – Surrounded by Avalanches at Everest Base Camp
Everest Base Camp is a noisy place. Living as we do on the Khumbu Glacier we get used to the creaks, groans and pops of the moving ice beneath us. During the long nights in our tents we frequently hear falling ice and rock from the steep mountain faces of Nuptse, Pumori and the West Shoulder of Everest.
In the past 24 hours we have also seen three impressive avalanches fall toward Base Camp. The beautiful, awe inspiring, but potentially disastrous power of nature is never far from our minds here at this small city on the glacier, Everest Base Camp.
When we hear a pop on the mountain we look up; sometimes a large cloud of spindrift forms ahead of the mass of moving ice.
The steep Lho La, the pass leading to Rongbuk Glacier in Tibet, is a frequent funnel for moving ice. The debris cone at the bottom is where this material finally rests.
The following morning, a big one came from Nuptse. Base camp was ”dusted” by spindrift from this one.