Search for Everest survivors halted

MUMBAI, India – Bill Burke, a 72-year-old mountaineer from Costa Mesa, Calif., was making his latest attempt to scale Mount Everest’s northern face when the news came of the deadliest avalanche ever on the world’s highest peak.

As many as 16 Nepalese mountain guides, all ethnic Sherpas, were killed Friday on the south side of the mountain, but Everest’s fraternity of climbers and their guides is small. The father of Burke’s Nepalese guide was among the dead; another Sherpa in his group lost two relatives, including a nephew.

“Virtually every Sherpa in our group was affected by this, indirectly or directly,” Burke said by telephone Sunday.

Thirteen bodies were recovered, but due to worsening weather rescuers on Sunday suspended the search for three Sherpas still buried under the snow and ice. Nepalese officials said it was unlikely that the operation would continue.

Although the official death toll remained at 13, “it is not possible to find the three missing persons, dead or alive,” said Lakpa Sherpa of the Himalayan Rescue Operation.

Several Sherpas who had advanced above the icefall were marooned there and officials said it could take days before they were rescued. The Sherpas had tents and enough food and water to last several days, officials said.

The avalanche occurred early Friday morning as about 60 Sherpas were ferrying tents and other supplies up the southern face of Everest for foreign clients who would begin scaling the mountain when the annual climbing season begins next month. Many climbers are well-heeled Westerners who can afford the $10,000 Nepalese government permit; their Sherpa guides can earn about $5,000 a year, a princely salary in impoverished Tibet.

More than 300 Sherpas have signed a petition to the Nepalese government saying that Everest summit attempts should be suspended this year out of respect for the dead. They also asked the government - which takes in $3.3 million a year in Everest climbing fees alone – to increase work death benefits to $10,000 from the current $400, cover medical costs for injuries sustained while climbing and provide disability benefits.