Avalanches at Mount Everest Base Camp
This is a picture of an avalanche about five seconds before it covered our camp in a layer of snow. Everest Base Camp, April 19, 2010.
By Marshall Thompson
My first night in base camp I woke up to what I thought was a jet flying overheard. Upon short reflection I realized this would be impossible since jets don’t generally fly over Mount Everest. That was my first experience with an avalanche at base camp. Since then, I’ve become use to the fairly regularly thundering of cascading ice and snow. This morning, however, was exceptional.
I heard such a loud boom that I knew it had to be close. I jumped out of my sleeping bag, grabbed my camera and poked it out of the tent just in time to capture this picture of a massive cloud of snow heading my way. I caught it on video until it over took the camp and filled my tent with a light drift of snow. It was amazing. It was the first time I’ve ever been avalanched on.
It’s amazing to see these mountains in the process of change. Every physical feature on earth is experiencing erosion to some degree, but the Himalayas are on a different level. Daily avalanches are constantly throwing rock and debris down from the top and cutting deep between the peaks. Massive glaciers are scraping down as well like big blue tongues carving up the mountains before your eyes.
Wow!What a breath taking experience that would be. How I wish I could experienced the same.