Dozens Stuck on Everest at 20,000 Feet With No Way to Base

Finance.yahoo.com

Ankur Bahl, a New Delhi shipping industry specialist, was ascending Mount Everest as part of a quest to climb the world’s tallest peaks when a devastating earthquake in Nepal stranded him about 21,000 feet above sea level.

Now Bahl, 54, is stuck at Camp 2, about halfway up the mountain, after the path down was blocked following avalanches, according to his wife Sangeeta. Over 200 climbers are stuck in either Camp 1 or Camp 2 and can’t get back to base camp, Zimba Zangbu Sherpa, immediate past president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said by phone on Monday.

Helicopter rescue operations will begin today, Sherpa said. Failure to evacuate the remaining climbers could add to the death toll on Everest, where at least 19 people including a Google Inc. executive have already died after Saturday’s earthquake. Many of those killed were at base camp, which was heavily damaged by boulders, snow and blocks of ice.

Bahl told his wife via satellite phone on Saturday that his group of 12 climbers felt the tremors while climbing to Camp 2 from Camp 1, which has an elevation of around 20,000 feet. He hung up because the phone was low on battery, and they haven’t spoken since...