KATHMANDU: There has been a lot of confusion around the avalanche occurred Monday on Yalung Ri. I am just tired to see all the cheap media reporting, it looks like copied paste non sense and presumption without verified facts (again and again).

The thing I know as a direct witness is that on Monday morning I was heading to Yalung Ri base camp to meet my fellow team mates who set up early morning to summit the mountain and get down with them. The following day we were going to start climbing a 6300m peak (Dolma Kang) with our dear friends. It was my next stage before going to cross Tashi Lapsa pass on my Great Himalaya Trail mission.

I arrived at base camp at around 9am, just before reaching heard a big noise. I saw the base camp team of various foreign groups climbing. Lined up staring at the mountain. No reply to my cheerful namaste. Something had happened.

I came towards them and asked what’s up. “Didi a huge avalanche just happened sweeping climbers away and no one is moving. One person is now moving down.”

I immediately used my satellite device and messaged my friend and expedition leader down in Na village to report the avalanche and ask for rescue. I asked the base camp team leader to give all the phone numbers he had and texted them all to ask for help.

I then set up to climb up the avalanche site to help and the team leader send one guy with me with hot water and food. Half way through the site we finally reach the guy coming down, our own lead guide injured who went down to find signal to immediately coordinate rescue, he briefed us about survivors and we concluded that I with the guy would go up to assist and he would make calls further down.

Arriving at avalanche site we met the survivors badly injured, we were digging one guide out of the snow and assisted everyone the best we could while checking if they were more survivors. Deceased people were also found.

We could dig a radio out to call base camp and ask updates about the rescue, keep on assisting the survivors during the day with the medicine painkillers we could find and survival blankets. I called so many time for the heli seeing survivors suffering so much and not knowing what could happen if they had to spend night here.

Our team leader in Na was as soon as he received my message already full gas on the rescue so efficiently. Unfortunately, the helicopter due to administrative issues of issuing a rescue permit to a restricted area and weather conditions deteriorated down the valley the helicopter arrived at the end of the day.

I called base camp as the sun were setting beside the mountain to ask to bring sleeping bags up there for survivors and hurried to base camp to see if I could bring further equipment in preparation of the night. Down in Na our leader already gather his squad for a night shift mission to protect survivors. Two survivors less injured could get down and two severely injured were brought to safety by this incredible crew taken to base camp by helicopter. A tent was set at avalanche site to spend the night.

We stayed at base camp in preparation for the early morning heli rescue (the heli stayed down in Na). First thing in the morning everyone was brought down to safety and airlifted in Kathmandu.

I landed at the helipod opened my phone and got a call from my best friend in Kathmandu crying, I didn’t understand. The avalanche accident had made headlines in some Nepali media quoting me and our expedition lead as dead…. Making all my network in Nepal spend the worse night of their life thinking I was gone when I myself wasn’t even supposed to summit that mountain.

Again, in this social media chaos and lack of critical thinking and fact check, disgusting poor behavior made only things worse. I call humanity to use their brain more, it’s really more powerful that Chat GPT.

Disclaimer: this is my version of how things unfolded as a witness and rescuer. It may be distorted given the stress I felt at the moment. I stayed deliberately vague on people and numbers of survivors/deceased, leaving this to official identification.

(From Kathmandu and alive.)