A trekker has told Sky News of how he escaped the worst of a snowstorm near Everest that left hundreds of people stranded.
Speaking on The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee, Rob Mason described seeing a body brought down from the world’s highest mountain after he and his friends completed a charity trek to the base camp.
Mr Mason, from Jersey, said he and his six friends were caught in the blizzard that left at least one person dead and many others trapped near the eastern face of the peak in Tibet.
Hundreds of hikers were stuck by unseasonal deep snow over the weekend after an unusually powerful blizzard dumped heavy snowfall in the Himalayas.
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Rob Mason on the trek up Mount Everest. Pic: Rob Mason
Rescue efforts after hundreds of hikers were trapped by heavy snow on Mount Everest in Tibet. Pic: AP
Mr Mason said they were heading down the mountain on the Nepal side when rain and thunderstorms hit, and “went on for about 18 hours”.
He told Sarah-Jane Mee that a “substantial amount of rain fell as heavy snow higher up, de-stabilising the area and trapping those who were higher up the mountain”.
A path that his group was following down on the lower slopes was taken away by a landslide just 12 hours after they used it, he said.
His party was one of the last groups to get past before it was washed away, after which, “it became impassable, so alternative, higher, routes had to be taken”.
His trek ended in the town of Lukla, in the province of Koshi in northeastern Nepal, he said.
Whilst “grounded” there, “we were hearing stories coming down the mountain of about other groups being airlifted where they could be or others being locked down in their tea houses to wait it out until conditions improved.
“While we were at Lukla helipad, we saw the recovery of a body of somebody who’d been taken ill on the mountain and, sadly, the emergency services weren’t able to get to them in time.”
Rob Mason and his daughter, Kezia. Pic: Family
The trek to Everest was organised to raise money for Kezia’s Fund, a charity established in memory of Mr Mason’s daughter, “our beautiful Kezia”, as he described her, who took her own life three years ago.
When they reached the base camp, they left a green heart, a symbol of remembrance for Kezia, on one of the prayer flags at the site in her memory.
The group left a green heart, a symbol of remembrance for Kezia, on one of the prayer flags at the base camp. Pic: Rob Mason
Rob Mason clipped the heart, a symbol of remembrance for Kezia, on one of the prayer flags. Pic: Rob Mason
Mr Mason admitted he found the hike “a huge personal challenge” as, he said, he’s “not really built for endurance things” and said they enjoyed enormous luck, especially with timing.
“We had amazingly good weather for our trek up, but it changed so quickly. Our base camp day, we had about three inches of snow. We were fairly comfortable getting down until the last couple of days but then it really hit hard and it really hit fast.
“And we were passing many people on the trail who were just on their way up, so they were heading into this storm as we’d just come out of it.
“The vast majority of people who were trapped were on the Tibetan side. We were on the Nepalese side.
“But one of the first things we heard – we were trying to get out at that point – the Nepalese government had instructed all helicopters were for search and rescue missions only. That was when stories started to filter down the mountain about how severe it was where we’d been just 48 hours earlier.”
A total of 580 trekkers along with more than 300 guides, yak herders and other support staff were taken off the mountain, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday, in one of the largest search-and-rescue operations in the region.
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The green heart was left in remembrance of Rob’s daughter, Kezia. Pic: Rob Mason
The charity hike will “hopefully raise about £20,000” for the fund, which provides grants to local organisations working to improve mental health for young people in Jersey.
Since its launch, the fund has awarded more than £200,000 in grants.
More than 540,000 tourists visited the Everest region last year, a new record, although the area is temporarily closed to the public, the agency said.
