13th body pulled from snow in Everest avalanche

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Search teams recovered a 13th body yesterday from the snow and ice covering a dangerous climbing pass on Mount Everest, where an avalanche a day earlier swept over a group of Sherpa guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak.

Another three guides remained missing, and searchers were working quickly to find them in case weather conditions deteriorated, said Maddhu Sunan Burlakoti, head of the Nepalese government's mountaineering department. But the painstaking effort involved testing the strength of newly fallen snow and using extra clamps, ropes and aluminum ladders to navigate the treacherous Khumbu icefall, a maze of immense ice chunks and crevasses.

The avalanche slammed into the guides about 6:30 a.m. Friday near the "popcorn field," a section of the Khumbu known for its bulging chunks of ice.

About 25 Sherpa guides were among the first people making their way up the mountain this climbing season. They were hauling gear to the higher camps that their foreign clients would use in attempting to reach the summit next month.

One survivor told his relatives that the path had been unstable just before the snow slide hit at an elevation near 19,000 feet. The area is considered particularly dangerous due to its steep slope and deep crevasses that cut through the snow and ice covering the pass year round.

As soon as the avalanche occurred, rescuers, guides and climbers rushed to help, and all other climbing was suspended.

Seven of the 12 bodies pulled out and brought down Friday were handed over to their families in the Everest region, while the other five were taken to Katmandu, Nepal's capital.

Four survivors were conscious and being treated in the intensive care units of several Katmandu hospitals for broken ribs, fractured limbs, punctured lungs and skin abrasions, according to Dr. C.R. Pandey from Grande Hospital. Others were treated for less serious injuries at the Everest base camp.

Hundreds of climbers, guides and support crews had been at Everest's base camp preparing to climb the 29,035-foot peak when weather conditions are most favorable next month. The Sherpa guides from each expedition team had been working to prepare the path.

One survivor, Jon Reiter, wrote on his blog, "We are shaken but OK."

The contractor from Northern California told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that he will likely wait a few days before continuing his ascent of Everest-- the final challenge in his goal to climb the highest peak on each continent.

"One thought is that we were so lucky," Reiter, 49, wrote. "But the overwhelming feelings are for the poor families of the people that didn't make it."