On the evening of October 4th, extreme blizzards suddenly struck the eastern slope of Mount Everest, potentially trapping nearly a thousand people. On October 5th, photographer Dong Shuchang, who evacuated to Qudang Town following a guide, recounted his harrowing escape from certain death.
According to a report by the “Daily Economic News” on the 6th, during the National Day holiday this year, numerous hiking groups gathered at Gama Gou. Dong Shuchang, an extreme photographer who was hiking there on October 4th, said, “We encountered three hiking groups, so there must have been several hundred people at Gama Gou. The camp where I stayed was almost full.”
This was Dong Shuchang’s first time taking the eastern slope route of Mount Everest. He explained that on October 4th, he started with the guide and the team from the 3,900-meter-high Upper Village, advancing 1,000 meters. Just as they reached the first camp at Xiaowucuo on the eastern slope, a massive snowstorm hit unexpectedly, “I didn’t expect the snow to be so heavy, far beyond expectations, it was very terrifying.”
Dong Shuchang described being drenched in freezing snow and rain, despite wearing raincoats, hardshell jackets, and pants which were unable to block out the moisture. His entire body was wet, and a layer of ice formed on the outside of his jacket. The biggest concern was hypothermia, which is extremely dangerous during outdoor activities and could be life-threatening.
That night at Xiaowucuo camp, the wind and snow raged, with snow piling up to about one meter in some places. Dong Shuchang said, “The guide helped us clear the snow all night, otherwise, our tents would have been buried in the snow. We did our best to keep warm at Xiaowucuo.”
“This is the worst weather I have ever encountered in all my hiking experiences, bar none.” Dong Shuchang said that not only was there poor signal reception in the area, but there was also a power outage, leaving them reliant on a generator for light.
On September 29th, mountain guide Xiaoming led a group of five people to start the Mount Everest eastern slope hiking route from Upper Village. On the morning of October 2nd, when they reached an elevation of 4,550 meters at Tangxiang, it started snowing. Due to heavy snow and slippery conditions, Xiaoming immediately decided to abandon the ascent to the Everest Base Camp and returned via the Small Circuit trail.
“I’m still frightened when I think back, luckily I evacuated the team in advance and left the mountain on October 4th. If we had continued upwards, the consequences would have been unimaginable.” Xiaoming said that according to his subsequent information, the heavy snow on October 4th continued until early the next morning, with snow up to knee height at Cuoxuerma, tents buried, and tourists having to huddle together in the main tent for warmth.
On October 5th, Yixi (alias), a staff member responsible for vehicle mobilization in the Everest scenic area, said that there were approximately 60 to 80 people at the Everest Base Camp, all of whom had safely descended the mountain by the morning of the 5th with no injuries. Currently, there are no tourists left in the camp. However, there are possibly over a thousand people in the entire scenic area.
According to Yixi, on the night of the 5th, their vehicle fleet received a new distress call as some individuals were trapped in Gama Gou (Qudang Town, Dingri County).
“The snow depth at the base camp is already over 50 centimeters, and it’s even thicker in Gama Gou. The hiking trails are completely blocked, there is no cell phone signal, my colleagues can only communicate through walkie-talkies, and the vehicles can only reach the bottom of the gorge.” Yixi said.
Gama Gou is renowned as one of the “Top Ten Classic Hiking Routes in the World,” with altitudes ranging from 2,100 to over 5,000 meters, and the only means of transportation being yaks and horses. According to a hiking enthusiast named “Red Clay Stove,” who traversed this route just this August, the full name of the route is the Mount Everest eastern slope Gama Gou. “There is a pass at over 5,300 meters, almost as high as a snow-covered mountain. In the event of a blizzard, the snow at the pass could be as deep as waist-high, making it extremely difficult to traverse.”
A responsible person from a hotel within the Everest region stated that the hotel can currently accommodate tourists as usual, but they cannot travel to the Base Camp. According to the person, this is the first time the mountain has been closed during the National Day holiday; previously, it was only closed around the Chinese New Year.