Updates From Everest Tumpach Korean Dies in Avalanche Tuesday, September 9, 1997 (Everest North Face advance base camp, Tibet) We woke up to our surprise to a snowfall. We loaded the YAKS up and left for ABC in miserable weather. It was snowing wet snow and the poor Yak man had only old running shoes on. My Sherpa leader, Jangbu went fast to keep up with the YAK caravan. The rest of us went slow. The reason for Jangbu going with the caravan was very simple, the Yak men were pushing the yaks fast up the hill, so they know nobody can keep up with them and then they steal from the supplies they are delivering. Thanks to Jangbu’s experience with the Yak men, we did not lose anything, but the English team lost 25kg of cheese they brought over from England. You really have to watch the Yak men. That morning they stole from our kitchen two stainless steel cups, my umbrella and two corporate flags which we use on top of the YAK for corporate promo. We recovered the flags and umbrella but not the cups. As the trail went, the weather got better. Going to ABC, you walk on glacier and moraine. It is a rough trail and in many instances I wondered how the yaks made it through. I arrived at ABC at 3.30 pm. The YAKS got there at 11 am. As I mentioned before, it is important to walk slow so you do not get a headache and be sick. If you get sick, you not only jeopardize yourself, but you would put the whole team in a bad position because you will split the team and the success of the TEAM would be in limbo. As a leader, I make sure that every body does what is most important — STAY HEALTHY and BE SAFE. As I arrived at ABC, JANGBU informed me of a bad news. Yesterday, Sept. 8/97, an avalanche struck the KOREAN team and the leader Mr.CHANG died in the avalanche. He was a very experienced climber and very well known in KOREA. He climbed EVEREST and reached the summit in 1988; climbed K2 and many more 8000m summits. It was not a good news to come to upon arrival to ABC, but it is the situation you have to know how to deal with and I had to make sure that my team members are not affected psychologically. It is very important to discuss the accident and find out why it happened. — George Tumpach PREVIOUS UPDATE | UPDATES HOME | NEXT UPDATE