Burleson

Click to hear Todd Burleson's audio dispatch recorded over sat-phone.
From Burleson's Satellite Call:
Hi this is Todd calling in on May 6th about 9pm. Had a good day today as far as our group goes. All the members camp back to Base Camp from Camp II [21,500'] and are in good health. Wally has a bit of a cold.

All the sherpa -- we had six or seven sherpa carry to the South Col [26,300'] today which finished all of our carries. The weather was good and things went well.

There was an accident today. One sherpa [Nima Rinji Sherpa] was killed on the Malaysian team. He fell from bellow the Yellow Band [a rocky, semi-technical part of the climb between Camp III on the steep Lhotse Face and the South Col] at approximately 24,500', and fell to the base of the Lhotse Face [21,500'] and was killed... A very sad affair. It's a terrible tragedy. I hope that his family will be ok... [Nima Rinji was 31 years old, a resident of Daukhim in the Khumbu district, and is survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter.]

Very similar tragedy that happened to us two years ago when one of our sherpa fell in a similar circumstance. Basically it looks like he may have just missed a clip and fell. [When climbers come to a spot where the fixed rope -- their protection -- is anchored in the rock or snow, they have to unclip from the rope and reclip onto it above the anchor.]

Looks like other expeditions are still moving up high, and we will see what they do for weather. [Click here to see the five-day weather forecast for this week.]

We'll let you know more about what's going-on on the mountain in the next 24 hours. Hope everyone is well there. Take care. Bye.

-- Todd Burleson, Expedition Leader