How dangerous are avalanches?

How dangerous are avalanches? I think there may be no one better suited to answer this question than me. Because I am an avalanche survivor. On April 25, 2015, an 8.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in Nepal. The largest earthquake in South Asia in 80 years triggered an avalanche at the Everest Base Camp. I was preparing for my first Everest climb at the base camp on the south slope of Mount Everest. The huge avalanche triggered by the earthquake killed 19 people, including five of my teammates and Sherpas. I was also swept twenty or thirty meters away by the huge avalanche wave, causing two fractures in my body and head injuries.

First add some background knowledge: The base camp on the south slope of Mount Everest is 5,364 meters above sea level. It is located on the Khumbu Glacier and is surrounded by mountains on three sides. This avalanche is not actually an avalanche on Mount Everest, but was triggered by an earthquake. Avalanche on Pumori Peak, 7165 meters above sea level, next to Everest Base Camp.

Tell me my story. After yesterday's "strong medicine", my cough was much better when I woke up in the morning. It was so warm inside the sleeping bag that I couldn’t bear to get out. I trained yesterday and have a rest today. I can stay in my sleeping bag until I feel hungry. Although our camp has WiFi, due to the limited traffic on the mountain, it can only accommodate five devices online at a time. My Apple can't always compete with other mobile phones. I can only connect to it every morning before everyone wakes up, so take advantage of this opportunity. I will post yesterday’s training content to my circle of friends later, and then reply to some friends’ messages.

I stayed up until about ten o'clock, got up, and got out of the tent. The weather is indeed bad today, the sky and the earth are completely white, with small snowflakes floating in the air. Yesterday evening, I felt that this evening was particularly cold compared to the previous few days. Entering the big tent, there were only Mai Zi, Ada, Shi Lei and Bao Donkey. Everyone had already had breakfast, chatting and dazing out of boredom. Ada is helping Shi Lei make sunscreen tape. He made a glass of milk, held a piece of bread, and while eating, watched Ada make an eye patch, and laughed at Shi Lei wearing it like a bra on his head. The rest time at the mountaineering base camp is a rare lazy time in urban life. I really enjoy this hard-won leisure.

The calm before the earthquake and avalanche

It was almost lunch time, and everyone started discussing what to eat for lunch. Bored people always find ways to kill their boredom. After discussion, everyone agreed that we should let Puchong make sushi for us. I was thinking about the shiny rice wrapped in seaweed, when I suddenly felt a violent shaking on the sole of my foot! avalanche! My first reaction! I couldn't help but feel fear in my heart: The ground was shaking so fiercely, what a massive avalanche it would be! He stood up and ran outside the tent. As I ran, I suddenly thought: This is not an avalanche! It's an earthquake! The avalanche should have made a rumbling sound, but now it's just the ground shaking and no sound! This is the first earthquake I have experienced in my life. I am 90% sure that it is an earthquake, but I am still 10% unsure. When I rushed out of the tent and saw Japanese team member Obata rushing out from the next tent, I asked her: "Is this an earthquake, right?" I think people from Japan, the country of earthquakes, know best whether it is an earthquake. At this time, people in other camps rushed out of their tents like us. Just when Obata said "yes" to me, he suddenly saw Pumori directly above us. The Pumori mountain we climbed the day before yesterday, the white sky with a deafening sound came crashing down on us!

The moment the avalanche hit (the fourth from the left in the first row is the tent where I slept, thank you to my teammate Ling Sang for recording the precious moment)

Avalanche! Obata and I turned around and ran backwards at the same time. Accompanied by a shrill scream, I fell down after running for two or three steps. It seemed like someone pushed me from behind, and I fell to my knees on the ground. Then it felt like a strong wind and hail, and something kept hitting my back. I tightened my body, rolled my neck and head tightly towards my abdomen, and supported myself with both arms, thinking about what would happen if I was hit by the snow. Bury and try to give yourself room to breathe. The wind mixed with the snow whizzed past my face. I opened my mouth and breathed quickly and shallowly. Because there was a lot of snow in my big mouth, I felt like I was suffocating! I keep saying to myself: "Breathe, breathe, breathe", let yourself relax and breathe rhythmically. Just when I felt like I was about to suffocate, everything came to an abrupt end. I opened my eyes, raised my head, and saw Obata lying one meter in front of me, with a lot of blood around her. She moaned in pain: "My leg, my leg..." Her leg, her left leg, twisted from At an angle, I knew it must be broken. Beside her, Ada sat blankly, her head bleeding and her mouth swollen. A little further away is our photographer Marc. He is kneeling on the ground, his face covered in blood. He just stood up and fell down on the snow.

What do I look like? Suddenly wanted to know. He reached into his pocket to touch his cell phone. The pocket of his down jacket was full of snow. His clothes were also lifted up from behind, and his body was covered with snow. I took out my phone from my pocket filled with snow. The screen was broken, but it seemed to still be working normally. The scene inside the camera lens made me want to cry. The sky and the earth were completely white, mixed with broken yellow tent cloth and scattered colorful clothes, shoes and various items. The tent villages that a few minutes ago were lined with endless tents were now razed to the ground. Looking around, there is flat land as far as the eye can see. The surviving people were shocked and confused.

When I saw myself, my mind was empty at that moment.

Looking around, I saw Ling Sang, Zhou Hua and Niu Niu. Only four of our team members stood up. I also saw Chef Puchong and several other Sherpas standing up as well. Everyone was shocked by what happened just now and the scene in front of them now. Purba rushed over and asked me anxiously, "Are you ok?" "I'm ok". I suddenly felt very cold, and my down jacket and the fleece underneath were all wet. "Get some dry clothes and put on some dry clothes. Don't lose your temperature." I said as I walked towards Zhou Hua and Ling Sang. Everyone began to look for something to keep warm in the snow. After walking a few steps, I saw Mingma holding Liu Qing. Liu Qing was slumped in Mingma's arms with a pale face and a weak voice like a newborn kitten. Mingma was helping her change clothes and put on her own clothes. Take them off one by one and put them on for her. Not far away was Ling Sang. She said she had found some clothes. A jacket, a fleece and a zip-up hoodie that looked like girls' clothes. I took off my soaked down jacket and fleece, and only then did I realize that the sleeves of my two C3 underwear were soaked with blood and wet. No wonder I felt so cold. I wanted to take off my wet clothes, but I couldn't lift my arms until I reached my shoulders. I called Mingma for help and asked him to help me take off my wet clothes. Halfway through taking it off, he noticed the wound on my arm. I told him, "I need to stop the bleeding. Tear off the sleeve of my underwear and bandage it for me." He tore it off but didn't. Then I saw someone sitting in the snow diagonally in front of me. Shi Lei in the field usually always has a string of lighters, knives, etc. hanging around his neck. Mingma used Shi Lei's knife to cut off the sleeves of my underwear, bandaged my arms, and put on my clothes.